Vatican News

Pope Francis to host 'spiritual retreat' for leaders of war-torn South Sudan

Vatican City, Apr 4, 2019 / 12:23 pm (CNA).- The Vatican will host a “spiritual retreat” for South Sudan’s president and opposition leader as they navigate the peace process in the war torn country, a Vatican spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

Following a five-year civil war and a tenuous peace deal signed in September, the South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar will meet in Rome April 10.

Former Guam archbishop 'deeply saddened' by conviction, maintains innocence

Vatican City, Apr 4, 2019 / 11:01 am (CNA).- Emeritus Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Agaña said Thursday that despite the failure of his appeal and the confirmation of a conviction against him, he is innocent of sexual abuse against minors.

“I am deeply saddened by the decision of the Holy Father to confirm the decision of the court of first instance,” Apuron said in an April 4 statement on the announcement of his sentencing.

CDF upholds guilty verdict of Guam archbishop for abuse of minors

Vatican City, Apr 4, 2019 / 04:26 am (CNA).- The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced Thursday that, following an appeal, the Vatican's court has upheld last year's verdict finding an archbishop in Guam guilty of abuse of minors.

A release from the CDF April 4 said that Archbishop Anthony Apuron, 73, was found "guilty of delicts against the Sixth Commandment with minors."

The decision, made February 7, is considered final.

Pope Francis names Wilton Gregory to follow Wuerl at Washington archdiocese

Vatican City, Apr 4, 2019 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Thursday named Archbishop Wilton Gregory the Archbishop of Washington, succeeding Cardinal Donald Wuerl.

Archbishop Wilton Gregory, 71, is the Archbishop of Atlanta, where he has served since 2004.

Gregory will be the first African-American Archbishop of Washington, a historic milestone for the Church in the United States underscored by the April 4 anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination 51 years ago.

Pope Francis: God desires solidarity among Catholics and Muslims

Vatican City, Apr 3, 2019 / 06:33 am (CNA).- Reflecting upon his recent apostolic journey to Morocco, Pope Francis said Wednesday that God desires a greater sense of fraternity among Catholics and Muslims as “brother children of Abraham.”

“Some may ask, ‘But why does the pope visit the Muslims and not only the Catholics?’” Pope Francis said in St. Peter’s Square April 3.

Pope Francis asks youth for help in ‘preventing atrocities’ of abuse

Vatican City, Apr 2, 2019 / 09:40 am (CNA).- Pope Francis has called upon young people to be vigilant in the face of “horrible crimes” of clerical sexual abuse, and to confront priests “at risk” of betraying the trust of their office. The pope issued the plea in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation on youth, Christus vivit, published Tuesday.

 

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