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LIMA — It was more than just an answer to prayer. A US military mission that cornered and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan was nothing short of a miracle, said Peru's President Alan Garcia, who attributed the divine intervention to newly beatified pontiff John Paul II. "His first miracle has been to rid the world of this incarnation of evil, this demon of hatred and criminality," the Peruvian leader said, referring to the Al-Qaeda leader. The late John Paul II showed uncanny timing, with his miracle falling on the very same day as a Rome ceremony beatifying him. Pope...

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump knelt in prayer behind the scenes during their visit to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, DC, on Tuesday. A behind-the-scenes photo posted on Melania Trump’s Instagram showed the Trumps kneeling in prayer inside the shrine.

Pope Francis has marked the “day for life” in Italy by adopting the abortion lobby’s euphemism “interruption of pregnancy” in place of language that accurately describes the killing of unborn children. In his message the Holy Father does speak some welcome words, encouraging “courageous educational action in favour of human life” and reminding the gathered crowds that “every life is sacred”. Unfortunately rather than refer to abortion he adopts terminology used by the abortion industry. In fact, the form of words used by Pope Francis is specifically condemned by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae:“Especially in...

This is a perfect example of what the left thinks of the Catholic Church. In their eyes the church is an evil entity that abuses and molests children. And, now they’re smearing the pope as the molester in chief. Obama lackey, Huffington Post contributor and author Keli Goff compared cop-killer promoting poet Common, a member of Barack Obama’s former radical church, to the "child molester enabling" Pope Benedict. What an outrageous statement.

One of the greatest moments in the history of faith was also one of the greatest moments in modern political history. It happened in June 1979. Just eight months before, after dusk on Oct. 16, 1978, a cardinal had stepped out onto the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica to say those towering, august words, "Habemus papem"—"We have a pope." The cardinal pronounced the new pontiff's name in Latin. Not everyone understood or could hear him, and the name sounded odd. For 456 years the church had been electing Italian popes. This didn't sound Italian. The crowd was perplexed. Then the...

The John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C. Ann Arbor, Mich., Oct 26, 2010 / 02:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- To accommodate their rapidly growing community, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist announced today that they will purchase the financially beleaguered John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C. near the Catholic University of America.The center, which was the brainchild of the now retired Archbishop of Detroit, Cardinal Adam Maida, has been beset by numerous financial difficulties over the years. Intended to be a museum and Catholic intellectual hub, the center borrowed heavily from the Archdiocese...

The late Pope John Paul II, who has been put on the fast track to sainthood by the Vatican, regularly whipped himself as an act of penance to feel closer to God, and signed a secret document saying that he would step down as pontiff if he became incurably ill, according to a new book. "Why a Saint?" by Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the Vatican "postulator" in charge of the canonization process, says the Polish-born Pope performed self flagellation as a bishop in Krakow and continued to do so in the Vatican after being elected Pope in 1978. "In his wardrobe,...

  Last week, I chronicled something of the bafflement that ensued as I was confronted with the weirdly malleable term "neo-Catholic." Judging from the combox discussion that followed, many readers share the tremendous confusion surrounding the term. Did it denote converts or those who loathe converts? Was it code for "neocon" or for non-neocon? Was it meant to denote a political or theological group? Was it a floor cleaner or a dessert topping? So many questions!   In response to my bafflement over the meaning of the term, one of my readers finally replied:   In the past, when...

John Paul Home to Honor Holocaust Victims By VANESSA GERA Associated Press Writer © 2006 The Associated Press WARSAW, Poland — The home where Pope John Paul II was born and raised will soon include a memorial to Jewish Holocaust victims, the site's previous owner said Saturday. Ron Balamuth, an American who inherited the property from his Jewish grandparents, who were killed in a Nazi death camp, sold the home Wednesday to a Polish businessman. Balamuth sold the 19th-century house in Wadowice to the foundation of Ryszard Krauze on the condition that it establish a memorial to Jews killed by...

Pope John Paul II's last words before his death were "let me go to the house of the Father", according to documents released by the Vatican.His words were spoken in his native Polish to aides hours before he died last April. They are preserved in a new 220-page volume which chronicles the last two months of the late pontiff's life. It is the first time the Vatican has published such a detailed account of any pope's final moments. Parkinson'sCorrespondents say the report is an unprecedented move, as the death of a pope has always been surrounded by secrecy. The book...

Pope John Paul II and President Bush during their first meeting at the Pontiff's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, in July 2001. (AP Photo / Arturo Mari) No one would mistake John Paul II for an evangelical Protestant. But he contributed to a dramatic warming of relations between evangelicals and Catholics that may mark a turning point not only in American politics but in the history of Christianity. DURING THE 1960 presidential campaign, leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals - including Harold John Ockenga of Boston's historic Park Street Church - joined other Protestants in warning the nation...

To Catholics, the passing of John Paul II meant they lost one Pope - a beloved and popular one. But they know that they will soon have another. There is a long (and complicated) chain of succession going back to the early days of Christianity, and that sense of continuity will sustain them. One Pope is gone, but Mother Church continues. But I'm not a Catholic. According to my beliefs, the office of Pope holds no particular authority; I have no stake in the succession; Pope John Paul II was never the leader of my church. And yet ... I...

VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace as archbishop of Boston over his role in the clergy sex abuse crisis, has been given a role of honor in the mourning for Pope John Paul II. The Vatican announced Thursday he will lead one of the daily Masses celebrated in the pope's memory during the nine-day period that follows the funeral, called Novemdiales. The service will be held Monday at St. Mary Major Basilica, where Law was appointed archpriest after leaving Boston. Some Catholics in his former archdiocese immediately protested. Suzanne Morse, spokeswoman for Voice of the Faithful,...

THE WASHINGTON POST'S COVERAGE of Pope John Paul II today featured on page 1, among other things, a news "analysis" by Hanna Rosin. It had a promising title, "His Legacy: A Papacy and Church Transformed." Yet by the fifth paragraph of her 2,000-word piece, one got the impression that Ms. Rosin doesn't think much of John Paul II's legacy:  For those who expected more from the modernization--American priests ordained in the 1960s, say, Catholic women who wanted to be priests or Latin American leaders who wanted a partner in revolution--the pope not only betrayed his promise but locked the church...

John Paul II was beloved by Protestants, too, because he was the world's greatest defender of orthodox, Bible-based Christianity.EVANGELICAL PROTESTANTS loved Pope John Paul II. Many felt more in harmony with him than with the leaders of their own denomination. I attend an Episcopal church and I certainly preferred the Pope. He was the world's greatest defender of orthodox, Bible-based Christianity. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and possibly a majority of its bishops are among the great diluters of classical Christianity.The truth is evangelicals could admire the Pope without wanting to convert to Catholicism. Sure, important differences remained...

Boyhood friend holds good thought for pontiff LAKES OF THE FOUR SEASONS: Karol Hagenhuber attended school with the man who would be pope This story ran on nwitimes.com on Friday, April 1, 2005 12:57 AM CST Times Staff Report LAKES OF THE FOUR SEASONS | Karol Hagenhuber, 85, of Lakes of the Four Seasons, did not have to seek out news on the pope's illness, the news came to him. The boyhood friend of Karol Wojtylya, who later became Pope John Paul II, found his phone ringing Thursday afternoon. "Channel 9, WGN called me first," said Hagenhuber, who has been...

Humor Helps Pope Deal With Health Crises Sat Feb 26, 4:40 PM ET Europe - AP By JOJI SAKURAI, Associated Press Writer VATICAN CITY - As Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II struggles with his second health crisis in a month, he is displaying something not usually associated with the dignity and solemnity of his office: a sense of humor. "What did they do to me?" was the quip Vatican (news - web sites) aides say he scrawled on a piece of paper Friday after he woke up following surgery to ease his breathing problems. Ahead of the...

Pope John Paul II, recently hospitalized with the flu, is being returned to the hospital, wire services report. Details soon.