Vatican reiterates its "No" to building new walls. Merkel, “Francis encouraged me to find global solutions”.

Pope Francis and Angela Merkel share the same aim to “bring down walls,” not build them, and agree on the importance of international treaties and commitment to Africa. This is what emerges from the encounter - a “cordial discussion”, as the Holy See defines it in a brief communique - between Pope Francis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, received yesterday with her husband, Joachim Sauer in the Vatican apostolic Palace.

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

The words of the Gospel we have just heard contain a remarkable promise: ‘Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever’ (John 6:58). This promise of everlasting life comes to its fulfilment in the death and resurrection of Jesus, in which he not only shares our human nature, destined for death, but also gives to us the gift of new life after that death.

To the crowds which were after Him, Jesus said: “I am the bread.” The angels’ bread. The bread for the road. Bread “that came down from heaven".

It is that very bread which He is shortly going to take. As He took friendship. As He took sadness. As He took death. With both hands.

He will bless it. He will break it. And while breaking it, He shall feel all of the shreds of the world. A world which He is going to love “to the extremity of His folly", the poet Charles Le Quintrec will write.

There is nothing more impressive than the new priest’s hugging of his parents… amidst the tears of joy, the words come out of the mouth of the priest with the spontaneity of the village as he says: O father, O mother you gave birth to me on a certain day of life…today I am born again with the Church sending me to convey a sublime message. I will never forget you as you will remain my parents on this road which is designed to convey an interesting but tiring message.

I wonder how long I will be remembered after I die. I wonder, too, what I will be remembered for. Shakespeare wrote, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

What would you like to be remembered for? What do you think you will actually be remembered for? You might have to write your memoirs to ensure that the answer to both questions is the same.

Francis at Santa Marta: Do not ’whitewash’ your own faults; acknowledge the shame of being “clay and not silver or gold vessels.” It will make you “happy”

Masses, rosaries and adorations in local communities, while in Mindanao US Special Forces arrive to help the Manila army defeat terrorists.

"The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break,is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" (1 Cor 10:16)

A day with the volunteers of “Dove Operation”, one of the Lebanese terminals of the humanitarian corridor system promoted by the Community John XXIII.

Often divided, both Lebanese and Italian volunteers of the various development cooperation projects of the country, agree on one thing: without the humanitarian corridors of the Community of Sant’Egidio and the Valdese Church, life would be much worse than what it already is.

British Prime Minister’s decision to govern with Protestant unionist party raises uncertainty about Pope’s planned trip to Ireland.

The British Prime Minister’s plan to govern with support from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party risks re-opening sectarian divisions in Ireland which diplomatic sources say now puts a question mark over Pope Francis’ planned visit to the country.