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HAEMI, South Korea (AP) -- Pope Francis made his strongest gesture yet to reach out to China on Sunday, saying he wants to improve relations and insisting that the Catholic Church isn't coming in as a "conqueror" but is rather a partner in dialogue.

During his apostolic voyage to South Korea, the Holy Father has not lost his ability to surprise.Yesterday, the 77-year-old Pontiff not only opted to take a high-speed train from Seoul to Daejeon rather than the scheduled-helicopter, but he also called in on Jesuits in the capital. To reach Daejeon after celebrating Mass on the feast of the Assumption, the Pope gave up the helicopter and preferred to board the KTX high-speed train, despite never having been on a high-speed train before.The train left the station shortly before 9am and covered the 90 miles between the two cities in 50 minutes.According to...

Pope Francis baptizes Hojin Lee on August 17, 2014. Credit: Preparatory Committee for the 2014 Papal Visit to Korea. Seoul, South Korea, Aug 17, 2014 / 01:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday morning Pope Francis baptized 62-year-old Lee Ho-Jin – the father of one of the victims from the Sewol Ferry tragedy earlier this year – who took on the baptismal name “Francis.” Vatican Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi reported that the baptism was celebrated in 20 minutes without Mass. It was officiated by a Korean priest, who is acting as the Pope's translator, with Pope Francis conducting the immersion and...

Joyce Rouse is an enthusiastic woman. Perhaps more well-known by her stage name, Earth Mama, Rouse is a singer/songwriter whose music combines what she calls her passion for the Earth with themes of spirituality. Born a Lutheran and now a Quaker, Rouse first became acquainted with women religious and the eco-spirituality movement when she began the master’s program in earth literacy at Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana. Since then, she says the Catholic sisters have taken her under their wing, sharing her music around the world and in their own contemplative practices. And from her booth in the exhibitor hall at...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) A nun who drew U.S. Catholic bishops’ ire with what they consider radical feminist writings fired back Friday (Aug. 15), saying their investigation of women’s orders is wasteful when financial mismanagement and sexual abuses are being covered up. Sister Elizabeth Johnson, a theology professor at Fordham University, accepted the Leadership Conference of Women Religious’ top award and then lambasted bishops for criticism of her book “Quest for the Living God,” saying it appears they’ve never read it. “To this day, no one, not myself or the theological community, the media or the general public knows what doctrinal...

First came the miracle. Then, 70 years ago Aug. 15, she laid the foundation for all that would follow. While millions of people glory in EWTN, the international broadcast empire Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation built — the one that has brought hope and healing to those inside and outside of the Catholic Church for more than 30 years — few appreciate that it all stands on a decision made by Mother Angelica when she was 21 years of age. Among the many impressive traits of Mother Mary Angelica, her willingness to embrace risk and even suffer in her...

Hours ago, Pope Francis began his first Apostolic visit to Asia. After an overnight flight from Rome, which took the Roman Pontiff through Chinese airspace—a first in the chronicles of the acts of the popes—the man from the “ends of the earth” landed at Seoul’s Incheon Airport and met and addressed (in English) South Korean President Park Guen-Hye and other dignitaries, including the President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, and the Primate of South Korea and Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang, Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung.No doubt the papal pilgrimage is of great and especial interest...

You may remember Andrew Keegan as the teen dad on "7th Heaven," the bad boy Zach in "Camp Nowhere" or the high school heartthrob/jerk in "10 Things I Hate About You." But for many, he's now the leader of a "spiritual movement" in Los Angeles' Venice Beach. Vice reports that the 35-year-old has made a major career transition and is now overseeing the new-age church Full Circle. Though even the members don't seem super certain of the mission statement of the religion, there is a talking parrot named Krishna and a guy named Third Eye who greets you at the...

The Church of the Holy Innocents, located on 37th Street (Photo by Kaitlyn Flannagan)Down the street from the lights and sounds of Times Square stands the oldest building in the Garment District, the Church of the Holy Innocents. Over the decades its neighborhood has evolved into the tangle of chain stores and litter that it is today while the almost 150-year-old church has remained mostly the same since the day it was built. Step inside and the din is somehow lost, replaced by the last quiet, peaceful haven for New York’s traditional Catholics.Yet what makes Holy Innocents truly unique is...

Pope Francis greets pilgrims in St. Peter's Square during the Wednesday General Audience, May 21, 2014. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA. Seoul, South Korea, Aug 15, 2014 / 12:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- This Saturday Pope Francis will baptize 62-year-old Lee Ho-Jin, the father of one of the victims from the Sewol Ferry tragedy earlier this year in which close to 280 mostly young students were killed. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told CNA that the Pope met with some of the family members from the ferry tragedy before a Mass with thousands of Koreans at the World Cup stadium in Daejon. He...

Pope Francis prays with journalists on the papal flight en route to South Korea, August 14, 2014. Credit: Alan Holdren/CNA. Daejeon, South Korea, Aug 15, 2014 / 04:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Addressing the division between North and South Korea, Pope Francis emphasized that the two are “one family,” calling for prayers of re-unification while stressing repentance and forgiveness. “There is only one Korea, but this family is divided,” the Pope said to a large gathering of young people from across the continent. His off-the-cuff comments came during an Aug. 15 gathering with youth of Asia at Solmoe Shrine, birthplace of...

Pope Francis speaks during his meeting with young people for Asian Youth Day August 15, 2014. Credit: EWTN. Daejeon, South Korea, Aug 15, 2014 / 04:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In an Aug. 15 meeting with Asian youth, Pope Francis emphasized the need to respond joyfully to God’s call in order to carry the hope of Christ to a world that desperately needs it. “Dear young friends, in this generation the Lord is counting on you!” he told throngs of young people from across the Asian continent. “Are you ready to say ‘yes’ to him? Are you ready?” “Just as the...

A Polish priest who carried out an exorcism on a teenage girl now claims he is being contacted by Satan - via text message. Father Marian Rajchel from Jaroslaw, south-eastern Poland, said he started receiving the hate messages after failing to drive the devil out of her soul. Now he believes that the demon is using the possessed teenager to attack him through a mobile phone. 'The author of these texts is an evil spirit who has possessed her soul', he said. 'Often the owners of mobile phones are not even aware that they are being used like this. However,...

(©ANSA) SEOUL - PRESIDENT PARK KEUN-HYE WELCOMES THE POPE TO SOUTH KOREANorth Korea fired a number of short-range rockets into the sea just as Pope Francis arrived in Seoul. Border security has been tightened. Meanwhile, Francis has sent a message to China. Upon his arrival in South Korea, Francis was welcomed by President Park Geun-Hye and also by three rockets. The Pope flew into Incheon airport in Seoul at 10:15 (local time) this morning for a five-day visit. North Korea fired three short-range rockets from a 300-millimeter multiple rocket launcher, into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), shortly before the...

University student Sun-Joo Pae assists international press at the KBS stand inside the media center at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul, South Korea. Credit: Elise Harris/CNA. Seoul, South Korea, Aug 14, 2014 / 12:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A journalist with South Korea’s leading radio and television network has voiced her joy at covering the papal visit, as well as her desire for his message of peace to lead the nation to a more hopeful future. “South Korea is (a) divided nation, so I think the Pope’s visit is important for us because he always cares about the people who are...

Pope Francis addresses the Korean Bishops' Conference in Seoul, South Korea on August 14, 2014. Credit: Alan Holdren/CNA. Seoul, South Korea, Aug 14, 2014 / 03:35 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On the first day of his historic papal visit to South Korea, Pope Francis urged local bishops to not only remember their rich history of martyrdom but look to the future with hope and missionary zeal. “As pastors, you are responsible for guarding the Lord’s flock. You are guardians of the wondrous works which he accomplishes in his people,” the Pope said in his Aug. 14 address to the country's Catholic...

My heart breaks as I write this....as I have posted before....my daughter has been fighting Heroin addiction. Yesterday....after entering sober living....she relapsed and OD'd. The medics brought her back....but we have no idea as to what to expect when we get to her....we are flying to her side as we speak... Please pray for our daughter...pray for us...to allow for God's will and grace to find and cover her in His healing.

Both in the United States and the Middle East, Christian and humanitarian aid groups are doing what they can to assist refugees fleeing Islamist militants in Iraq. Baron Johannes Freiherr Heereman von Zuydtwyck, executive president of Aid to the Church in Need, is leading a delegation to the Kurdish city of Irbil in northern Iraq, where tens of thousands of Christians from Mosul and villages in the Nineveh Plain were taking refuge. “We are here to show our solidarity,” said Regina Lynch, head of Aid to the Church in Need’s programming/grant-making department, in a telephone call from Irbil. “People...

In an interview with the Vatican Television Centre (CTV), the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, talked about the issues Pope Francis will be focusing on during his visit to Korea: evangelization in Asia, the Asian youth gathering, the beatification of 124 Korean martyrs who are examples of lay saints and he Pope’s call for dialogue and reconciliation between the two Koreas. In the full version of the interview, Cardinal Parolin also speaks of Asia’s desire for God, the significance of Pope Francis’ encounter with suffering Koreans, from the disabled to relatives of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster...

From CNS: The Vatican called on Muslim leaders to condemn the “barbarity” and “unspeakable criminal acts” of Islamic State militants in Iraq, saying a failure to do so would jeopardize the future of interreligious dialogue. “The plight of Christians, Yezidis and other religious and ethnic communities that are numeric minorities in Iraq demands a clear and courageous stance on the part of religious leaders, especially Muslims, those engaged in interfaith dialogue and everyone of goodwill,” said a statement from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue released by the Vatican Aug. 12. The full statement, from the Vatican: The whole world...