The urgent need for interreligious dialogue in Asia should be the highlight of the region's observance of the global "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity" taking place Jan. 18 to 25. Asia is the birthplace of most of the world's mainstream religions, including Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Judaism, and even Christianity.
What is important is to listen and discover where God wants to lead each one and “to live the vocation you have received” (Eph 4:1). “Angel of the Lord” is whoever supports the brother and helps him discern and continue along the path laid for him by God. To internalize the message, we repeat: “Lord, what do you want me to do? Help me to understand and to realize your plan of love.”
A global meeting on mercy, to be held in Manila later this month, is an "opportunity for healing" amid drug-related killings in the country. "It will be a healing for us, an opening that there is still hope for those whom we consider the least, the lost, and the last," said Bishop Ruperto Santos, coordinator of the World Apostolic Congress on Mercy.
Cardinal Tobin assumes his role in an uneasy time. He said that he hoped to lead with joy and transparency, and that he intended to encourage dialogue to bridge divisions. But he would go further if he believed that policies ran counter to the moral values that Jesus taught.
“If you’re there, you have to help me.” Those are the words that poet Sally Read said to an icon of Jesus in 2010. Read, a British poet and atheist, had stopped into a church in Santa Marinella, Italy. She felt burdened.
Reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach has donated some personal items to Caritas Manila to contribute to the Catholic Church's program for the poor this Christmas. "We are all doing this out of pure love and good faith," said the 2015 international beauty queen after meeting Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila on Dec. 12.
“The Big Bang theory, which is proposed today as the origin of the world, does not contradict the intervention of a divine creator but depends on it. Evolution in nature does not conflict with the notion of Creation, because evolution presupposes the creation of beings who evolve,” Pope Francis explained.
A Salford priest found an original way to promote the Pope’s special year of prayer and bring a breath of fresh air back into the sacrament of Confession. Fr Frankie Mulgrew responded to the Pope’s Year of Mercy by creating the “Mercy Bus”. This was an actual bus, which was driven around the Salford Diocese all through Lent earlier this year offering blessings and Confession wherever it stopped.
Archbishop Villegas said even people within the church "try to silence the institution" in its promotion of social justice and human rights. According to a report released by the organization, religious freedom has "deteriorated or was drastically hampered in 82 countries" between 2012 and 2014. The report also showed that Christians are currently the "most persecuted minority" in the world.
Parliament joined dozens of landmark sites across London and the UK. Key landmarks were lit in "the colour of blood" on Wednesday evening for the millions persecuted for their faith around the world. Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders took part in the Red Wednesday campaign organised by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) to highlight the lack of religious freedom around the world.
Justin Welby talked to Julie Etchingham during his latest visit to Rome about what links and what divides the Catholic Church and the Anglican Community. Pope Francis and Justin Welby had just signed a Common Declaration charting the next steps towards unity.
They came in their thousands, Catholic young people from 10 dioceses in northern Vietnam, to hear again the timeless messages of truth and mercy. More than 20,000 young Catholics attended the "Go and Do Likewise" gathering held by Vinh Diocese at the square in front of the Bishop’s House in Nghe An Province on Nov. 16-17.
P.U. Thomas was 17 years old when he was hospitalized for peptic ulcer. When he saw the hunger in the eyes of a patient in the next bed, he felt compelled to share the food his mother brought from home. From this simple act grew a life of service and a program that now feeds 5,000 people every day.
Kandhamal, the hilly tribal district in eastern India has witnessed several incidents of anti-Christian violence in the past two decades. In August 2008 marauding crowds of Hindu extremists murdered Christians, destroyed churches and convents, set fire to Christian homes and institutions and raped nuns, in what came to be known as the largest persecution of Christians in modern Indian history.
Young people are searching for meaning, and the best response is to go out to where they are, stop and listen to them and then call them to follow Jesus, the pope said Oct. 21.