Vatican News

Pope Francis urges Armenian Catholics to remember their martyrs

Vatican City, Sep 7, 2015 / 11:34 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Concelebrating Mass with the Armenian Patriarch of Cilicia on Monday, Pope Francis recalled how persecution has been constant in the Church, from the time of Christ's Passion until now.

“Perhaps more than in the early days,” Pope Francis said Sept. 7 during his homily at the Mass said at the chapel of the Vatican's St. Martha guesthouse, Christians “are persecuted, killed, driven out, despoiled, only because they are Christians.”

Pope: all European churches to welcome refugees during Year of Mercy

Vatican City, Sep 6, 2015 / 04:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis Sunday issued a strong appeal to the entire European Church – including the Vatican – to take in migrant families as part of the lead-in to the upcoming Jubilee of Mercy.

“Faced with the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees fleeing death on account of war and hunger, and who are traveling toward a hope for life, the Gospel calls us to be 'neighbors' to the smallest and abandoned, (and) to give them a concrete hope,” the Pope said Sept. 6.

Was the last synod 'rigged'? Tell-all book lets the reader decide

Vatican City, Sep 5, 2015 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- A new book about the 2014 Extraordinary Synod on the Family alleges evidence of a hidden agenda pushed by a handful of bishops in positions of influence.

“I felt it was important to investigate what happened, because I’d heard – and many people had heard – about these accusations and allegations of manipulation during the last synod,” said Edward Pentin, author of “The Rigging of a Vatican Synod?”

Pope Francis' message to Americans: be courageous, have solidarity

Vatican City, Sep 5, 2015 / 07:48 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a virtual audience with Americans Pope Francis heard emotive testimonies, told youth to be courageous in the face of life’s hardships, and stressed the need for greater solidarity in world racked with many problems.

The videoconference was held Aug. 31, and was hosted by ABC News. It aired on ABC News’ “20/20” at 10:00 p.m. ET Sept. 4, and is available online in English and Spanish.

Pope Francis to Israeli president: 'the challenge is to unite'

Vatican City, Sep 4, 2015 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis held an audience with Israeli president Reuven Rivlin on Thursday, where they exchanged gifts and discussed efforts to secure peace and to address the plight of Middle East Christians.
 
Pope Francis gave the Israeli president a new bronze medal at the Sept. 3 audience. On the medal was a depiction of a rock split into two parts, but joined by an olive tree. The medal bore the words: “Search for what unites. Overcome what divides.”

Are dialogue and reconciliation with the SSPX part of the Jubilee for Mercy?

Vatican City, Sep 3, 2015 / 02:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis' decision that during the Jubilee Year of Mercy the faithful can receive absolution from priests of the Society of St. Pius X is the most recent attempt at reconciliation with the priestly society, according to a Vatican official.

The decision must be understood as Pope Francis extending his arm to the SSPX, a Vatican official who has taken part in talks between the Vatican and the society told CNA Sept. 2.

On WWII anniversary, Pope says 'never again' to war, condemns arms trafficking

Vatican City, Sep 2, 2015 / 05:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis remembered the official end of the Second World War on Wednesday with the plea: “never again,” and he decried similar horrors from today’s bloody conflicts, denouncing weapons trafficking.

The Pope recounted Sept. 2 today’s victims of war: “The persecuted minorities, the persecuted Christians, the insanity of destruction and the manufacturing and trafficking of weapons, bloodstained weapons, weapons soaked in the blood of many innocent (people).”

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