AMMAN, Jordan (CNS) -- A shy 12-year-old Iraqi refugee boy waited with his parents and younger brother to register for the new school year. Someone measured him for the distinctive school uniform of maroon trousers and white striped shirt.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Before members of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon began packing their bags for the synod assembly at the Vatican Oct. 6-27, a variety of groups were announcing side events.
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BALLINTRANE, Ireland (CNS) -- When Pope Francis urged clerics to be so close to their flocks that they had the "smell of the sheep," he may not have had farms in mind. But visitors to Ireland's largest annual festival -- an agricultural show -- were invited to vote for the country's favorite prayer as part of the church's evangelization initiative.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church will endure, despite the frailty and sins of its members, because it is God's project, Pope Francis said. Continuing his series of audience talks about the Acts of the Apostles and the early Christian community Sept. 18, Pope Francis looked at the story of Gamaliel, a Pharisee who tried to teach members of the Sanhedrin a key aspect of "discernment," which is not to rush to judgment, but rather to allow time for something to show itself as worthy or not.
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Vatican City, Sep 16, 2019 CNA.- Prince Charles will attend the canonization of Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman next month. The heir to the British throne will travel to Rome to witness the canonization Mass of the first non-martyr English saint since the Reformation.
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Munich, Germany, Sep 16, 2019 CNA.- The head of the German bishops’ conference told Vatican officials last week that addressing controversial theological topics during the German bishops’ proposed “binding synodal path” will be a service to the universal Church.
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OXFORD, England (CNS) -- Thousands of documents relating to England's 19th-century convert-cardinal, Blessed John Henry Newman, are being released ahead of his Oct. 13 canonization, highlighting his role as a pastor and evangelist, said church experts.
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SYDNEY (CNS) -- Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted of child sexual abuse offenses, has lodged an application with Australia's High Court to appeal his guilty verdict.
Read moreVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors meeting in Rome said there was a continued need to make safeguarding consistently part of the life of the church around the world.
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Budapest, Hungary, Sep 12, 2019 CNA.- A European Union official who played a role in working for the release of Pakistani death row inmate Asia Bibi said the outcome shows the potential of international cooperation to promote religious freedom.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis said giving fragments of St. Peter's bones to the head of the church founded by Peter's brother, St. Andrew, was meant to be a reminder and encouragement of the journey toward Christian unity.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The German bishops' plans for a two-year process of consultation and deliberation on key issues facing the Catholic Church must conform to universal church law and must be approved by the pope, said the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- New bishops need to prepare for a life filled with God's surprises, with daily plans that change at the last minute and, especially, for a life dedicated to spending time with God and with the people, Pope Francis said.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Synod of Bishops for the Amazon will help the Catholic Church make its presence felt and voice heard in a region that is dangerously approaching "a point of no return," said the special secretaries of the synod.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Having gone to Africa as a pilgrim of peace and hope, Pope Francis said he hoped the seeds planted there by his visit would bear abundant fruit for everyone. Following in the footsteps of evangelizing saints before him, the pope said he sought to bring with him "the leaven of Christ" and his Gospel, which is "the most powerful leaven of fraternity, justice and peace for all people."
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While Pope Francis' comments on U.S. criticism of his papacy drew the biggest headlines during his visit to Africa, the Masses he celebrated in Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius drew the biggest crowds.
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ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM MADAGASCAR (CNS) -- No one really knows what the future of the news media will be, but it will have no future if reporters and the public cannot distinguish between facts and fiction, Pope Francis said.
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GENEVA (CNS) -- With increasing concerns worldwide about human rights violations in Nicaragua, a Vatican representative has called for an immediate return to negotiations and a rollout of reforms necessary to hold "free and transparent elections" there.
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NEGOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNS) -- Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has finally won a concession from Sri Lanka's government after widespread criticism of the investigation into the deadly Easter Sunday attacks. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe announced Sept. 6 that a new independent commission would be appointed as a direct result of the cardinal's plea, reported ucanews.com.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With one of the most important Marian feasts in Cuba falling just one week after it was announced Sept. 1 that he would be made a cardinal, Cardinal-designate Juan Garcia Rodriguez said he took the news as a sign of Mary's maternal love.
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ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM MADAGASCAR (CNS) -- Pope Francis told reporters he hoped and prayed the Catholic Church would not experience a new schism, but human freedom means people always have had and will have the "schism option."
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis appointed three delegate presidents for the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon. The pope named as delegate presidents for the Oct. 6-27 assembly Cardinals Baltazar Porras Cardozo, 74, of Merida, Venezuela; Pedro Barreto Jimeno, 75, of Huancayo, Peru; and Joao Braz de Aviz, 72, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
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ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (CNS) -- In Madagascar, where the destruction of the environment and the suffering of the poor are inextricably bound, Pope Francis urged government officials to promote development projects that protect nature.
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Vatican City, Sep 4, 2019 CNA.- Two cardinals have sent letters to fellow members of the College of Cardinals, raising concerns about the working document for an upcoming synod of bishops on the pan-Amazonian region.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Though Cardinal-designate Cristobal Lopez Romero was born in Spain, his dual citizenship with Paraguay has meant his friends in that South American country have been celebrating the fact that he will be their nation's first cardinal.
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MAPUTO, Mozambique (CNS) -- The Catholic Church's ministers -- including catechists and bishops -- are called to be realistic, to treasure the Christian identity and to never be afraid to move forward and try new ways to bring the Gospel to life, Pope Francis said.
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MAPUTO, Mozambique (CNS) -- With a courtesy and solemnity seldom seen at a gathering of opposing political leaders, Mozambican politicians came together a month before their general election to welcome Pope Francis and pledge to work for peace and the common good.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- More than 2 million people RSVP'd to a recent social media invitation to "storm" Area 51 in Nevada, in the hope of discovering whether alien life or spacecraft may be secretly stored at this U.S. Air Force base.
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ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO MOZAMBIQUE (CNS) -- Pope Francis told a reporter that it is "an honor when Americans attack me." The pope made his comments to Nicolas Seneze, a reporter from La Croix, the French Catholic daily newspaper, during the flight Sept. 4 from Rome to Maputo, Mozambique.
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SAO PAULO (CNS) -- After denouncing the record number of wildfires in the Amazon in August and the growing deforestation of the region, the Brazilian Catholic Church is pressuring the government to guarantee the safety of several Amazonian indigenous peoples, alerting the authorities of the imminent risk of genocide in northern Brazil.
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WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- Catholic bishops from Poland and Germany have warned that peace and unity are still needed in Europe, 80 years after the start of World War II. "Poland was the first victim, suffering six years' occupation, accompanied by untold cruelty and a destructive policy for exterminating the Polish nation, especially its Jewish population," said the joint statement, signed by Polish Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki and German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the two bishops' conference presidents.
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Vatican City, Sep 1, 2019 CNA.- Pope Francis begged the pardon of the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square Sunday, explaining that he was late because he had gotten stuck in a Vatican elevator and had to wait for help from the fire department.
Read moreVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis appointed an aide who served as his English interpreter and the former prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication to new posts. The Vatican announced Aug. 31 that the pope named Msgr. Mark Miles, a native of Gibraltar who worked in the Secretariat of State, as the Holy See's permanent observer to the Washington-based Organization of American States, also known as OAS.
Read moreVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Medical advancements do not help if they treat people as objects or when they are applied only to those people who are not considered a burden and "deserve" to be helped, Pope Francis said.
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DUBLIN (CNS) -- The Catholic Church in Ireland has confirmed that a woman who was seriously ill with multiple sclerosis experienced a complete healing of all her symptoms at Knock shrine in September 1989.
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MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- The "whole world" should put pressure on Pakistan to either scrap or reform its controversial blasphemy laws, said Asia Bibi, the Catholic mother freed after eight years on death row.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After the consistory to create new cardinals in early October, Pope Francis will have chosen more than half of the men who will enter the Sistine Chapel to elect his successor.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis announced he will create 13 new cardinals Oct. 5, choosing prelates from 13 different nations as a sign of "the missionary vocation of the church that continues to proclaim the merciful love of God to all men and women of the earth."
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While listening to and obeying God's word brings healing and comfort to those in need, it also can attract disdain and even hatred from others, Pope Francis said. Christians are called to proclaim the love of God through their care for the sick and the needy, like St. Peter and the other disciples who went to various cities bringing spiritual and physical healing to many, the pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square Aug. 28.
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FREIBURG, Germany (CNS) -- Responding to criticism of notes he published about the roots of the clerical sexual abuse crisis, retired Pope Benedict XVI said the fact that the critiques barely mentioned God proved his point.
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Canberra, Australia, Aug 26, 2019 CNA.- Cardinal George Pell will appeal his conviction to the Australian High Court, following the decision last week by the Court of Appeal in Victoria to uphold his conviction for child sexual abuse.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At a time when conflict and division dominate the world's headlines, people need to know there are a growing number of important initiatives to promote interreligious dialogue and understanding, Pope Francis said.
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KOLKATA, India (CNS) -- Missionaries of Charity nuns in India celebrated the birthday of their order's founder, St. Teresa of Kolkata, three years after her canonization, breaking a Catholic convention.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A life marked by humility, faith and love determines whether Christians enter heaven, not who they know, Pope Francis said. Before praying the Angelus prayer with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square Aug. 25, the pope said that the Lord will recognize those worthy of experiencing eternal joy if they have lived "a life of faith that translates into deeds" and not whether they have attended conferences or rubbed shoulders with church leaders.
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Vatican City, Aug 25, 2019 CNA.- The way to heaven is difficult and the gate to enter small, but Jesus’ mother, Mary, who herself entered through the narrow gate, will help those who ask, Pope Francis said Sunday.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Describing the Amazon rainforest as "vital for our planet," Pope Francis joined the regions bishops in praying for action to extinguish the massive fires burning there. "We are all worried about the vast fires that have developed in the Amazon," the pope said Aug. 25 after leading the recitation of the Angelus prayer. "Let us pray that with the commitment of all they will be brought under control quickly. That forest lung is vital for our planet."
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A patriotic love for one's country and culture does not mean closing off oneself to others, particularly those in need, said the Vatican foreign minister. "No one calls into question the sovereignty of a country, of a nation," Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican secretary for relations with states, told Vatican News Aug. 22.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- August is a long-awaited month for countless Romans who escape the sweltering heat and seek some good old-fashioned rest and relaxation at the beach or the mountains. Since the start of his papacy, though, Pope Francis has made it a point to stay in Rome and take on a reduced schedule rather than leave the confines of Vatican City to the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo like his predecessor.
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NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) -- Catholic doctors in Kenya have warned against a mass cervical cancer vaccination program for young girls, as the government accelerates plans to roll out the program in September.
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