“The army has been more present in our region in the past few weeks,” the Bishop of Yola,a city near Cameroon, where three missionaries have been kidnapped, told “Vatican Insider”.

“When I learnt that three religious were kidnapped in Cameroon, I immediately thought it was Boko Haram that was responsible. All churches prayed for them on Sunday.”

Before the Arab Spring started, Majda Ayoub, a Christian Jordanian, decided to leave the US, where she was raised and educated, and settle down in her homeland.

The situation was very risky for Christians in Iraq, then in Egypt and Syria. But as Jordan has always been an “oasis of stability and security”, the idea of leaving out of fear for her and her family’s safety did not cross her mind at first, not before she saw Islamists take to the streets in unprecedented numbers, emboldened by victories of their peers in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.

Violence and poverty are bringing the Central African Republic to its knees. In the place where everything seems lost, a Combonian nun tells the story of her silent work

Even if the Israeli diplomat strike drags on until the end of May, the Pope’s visit to the Holy Land is definitely going ahead. This is the prevailing view in Jerusalem, an opinion that a number of sources have confirmed, given that the details of the Pope’s visit were defined before the union unrest.

Priests should sit and wait patiently for faithful in the confessional at times that are convenient for penitents. Cardinal Mauro Piacenza said this this afternoon during the inauguration of the course on the inner conscience, the private inner space of each individual. The week-long course has become something of a tradition. It will be taking place in the Chancery office and attended by about five hundred priests and seminarists who are approaching ordination. The meeting will conclude Friday with an Audience with Francis. In the afternoon there will be a penitential liturgy in the St.

“It is possible that now he is Pope, Bergoglio will continue to be a restrained traveller. So far his trips abroad have been focused and have had a huge impact not just symbolically. He is in no hurry to fill the planisphere with flags.” This is according to Vatican correspondents Lucio Brunelli and Gianni Valente who wrote a long article titled “Lo spazio e il tempo di Papa Francesco”(Pope Francis’ concept of time and space) published in the March issue of Italian geopolitics magazine Limes, entirely dedicate to Francis’ first year in office.

Barack Obama was visibly moved by his meeting with Francis. Before bidding the Pope farewell, the US President maintained his firm handshake with the Pope longer than protocol dictates. Struck by Francis’ message and testimony, Obama evidently wanted this meeting and is taking seriously the possibility of a common effort by the US and the Holy See in the fight against poverty and human trafficking, as well as in negotiating a solution to the conflict.

“Who among us can claim not to be a sinner?” Francis’ question echoed through the Basilica, where he listened to the confessions of some faithful and presided over the penitential rite promoted by the Pontifical council for the New Evangelization. Quoting the words of the Apostle John, the Pope said: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Expectations were running high on the eve of President Barack Obama’s first meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican. Sources said they were hopeful the two leaders would focus on the issues that unite rather than on those that divide, issues relating to peace, poverty, immigration and the importance of good cooperation between the Church and the Administration in the USA.

When President Barack Obama and Pope Francis sit down Thursday, March 27, at the Vatican, the meeting may well offer a vision of what could have been for Democrats and the Catholic church over the last six years: a leader of the state and a leader of the church working on the many issues where they agree while working through the issues where they don't.