The Vatican Secretary of State on Monday described the tone of his two-hour meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, as “very constructive”. Cardinal Pietro Parolin is on a four-day visit to Russia during which he is scheduled to meet the Russian Patriarch Kirill and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday [...]
Cardinal Pietro Parolin travels to Russia for a state visit on 21-24 August out of a desire to "build bridges and increase mutual understanding and dialogue" and to "multiply opportunities of encounter" with the Russian Orthodox Church. The Vatican's Apostolic Nuncio to the Russian Federation, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, made that assessment of the Secretary of State's [...]
(USCCB) The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe approved over $4.8 million in funding for 206 projects in 22 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Projects approved for funding include: * The Don Bosco Center for Education in Albania, founded 21 years ago, provides cultural, social, and academic resources [...]
July 29, 2016, Friday -- Again, Russia... Earthen Vessels.... "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves." —2 Corinthians 4:7 "As light was the beginning of the first creation; so, in the new creation, the light of the Spirit is his [...]
Speaking on Ukraine’s Suffering Population, Reminds Faithful of Initiative This Weekend for Church in Europe to Help Humanitarian Crisis During his weekly General Audience this morning in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis repeated his appeals to help the suffering nations of Ukraine and Ecuador. At the conclusion of the audience, Francis lamented, “Ukraine’s population has been [...]
April 6, 2016, Wednesday -- A Religious "Off-Ramp" for Ukraine? US Ambassador Pyatt Visits Rome An American official has made a quiet, important visit to the Vatican to discuss the situation in Ukraine. In a visit that has received no press attention up until now, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt (photo) was in Rome [...]
“My thoughts go out to all populations that thirst for reconciliation and peace” On this day that is, as it were, the heart of the Holy Year of Mercy, my thoughts go out to all populations that thirst for reconciliation and peace. I think in particular of the turmoil, here in Europe, of those who suffer [...]
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning! Today, we conclude the reading from the Gospel of John’s sixth chapter, with the discourse on the "Bread of Life", which Jesus delivered in the aftermath of the miracle of multiplication of the loaves and fish. At the end of that discourse, the great enthusiasm of the day before faded [...]
May 26, 2015, Tuesday — Dry Tinder On May 24-25, the IX sessional meeting of the Ordinary Council of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church was held at the Vatican. The meeting was chaired by Pope Francis. The meeting agenda included preparation of a draft text Instrumentum Laboris ("Guideline of Work") [...]
Qaroqosh, the Christian capital of Northern Iraq, the largest Christian city in the country, fell to an advancing Islamic terror army, ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), during the night of August 6 to August 7. The Kurdish fighters (the Peshmerga) and Assyrian allies defending the city decided they could not assure the safety of [...]