Pope Francis has chosen “a pastor with the smell of the sheep” and “a man of dialogue” who fully embraces his vision of Church as the first prefect of the new Vatican dicastery. He becomes the senior American prelate in the Roman Curia

In a surprise but highly significant move, Pope Francis has named Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas, Texas, to be the first prefect of the newly created Vatican Department (“dicastery” is the official term) for the Laity, the Family and Life. He thus becomes the senior American prelate in the Roman Curia.

The visit takes place after the killing of the priest Hamel by terrorists. The words of the Pope about Islam. The issue resolved over the appointment of the ambassador to the Holy See.

After the killing of Father Jacques Hamel, an 86-year-old French priest who was slain - while celebrating Mass - by two young French terrorists with Maghreb origins last 26 July, in the parish of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, in the diocese of Rouen, in Normandy - an attack claimed by the so-called Islamic State (Isis) - French President François Hollande will meet with the Pope tomorrow.

For two weeks every afternoon Francis’ Almoner has accompanied groups of homeless people for a swim at Passoscuro and an evening at the pizzeria.

“From Smakiyeh to Wahadneh and vice versa”… this is the title of my article that was published in Al Rai daily on March 3, 2005. I was at the time talking about the hardships faced by university students with regards to transportation. The question that arises is why do I love these two townships? The reason I dearly love them is because the latter, located in the northern part of the homeland, is my township where I spent the first decade, while the former, located in the southern part of the homeland, is the place where I spent ten years as priest of the Latin Patriarchate.

A “Chinese Bishops’ Conference in communion with the Pope” is “what we hope to see and that for which we have been praying for a long time”: the viewpoint of Joseph Wei Jingyi, the “clandestine” Catholic bishop in Qiqihar, in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang. Wei is a known member of the so-called “clandestine” Chinese Church: an unfortunate and misleading term used to indicate the part of bishops, priests and faithful who are not subject to the organisms and methods of religious politics in Beijing.

They are 21 Syrians. The children presented their drawings to Francis, the Pope gave toys. The refugees are guests of the Community of Sant’Egidio

The Pope had lunch on Thursday, August 11, with 21 Syrian refugees who are living in Rome after the same Francis took on the task of bringing them to Italy following his trip to the Greek island of Lesbos on 16 April.

Iraqi Christians appear divided about whether they will be able to return home after Islamic State militants are flushed out of the battle-scarred Ninevah Plains region. They say their safety must be guaranteed at all costs.

In the sky of Poland, there were two planes overflying the country. The first one had Pope Francis on board coming from Rome and heading to meet the youths of the world in the country of his friend John Paul II. The second plane was returning from Warsaw and heading to France with a bishop on board, who had get ready for a trip to Poland a year ago, but circumstances forced him to return to the Ryan Parish.

Established in 1994, the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies (RIIFS) has been working for decades to achieve HRH Prince Hassan’s vision of religious pluralism and interfaith harmony, according to its director.

RIIFS Director Majeda Omar said Prince Hassan first initiated dialogue between adherents of different faiths in the 1970s.

“Imagine how the world would have been if the call for dialogue was as active forty years ago,” she said, adding that the prince’s vision extended beyond Jordan to include the whole region.

Cardinal John Tong has today published an important article on the Sino-Vatican dialogue, in which he says China “is now willing” to reach an agreement with the Holy See on the appointment of bishops in the mainland, and discusses what such an agreement can or cannot contain.

There has been much speculation in the media in recent times that the Holy See and China are moving closer to reaching an historic agreement on the crucial question of the nomination of bishops. This has provoked different reactions inside and outside the mainland.