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.
While I only have a bachelors degree in psychology, my years of priesthood have taught me so much more. While there are chemical imbalance issues, and medications that offer more immediate relief, we must also look at the spiritual reasons for depression that, in many cases, may prolong or, in some cases, lead us into these chemical imbalances.
Many are ready to give a polite nod of some sort to Jesus of Nazareth. Most honor him as a great moral teacher. Many even confess him as Savior. But the Incarnation of the Eternal God? Second person of the Holy Trinity? God can’t be one and three at the same time. Such a notion is at worst illogical, at best meaningless. “This was all invented by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 313 AD,” scoff a motley crew ranging from the Jehovah’s Witnesses to the fans of the Da Vinci Code.
The Trinity dogma is not the result of poetic fantasies or of philosophical elucubrations. Nor it is a rational theological formulation that offers the pretext of saying that it is a mystery so detached from our lives that more than one Christian feels quietly authorized to ignore it. The Mystery of the Trinity is a great mystery which surpasses our minds but speaks deeply to our heart because it is, in its essence, nothing but the explication of the profound expression of Saint John: “God is love” (1 Jn 4: 8,16). If God is love, he cannot be loneliness in himself.
Since the pontificate of Blessed Paul VI, the Ordinary form of the Roman Rite has been without one of the “greatest octaves” which critics argue has led to a detrimental effect on the Church’s liturgical life.
On the Monday after Pentecost in 1970, so the story goes, Blessed Pope Paul VI rose early and went to his chapel to celebrate Mass.
Instead of the red vestments he expected, green ones were laid out for him. He asked the Master of Ceremonies, “What on earth are these for? This is the Octave of Pentecost! Where are the red vestments?”
With the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Francis denounces violence affecting women’s role and advocates the defense of their rights.
As North Korea continues to step up its provocations, South Korean president Moon Jae-in has commissioned a special emissary to the Holy See to ask Pope Francis to assist the reconciliation process on the peninsula.
Catholic Bishops Conference of Korea (CBCK) president Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-jong met with Pope Francis on May 26. He said he “had been sent by the South Korean president (Moon Jae-in) to request Pope Francis’ support for the process of reconciliation between the two Koreas".
The new Conference on Ethnic Minorities marks a first agreement on decentralization: for the Church, 2017 will be “the Year of Peace”
The peace process in Myanmar is moving forward and the country is heading towards a federal system: "After 50 years of centralized government, dominated exclusively by the Burmese ethnic group of Buddhist religion, decentralization represents a good solution that would improve the country”, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo Says in a conversation with Vatican Insider.
The leader of the Sudanese bishops’ conference is expressing hope that Pope Francis will still travel to South Sudan at some point in the future, and is calling on people in the country to work for peace there in order to ensure the pontiff is able to safely visit.
Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, president of the bishops’ conference for Sudan and South Sudan, said in a statement Tuesday that his group and all South Sudanese “were eagerly awaiting for the historic event of the visitation of His Holiness Pope Francis.”
