Tag: Pope

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Conservative cardinals challenge Pope over teachings on family

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By Philip PullellaNovember 14, 2016

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Four conservative Roman Catholic cardinals on Monday made a rare public challenge to Pope Francis over some of his teachings in a major document on the family, accusing him of sowing confusion on important moral issues.

The cardinals – two Germans, an Italian, and an American – said they had gone public with their letter to the pope because he had not responded.

The pope has clashed before with conservatives who worry he is weakening Roman Catholic rules on moral issues such as homosexuality and divorce while focusing on social problems such as climate change and economic inequality.

At issue are some of the teachings in a 260-page treatise called “Amoris Laetitia” (The Joy of Love), a cornerstone document of Francis’ attempt to make the 1.2 billion-member Church more inclusive and less condemning.

In the document, issued in April, he called for a Church that was less strict and more compassionate towards any “imperfect” members, such as those who divorced and remarried, saying “no one can be condemned forever”.

Most critics have focused on what the pope’s letter said about the full re-integration into the Church of members who divorce and remarry in civil ceremonies.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/conservative-cardinals-challenge-pope-over-teachings-family-135235466.html

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Pope arrives in Cuba for first-ever meeting with the Russian patriarch

Great Schism of 1054, Pope , Cuba , first-ever meeting , Russian patriarch , Roman Catholic , Russian Orthodox

Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY2:17 p.m. EST February 12, 2016

Despite famine, religious wars, worldwide conflict and the spread of civilization, the heads of the Roman Catholic and the Russian Orthodox churches haven’t spoken since the Great Schism of 1054 shattered Christendom, so they have a lot of catching up to do at their historic meeting Friday in Cuba.

The pope, en route to a visit to Mexico, landed Friday afternoon at Havana’s José Martí International Airport where he will meet Patriarch Kirill for a two-hour “personal conversation” and sign a joint declaration.

On Arrival, he was warmly greeted on the tarmac by Cuban president Raul Castro, who clasped the pope’s outstretched hands in both of his.

The split between the two churches nearly 1,000 years has festered over issues such as the primacy of the pope and accusations by the Russian Orthodox Church that the Catholic Church tries to poach converts in Russia.

No pope has ever visited Russia. En route to the historic visit Friday, journalists asked Pope Francis if a visit to the nation is on his papal bucket list.

“China and Russia, I have them here,” Francis said, pointing to his heart. “Pray.”

Few people expect Friday’s two-hour meeting — which took two years of secret planning to pull off — will wipe away centuries of distrust and suspicion in a few hours, but it will be a groundbreaking step toward Catholic-Orthodox relations.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/02/12/pope-francis-patriarch-kirill-roman-catholic-church-russian-orthodox-church-meet/80278172/

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Pope hits out at Internet trolls

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AFP
January 22, 2016

Pope Francis spoke out Friday over the increasingly aggressive nature of much political discourse and the use of social media as a forum for personal abuse.

In a message published on the same day that the Twitter-friendly pontiff met Apple boss Tim Cook, Francis said digital technology and the Internet could help bring people together but also had the potential to create deep wounds.

“Our words and actions should be such as to help us all escape the vicious circles of condemnation and vengeance which continue to ensnare individuals and nations, encouraging expressions of hatred,” he said.

The pope urged politicians and others in positions of power “to remain especially attentive to the way they speak of those who think or act differently or those who may have made mistakes.”

And he emphasised the importance of everyone applying the same principle to encounters in cyberspace by showing respect for “the neighbour whom we do not see.”

“It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart and our capacity to use wisely the means at our disposal,” Francis said.

https://in.news.yahoo.com/pope-hits-internet-trolls-152809983.html

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NYPD ROAD CLOSURES FOR THE PAPAL VISIT

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Subject: Traffic closures from NYPD for Popes visit.  Detailed.  

https://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/pr/pr_2015_traffic_2015_09_11_papal_visit.shtml

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT NOT ONLY WILL THE POPE BE VISITING NYC TOMORROW BUT SO WILL PRESIDENT OBAMA AND THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY WILL BE MEETING AND THERE IS A NY YANKEE HOME GAME AT 7PM

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Castro praises Pope’s anti-capitalism stance

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By ROBERT KING • 9/19/15 4:29 PM

Pope Francis has arrived in Havana this afternoon and starts a historic 10-day visit to Cuba and the United States, according to reports.

Cuban President Raul Castro welcomed Pope Francis in a long speech at the airport. In his speech, Castro said the communist government has “founded an equitable society with social justice” in Cuba and he praised the pope’s critiques of the global economic system that has “globalized capital and turned money into its idol.”

Castro thanked the pope for facilitating negotiations that led to a detente between the United States and Cuba. Castro is also calling for the end of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, which he called “cruel, immoral and illegal,” and the return of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

Castro praised his country’s socialist model for building a society “focused on human beings and the family” and said he’s “firmly determined to … build a just and virtuous society with high ethical and spiritual values.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/castro-praises-popes-stance-on-capitalism/article/2572475

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Pope to Parents: You Are Responsible for Educating Your Children

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At May 20 audience, he stressed that educating and raising children in the human values that form the “backbone” of a healthy society is a responsibility that each family has.

BY CNA/EWTN NEWS 05/20/2015

VATICAN CITY — In his general audience, Pope Francis spoke of the essential role parents play in educating their children, a role he said has been usurped by so-called experts who have taken the place of parents and rendered them fearful of disciplining their children.

“If family education regains its prominence, many things will change for the better. It’s time for fathers and mothers to return from their exile — they have exiled themselves from educating their children — and slowly reassume their educative role,” the Pope said May 20.

He gave harsh criticism to the “intellectual critics” that he said have “silenced” parents in order to defend younger generations from real or imagined harm, and he lamented how schools now are often more influential than families in shaping the thinking and values of children.

“In our days, the educational partnership is in crisis. It’s broken,” he said, and he named various reasons for this.

“On the one part, there are tensions and distrust between parents and educators; on the other part, there are more and more ‘experts’ who pretend to occupy the role of parents, who are relegated to second place,” he said.

https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-to-parents-you-are-responsible-for-educating-your-children

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Pope at Easter prays for killed Kenyan students, decries Christian persecution

Pope Francis waves as he delivers a "Urbi et Orbi" message from the balcony overlooking St

Reuters/REUTERS – Pope Francis waves as he delivers a “Urbi et Orbi” message from the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 5, 2015. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

By Philip Pullella | Reuters

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – (In paragraph eight, corrects number of Egyptian Copts killed to 21, not 22)

Pope Francis prayed for an end to the persecution of Christians in his Easter Sunday address, commemorating the students massacred by Islamist militants at Garissa University in Kenya.

Francis, after saying Mass for thousands of people in a rainy St. Peter’s Square, delivered a mostly sombre and grim “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message.

Attacks on Christians in Africa and the Middle East have been the grim backdrop of all Holy Week ceremonies leading up to Easter.

“We ask Jesus, the victor over death, to lighten the sufferings of our many brothers and sisters who are persecuted for his name, and of all those who suffer injustice as a result of ongoing conflicts and violence – and there are many,” he said.

The pope spoke as churches in Kenya, where al Shabaab gunmen massacred nearly 150 people, singling out Christians for point-blank executions, turned to armed guards to protect their congregations on the most important day of the Christian liturgical year.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pope-easter-prays-killed-kenyan-students-decries-persecution-101836350.html

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Pope, on anniversary, says believes he will have short pontificate

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Pope, on anniversary, says believes he will have short pontificate
Reuters – Fri, 13 Mar, 2015

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis said in an interview published on Friday he believes his pontificate will be short and that he would be ready to resign like his predecessor rather than ruling for life.

In the long interview with Mexican broadcaster Televisa, released on the second anniversary of his surprise election, Francis also said he “did not mind” being pope but would like to be able to go out in Rome unrecognized for a pizza.

“I have the feeling that my pontificate will be brief – four or five years, even two or three. Two have already passed. It’s a somewhat strange sensation,” he said, according to a Vatican translation from Spanish.

“I feel that the Lord has placed me here for a short time,” the Argentine-born pontiff said.

Francis, apparently in good health at 78, said “I share the idea of what Benedict did.” In 2013, former Pope Benedict became the first head of the Roman Catholic Church in 600 years to resign instead of ruling until he died.

“In general, I think what Benedict so courageously did was to open the door to the popes emeritus. Benedict should not be considered an exception, but an institution,” Francis said.

However, he said he did not like the idea of an automatic retirement age for popes, such as at age 80.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pope-anniversary-says-believes-short-pontificate-132515764.html

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Pope, on Christmas Eve, urges world to be open to God

Pope Francis waves as he delivers a "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and world) message from the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican

Pope, on Christmas Eve, urges world to be open to God

By By Philip Pullella | Reuters

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis ushered the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics into Christmas on Wednesday, urging them to allow God to enter their lives to help combat darkness and corruption.

The 78-year-old Argentine pope led a solemn Christmas Eve Mass for thousands of people in St. Peter’s Basilica. It is the second Christmas season for the pope, who was elected last year as the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years.

He has brought an air of simplicity to the Vatican, refusing many of the trappings of office, and has made plain his determination to reform the Vatican and bring the Church’s hierarchy closer to rank-and-file Catholics.

In his homily, Francis, wearing white vestments, said Christmas is a time to remember that God’s message of peace “is stronger than darkness and corruption”

“The question put to us simply by the infant’s presence is, ‘Do I allow God to love me?'” he said. “Do we have the courage to welcome with tenderness the difficulties and problems of those who are near to us …?”

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pope-christmas-eve-urges-world-open-god-220124196.html

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Pope: Evolution, Big Bang are real

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Pope: Evolution, Big Bang are real

By Reuters

October 28, 2014 | 4:00pm

Scientific theories including the “Big Bang” believed to have brought the universe into being 13.7 billion years ago and the idea that life developed through a process of evolution do not conflict with Catholic teaching, Pope Francis said on Tuesday.

Addressing a meeting of the Pontificial Academy of Sciences, an independent body housed in the Vatican and financed largely by the Holy See, Francis said scientific explanations for the world did not exclude the role of God in creation.

“The beginning of the world is not the work of chaos that owes its origin to something else, but it derives directly from a supreme principle that creates out of love,” he said.

“The ‘Big Bang’, that today is considered to be the origin of the world, does not contradict the creative intervention of God, on the contrary it requires it,” he said.

“Evolution in nature is not in contrast with the notion of (divine) creation because evolution requires the creation of the beings that evolve,” the pope said.

https://nypost.com/2014/10/28/pope-francis-evolution-big-bang-do-not-contradict-gods-existence/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPFacebook&utm_medium=SocialFlow

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Pope makes strong, silent anti-abortion statement

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Pope makes strong, silent anti-abortion statement

generally avoided hot-button “culture war” issues like abortion, arguing that the church’s doctrine on the sanctity of life is well-known and that he’d rather emphasize other aspects of church teaching.

But he made a strong, albeit silent anti-abortion statement Saturday during his visit to South Korea, stopping to pray at a monument for aborted babies in a community dedicated to caring for people with the sort of severe genetic disabilities that are often used to justify abortions.

Francis bowed his head in prayer before the monument — a garden strewn with simple white wooden crosses — and spoke with an anti-abortion activist with no arms and no legs.

He also spent an hour blessing dozens of disabled Koreans who live in the Kkottongnae community, founded by a priest in the 1970s to take in disabled children and adults abandoned by their families. There is still tremendous stigma and discrimination against people with disabilities in South Korea, and supporters of the Kkottongnae community argue that if it didn’t take these people in, no one would.

https://news.yahoo.com/pope-makes-strong-silent-anti-abortion-statement-091221661.html

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Pope breaks rules as he washes feet of disabled people in pre-Easter ritual

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Pope breaks rules as he washes feet of disabled people in pre-Easter ritual

ROME – Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 disabled and elderly people Thursday – women and non-Catholics among them – in a pre-Easter ritual designed to show his willingness to serve others like a “slave.”

Francis’ decision in 2013 to perform the Holy Thursday ritual on women and Muslim inmates at a juvenile detention center helped define his rule-breaking papacy just two weeks after his election. It riled traditionalist Catholics, who pointed to the Vatican’s own regulations that the ritual be performed only on men since Jesus’ 12 apostles were men.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-breaks-rules-as-he-washes-feet-of-disabled-people-in-pre-easter-ritual/