Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis issued a warning to US bishops on Thursday, saying in a letter that using marketing tricks or flow charts would not restore trust in the Catholic church following the sex abuse crisis. “Loss of credibility calls for a specific approach, since …
Read More »Conditions for papal visit to Iraq ‘not yet met’: Vatican
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | The conditions for a possible visit to Iraq by Pope Francis have not yet been met, the Vatican number two said on Wednesday, citing concerns about the possibility of a terrorist attack targeting the pontiff. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, …
Read More »Pope vows Church will ‘never again’ ignore abuse accusations
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis vowed Friday that the Catholic Church will never again treat abuse allegations without “seriousness and promptness”, calling on abusers to hand themselves in to police. “The Church will never seek to hush up or not take seriously any case,” the pope …
Read More »Pope says Xmas not about consumerism
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis said Wednesday that Christmas cannot just be about swapping presents and indulging in a massive consumer binge, urging the faithful to remember its original purpose to mark Christ’s birth. “The advertising machine tells us we have to exchange more and more …
Read More »Pope prays for victims of Central Africa massacre
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Sunday prayed for peace in the war-ravaged Central African Republic, where two priests were killed in ethnic unrest last week. “I learned with sadness the news of the massacre two days ago in a camp for the displaced in the …
Read More »Catholic church split over abuse scandal gravity
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis has vowed to end clerical sexual abuse, but bishops from Asia and Africa have shown a mixed response to a scandal some have termed a “Western problem”. Church leaders from around the world attended the closing mass Sunday of a month-long …
Read More »Vatican stalls on married Catholic priests
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | A bid by Belgium bishops to allow young married men to take the cloth has fallen flat at a Vatican meet — though Pope Francis is considering testing out the idea in the Amazon. The suggestion of easing the rules on celibacy was …
Read More »Pope ready to visit Pyongyang if invited: S.Korea’s Moon
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis is ready to visit North Korea if its leader Kim Jong Un extends a formal invitation, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday after meeting the pontiff. Moon briefed the pontiff about his visit to Pyongyang in September when Kim …
Read More »Pope says abortion is like hiring ‘contract killer’
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Wednesday compared having an abortion to hiring a “contract killer”. “Interrupting a pregnancy is like eliminating someone,” Francis said in an address to worshippers in the Vatican. “Getting rid of a human being is like resorting to a contract killer …
Read More »Pope fears for Christian presence in Mideast
Bari, Italy | AFP | Pope Francis on Saturday voiced concern that Christians will disappear from the Middle East amid “murderous indifference” as war rages on. “The Middle East has become a land of people who leave their own lands behind,” Francis said. He was addressing the leaders of almost …
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