In his speech to a group of new ambassadors to the Holy See, Francis decried the scandalous spending on weapons, while many people lack the basics they need to live

"The Catholic Center for Studies and Media (CCSM) in Jordan strongly condemns and denounces the heinous terrorist explosion perpetrated yesterday on the Orthodox Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Cairo which led to the martyrdom of 25 worshippers during Sunday Mass."

In his World Day of Peace Message for 2017, Pope Francis calls on Christians to follow Jesus’ example in turning away from violence. The pontiff says that while the world is experiencing many conflicts, violence only begets more violence.

Pope Francis has called on Christians around the globe to embrace Jesus’ teachings on nonviolence, saying in his yearly World Day of Peace message that while many countries are experiencing conflict that “violence is not the cure for our broken world.”

During his weekly Angelus address, Pope Francis again appealed on Sunday, December 11, for an end to the fighting in Aleppo. He also expressed closeness to the victims of Sunday’s terror attack in Cairo.

Pope Francis has again appealed for an end to the brutal fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo, calling war a “pile-up of tyrannies and lies” and asking people to say “no to destruction, yes to peace.”

At the end of his weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square Sunday, the pontiff said: “Every day I am close, most of all in prayer, to the people of Aleppo.”

Interview with the Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa: “Millions of refugees have changed the shape of our parishes. I don’t think those who have fled will want to return to Syria and Iraq”

The Pope said this in an interview with Belgian Catholic weekly Tertio. “Priest must not be ashamed of tenderness,” he stressed, adding that the media must not fall prey “to the sickness of coprophilia, which is always wanting to communicate scandal, to communicate ugly things”

The Polish Pope’s former spokesman said the late Fidel Castro “wanted to know everything there was to know about John Paul II”.

The Patriarch of Constantinople comments on the Apostolic Exhortation, which he says, speaks of “mercy rather than solely the moral rules and canonical regulations of men”

“‘Amoris Laetitia’ recalls first and foremost the mercy and compassion of God, rather than solely the moral rules and canonical regulations of men.” The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew wrote this in a comment about Pope Francis’ post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation.

“In this world, which has developed the most sophisticated technologies, weapons are sold that end up in the hands of child soldiers.” Pope Francis denounced this in a video message for December’s prayer intention, Vatican Radio reports. Francis reiterated the urgent need to “do everything possible so that the dignity of children may be respected, and end this form of slavery”.

This Advent, I invented a small spiritual exercise to help focus my mind on higher things. I’m trying to start each day by reflecting for a few moments on the question: What if today is the day the world ends?

Advent is meant as a time for reflecting on the current liturgical year, but also for reflecting on the Parousia, the Second Coming, which brings with it the end of days.