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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, made his first visit to a mosque in New York City and it was the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center in Tompkinsville where he met with Muslim and other faith leaders. The cardinal spent more than two hours touring the mosque and the Miraj Islamic School and having lunch with about 40 clergy and laity. "I thank God that this day has arrived," the cardinal said. "I thank you for your welcome, I thank you for making me feel like a friend and a member of a family." The...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Two popes prayed together Friday at the Vatican, one Catholic and one Orthodox, in a sign of improving ties following the election of new leaders for both churches. Pope Francis welcomed the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, Pope Tawadros II, in the first such meeting at the Vatican in 40 years, saying his visit "strengthens the bonds of friendship and brotherhood" between the two churches. The Coptic and Catholic churches split in the fifth century over theocratic differences. Christians comprise about 10 percent of Egypt's population. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt counts...

Ecumenism is a hot topic right now, particularly dialogue with Islam. But whenever I consider dialogue and ecumenism with Islam I always come back to one question. What is the point? By this question, I don't intend sarcastic commentary that any and all dialogue is fruitless. I mean it at face value. To measure the success of any endeavor, you must know what it is we wish to achieve by it. So what do we hope to achieve with better dialogue with Islam? First, may I suggest that it is not possible to have fruitful dialogue with Islam itself, but...

The new Pope has reportedly said the Church universal needs Anglicans and that the Ordinariate is "quite unnecessary". In a note released after the election of the first ever pontiff from Latin America, the Anglican Bishop of Argentina and former Primate of the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, the Rt Revd Greg Venables said Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was "an inspired choice". "Many are asking me what is really like. He is much more of a Christian, Christ centered and Spirit filled, than a mere churchman. He believes the Bible as it is written. "I have been with him on...

There are an estimated 2 billion Christians in the world led by a variety of religious leaders from Patriarchs to Metropolitans, and for many Protestant denominations, the World Council of Churches. Yet for World Jewry, there is but one Christian leader who has counted the most: The pope. In the tumultuous 20th Century what popes said and did not say to and about Jews impacted directly on the destiny of the Jewish people. In 1904, Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism asked Pope Pius X to endorse the Jewish people’s return to the Holy Land. “We are unable to...

NEW YORK, March 13, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today welcomed the election of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina as the next Pope Francis. Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director issued the following statement: We congratulate the new Pope and wish him well in his important new responsibility. We believe that the election of Francis I is a significant moment in the history of the Church. We look forward to working with him to continue to foster Catholic-Jewish relations as we have with his predecessors. There is much in his record that reassures us about the future. Under...

Austin, Texas – Leaders from several Protestant denominations met with representatives from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last night to sign an ecumenical document agreeing to recognize each other’s baptisms. The document, entitled “These Living Waters: Common Agreement on the Mutual Recognition of Baptism,” has been approximately four years in the making. The Presbyterian Church USA was reportedly the first to deliberate the move, followed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.“The Common Agreement affirms that both Catholic and Reformed Christians hold that baptism is the sacramental bond of unity for the Body of Christ, which is to be performed...

From Our Store: Essays in Apologetics, Volume I (eBook) What is finally emerging as the sticking point between the Vatican and the Society of Saint Pius X is the question of the assent owed to the Second Vatican Council. This is now the subject of an important essay in L’Osservatore Romano by one of the key negotiators for the Vatican, the vicar general of Opus Dei, Msgr. Fernando Ocariz. Note that there is a link to the full text at the end of our news story, which itself includes substantial quotations.I hate to say I told you so, but Msgr. Ocariz...

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sep 30, 2011 / 12:51 am (CNA).- A leading Russian Orthodox official says the Eastern Orthodox churches have yet to resolve the question of authority among themselves, a condition for future progress on the issue of the papacy. “I would say that there are certain divergences, and there are different positions, of the Orthodox churches on the question of the primacy,” said Metropolitan Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, in a Vatican Radio interview following his Sept. 29 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at Castel Gandolfo. “As we...

Pope Benedict XVI is to rehabilitate Martin Luther, arguing that he did not intend to split Christianity but only to purge the Church of corrupt practices. Pope Benedict will issue his findings on Luther (1483-1546) in September after discussing him at his annual seminar of 40 fellow theologians — known as the Ratzinger Schülerkreis — at Castelgandolfo, the papal summer residence. According to Vatican insiders the Pope will argue that Luther, who was excommunicated and condemned for heresy, was not a heretic. Cardinal Walter Kasper, the head of the pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said the move would help...

A boozy Brooklyn man was hit with hate crime charges Sunday for pouring beer on a newlywed neighbor, calling her an "Arab terrorist" and pummeling her husband, police sources said. Following the seemingly unprovoked attack Saturday night in Mill Basin, Simchon Schwartz, 46, hid in a local synagogue and tried to fight off cops when they came to arrest him, sources said. The Hasid even kicked out a window of a police cruiser as he sat inside, whining that "the cuffs are too tight," a source said. "F---ing Arabs! F---ing terrorists!" Schwartz screamed when he grabbed his neighbor, Selda Turan,...

The Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church should accept each other not as rivals, but first and foremost as allies, working to protect the rights of Christians, said Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the ROC’s Department for External Church Relations in a speech at an international meeting of Christians in Wurzburg, Germany. "The future of Christianity in the third millennium depends on the joint efforts of the Orthodox believers and Catholics,’’ Hilarion said. Bishop Hilarion later expanded on his statement: “The idea of a strategic alliance with the Catholics is an old idea of mine. It came...

ROME (Zenit.org) -- "Welcome, Mr. President, this meeting of ours is very important," Benedict XVI told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Feb. 17 when the president visited the pope in the Vatican. These words underscore something of the visit's significance, Medvedev's first after the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Russia. It was at their first meeting in December 2009 that the president and pope agreed to upgrade existing ties to the level of full diplomatic relations. The customary press release from the Vatican's press office described Thursday's meeting in positive terms: "In the course of the...

St Francis and the Sultan: the making of a pious myth Jonathan Wright on a wonderful book that explains how a legendary meeting was reinterpreted over eight centuries 26 June 2009 St Francis of Assisi: His trip to Egypt became one of the centrepieces of Franciscan hagiography In September 1219, as yet another crusade was raging, Francis of Assisi popped across the military lines in order to talk with Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil of Egypt. We have no accurate idea of why he went or what was said but, in an important sense, this doesn't much matter. Here was a legendary...

Churches around the world kicked off on Tuesday The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. And ecumenical leaders are emphasizing that the week is "not just a nice occasion for friends to gather." Rather, "it is a time to give thanks to God for the gift and promise of unity, to be renewed in our ecumenical resolve by the assurance of God’s leading, and to recommit ourselves to participate in what God is doing to overcome the barriers between God’s children," said the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches. Churches will be praying and...

Fr. Franz Schmidberger: Above all the old who continuously try to revive the promise of the "Spirit of the Council". That means that the Counciliar ideology will sooner or later become obsolete. [kreuz.net] The Christ Child is the King of all times and lands. This was what the German District Superior of the Society of St. Pius X,, Father Franz Schmidberger said this Holy Night in a video speech.

UN Climate Conference (COP16) Cancun, Nov 29 - Dec 10, 2010According to this page: COP16 is the official name of the Cancun summit, which is the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The COP is the highest body of the UNFCCC and comprises environment ministers from 192 countries who have met once a year since the 1992 Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro.Once again, the UN brought together many "faith traditions" in the spirit of Religious Syncretism and Interfaith Dreams. And. They. Just. Won't. Ever. Stop. Not until Christianity has...

Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to meet with the new general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, on Saturday. Speaking ahead of the meeting at the Vatican, Tveit said he expected to discuss some of the challenges facing the global body of Christ, including ongoing efforts towards church unity and the plight of Christians in the Middle East. “It is important that we speak honestly in this meeting about the challenges we have,” Tveit said. “There are expectations for the ecumenical movement that have not been fulfilled, and there are tensions arising in...

Professor at the Catholic University of Munich is Sought by Police Germany. Sheich Abu Adam (40) who is the Egyptian Imam of the Darul Quran Mosque in Munich is alleged to have beaten one of his three wives so that she suffers from many bone breaks. This was according to the website of the 'Bayrischen Rundfunks'. The victim is 31 years old. She called the police by telephone. These came and freed the woman and brought her to the hospital. The Imam is wanted for the charge of causing dangerous physical harm. He serves as the well regarded guest of...

Through all epochs the Catholic Church and only the Catholic Church shows itself to be the Church of Christ. by Doctor Wolfgang Schüler Personified Representation of Mother Church (kreuz.net)The Communion-Ecclesiology of the early Church -- so far as I see -- never answered the question if the Church of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church are one and the same. Because this identity is self-evident to it.