The number of Catholics in the world rose between 2005 and 2014, the number of priests is up, while the number of religious continues to drop. Positive figures were recorded until 2011 then this trend came to a halt. The underlying trend shows a Church that is growing in Asia and Africa but shrinking in Europe and North America.
At the General Audience, on Wednesday March 2, the Pope denounced “benefactors” who come with “offerings” but these are “the fruit of the blood of people who have been exploited, enslaved with work which was under-payed”. He spoke about the refugees who are arriving in Europe and don’t know where to go.
The Global Times, the semi-official online organ of the Chinese Communist Party, attests with participatory tones that under Pope Francis and President Xi Jinping, "hopes rise for a thaw" in Sino-Vatican relations. And it names an American cardinal as a witness of the new course; one who is convinced that the similarities between the two leaders can become "a special gift for the world".
"In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen"
It is a simple prayer symbolizing the cross of Jesus, and the Trinity, and so much more. It is said at the beginning of Mass when the priest commences Mass. My four year old Granddaughter, Lilah, is learning to begin and end her prayers with this prayer. What is the significance for Catholics to say this?
The Maronite Patriarch and cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai: the meeting between the Pope and Kirill was providential. And the Christians of the Middle East judge the Russian intervention in the Syrian conflict positively.
Among the texts which will be submitted to the Pan-Orthodox Council of Crete in June there is a statement on “The mission of the Orthodox Church in the Modern World” which condemns weapons of mass destruction, denounces the gap between rich and poor in the world, and calls for a ban on all forms of discrimination.
After almost a thousand years that have failed to bring about any meeting between the head of the Catholic Church and the head of Russian Orthodox Church, a plane heading from the Vatican and another one heading from Moscow touched down in Cuba to pave the way for a meeting between the leaders of the two Churches, namely Pope Francis and Patriarch Krill. The Cuban island has become one of the symbols of global reconciliation.
Pope Francis’ long prayer before the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a key to interpreting the Pope’s pilgrimage to the Central American country.
Francis celebrates mass at the Area of the Fair in Ciudad Juarez, after praying in silence facing the chain link fence that marks the US-Mexico border: "They are the brothers and sisters of those excluded as a result of poverty and violence, drug trafficking and criminal organizations. Being faced with so many legal vacuums, they get caught up in a web that ensnares and always destroys the poorest. Enslaved, imprisoned and extorted, they are the consequence of a trade in human beings”
Six years after the United Nation’s adoption of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s proposal to mark a week of harmony among religions (on the first week of February), I believe it is incumbent to focus every year on specific issues instead of reiterating the views annually addressed to the local population, in particular. On the other hand, our “expressed views” are mostly intended to denote that we are "brethren" and that "harmony" among the followers of religions would come true, thus we look for terms that corroborate this view.
