Fr Tom Uzhunnalil SDB who was released after 18 months of captivity in Yemen received the Mother Teresa Award for Social Justice by Harmony Foundation Mumbai on Sunday. Fr Tom despite having had the opportunity to leave the country chose to serve the elders of the Missionaries of Charity in Yemen. Harmony Foundation recognized his compassionate humanity and dedication and commitment to his work in a [...]
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has published a report entitled “The State of the World’s Children, 2017. Children in a Digital World.” The report examines the availability and impact of the Internet on children across the world. According to the report 79% of children have access to the internet, compared to 48% of the [...]
Five years have passed since Pope Benedict XVI posted the first Tweet on the official papal Twitter account: @Pontifex. That historic Tweet read: "Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart." Pope Francis in turn took up the [...]
Pope Francis on Sunday told the faithful that Advent is a time to make space for the coming Jesus in our lives. Speaking to the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis reflected on the reading of the day in which the prophet Isaiah said: “A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the [...]
Pope Francis reflected on the mystery of the Immaculate Conception at his Angelus address on Friday, December 8th, as the Church celebrates the Marian Solemnity. Ahead of the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, Pope Francis said the words of the angel Gabriel in the Gospel of Luke contain the key to understanding the Solemnity of the [...]
Pope Francis made his annual visit to Rome's Spanish Square on Friday to pray at the foot of the column and statue of the Immaculate Conception. A litany of present-day viruses and their corresponding antibodies: this was at the heart of Pope Francis’ prayer, offered to Our Lady on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, when he [...]
The new head of the Lutheran World Federation says the visit by Pope Francis to Sweden for the joint commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation marked a “turning point” in relations between the two world communions. Speaking just after an audience in the Vatican, Nigerian Archbishop Musa Panti Filibus said he and his delegation were encouraged by the pope’s words [...]
Pope Francis met on Thursday with the new president of the Lutheran World Federation, Nigerian Archbishop Musa Panti Filibus, focusing on common prayer as the key to Christian unity. Recalling his own visit to the Swedish cities of Lund and Malmo last year for the shared commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the pope said praying together purifies, strengthens [...]
Pope Francis before his General Audience on Wednesday, greeted a Palestinian delegation hosted by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Speaking to those gathered, the Pope told them that it was his hope “that your consultations may help to open a space of sincere dialogue for the benefit of all the members of Palestinian society, and [...]
December 5, 2017, Tuesday Friends, Here below is the text of the Editorial in the December 2017 Christmas edition of Inside the Vatican magazine. I cited at length a very beautiful and profound — and relevant — homily of Blessed John Henry Newman (photo left), because I felt that Newman, without knowing anything of our own [...]
