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THE Vatican has begun a historic move to rehabilitate the leftist Catholic movement known as “liberation theology” as the Pope refocuses the church on the poor. L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official newspaper, devoted its centre spread to defending the virtues of liberation theology, which had been anathema since the Cold War. “With a Latin American Pope, liberation theology could not remain for long in the shadows to which it has been relegated for some years, at least in Europe,” wrote Ugo Sartorio, a priest and editor of a Catholic magazine. Father Sartorio even argued in his piece yesterday that, while...

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has written a letter to President Vladimir Putin of Russia as he prepares to host this year's G20 summit in St. Petersburg. Below is the full text of the Pope's letter to President Putin. To His ExcellencyMr Vladimir PutinPresident of the Russian Federation "In the course of this year, you have the honour and the responsibility of presiding over the Group of the twenty largest economies in the world. I am aware that the Russian Federation has participated in this group from the moment of its inception and has always had a positive role to...

(Vatican Radio) May we “continue and intensify the commitment to ecumenism, encounter and dialogue towards full communion:” with that message, Pope Francis on Thursday welcomed in the Vatican Baselios Paulose II, Catholicos of the East and Metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Tracey McClure reports: In his remarks to the Catholicos, Pope Francis recalled the efforts of his predecessor John Paul II and the former Catholicos Moran Mar Baselios Marthoma Mathews I which led to the creation in 1990 of an ongoing commission which has laid out agreements for the “common use of buildings of worship and cemeteries,...

September 5, 2013 (Romereports) Pope Francis is exhausting all efforts to avoid a military strike on Syria. The latest is a the letter he wrote to the world leaders at the G-20 summit, that is underway in St. Petersburg, Russia. With strong words, Francis wrote that ever since the start of the conflict, “one-sided interests” have interfered with finding a “solution that would have avoided the senseless massacre now unfolding.” Francis addressed each and everyone of the G20 leaders and asked them to “lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution.” The Vatican spokesman presented the letter during a...

Pope Francis sent a letter to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin that is chairing the St. Petersburg G20 Leaders’ Summit, asking to ‘find a solution and prevent the massacre in Syria’, according to reports by Holy See’s press service. “The G20 leaders cannot remain inactive in the shadow of the Syrian people’s tragedy that threatens with more suffering the whole region in need of peace. I address to all urging to overcome divisions and refuse from any kind of solution by force,” the leader of the Roman Catholic Church wrote, pointing to the ‘duty’ of all states to provide humanitarian aid...

VATICAN CITY September 5, 2013 (AP) By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press Pope Francis urged the Group of 20 leaders on Thursday to abandon the "futile pursuit" of a military solution in Syria as the Vatican laid out its case for a negotiated settlement that guarantees rights for all Syrians, including minority Christians. In a letter to the G-20 host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Francis lamented that "one-sided interests" had prevailed in Syria, preventing a diplomatic end to the conflict and allowing the continued "senseless massacre" of innocents. "To the leaders present, to each and every one, I make a heartfelt...

Pope Francis bowed before Queen Rania of Jordon, who was visiting the Vatican with her husband, King Abdullah II, breaking once again with protocol that requires visitors to bow to him when they see him at the Holy See. "Up until the 19th century visitors would kiss the pope's shoes, and the tradition is still that all visitors, women included, bow to him, but Francis behaves as he did before he became pope and is not interested in protocol," U.K.'s The Daily Telegraph quoted a senior Vatican official as saying. The leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide bowed to Queen...

Syrians fleeing violence in their country wait to cross the border into the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq Aug. 25. (CNS photo/Azad Lashkari, Reuters) In a region that has seen increasing threats to ancient Christian communities, the Catholic Church is helping many of the two million refugees of Syria’s civil war. Besides physical aid, Church workers offer the Syrians the simple truth that they haven’t been forgotten—that they are loved and will be cared for. Most refugees are Muslim, children Sean Callahan, the Chief Operating Officer for Catholic Relief Services (CRS)—the humanitarian arm of the United States Conference of...

Pope Francis announces global prayer vigil for peace on Sept. 7By Kerri Lenartowick  Pope Francis celebrates Palm Sunday Mass on March 24, 2013 in St. Peter's Square. Credit: Sabrina Fusco/CNA.Vatican City, Sep 1, 2013 / 07:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Departing from his typical reflections on the Sunday gospel, Pope Francis used his Angelus audience today to call for peace throughout the world, particularly in conflict-ridden Syria.“I appeal strongly for peace, an appeal which arises from the deep within me,” he said to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 1.“There are so many conflicts in this world which cause...

I was watching hannity tonight and varney was hollering about the moral outrage over the 400 kids killed by gas attack in Syria and that we had to do something. Heck, the United States kills 100,000 unborn children a month and has done so since 1973. And it's all "legal"! Imagine the confusion on the part of the Syrians. Why the sudden concern over children when the US kills far more than they do. To quote bammy's pastor.....America's chickens have come home to roost.

The secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace told Vatican Radio that “the conflict in Syria has all the ingredients to explode into a war of global dimensions.” Asked to comment on “the fear expressed by many voices in the Church that an attack on Syria would extend the violence throughout the region,” Archbishop Mario Toso said that the Pope has condemned “war that is conducted with the use of indiscriminate weapons and affects primarily the defenseless civilian population. It is never the use of violence that leads to peace." “No one would come out of it unharmed...

Beijing ( AsiaNews) - The appeal of Pope Francis for peace in Syria "is wise and true, and we Chinese are with him . We do not want to see conflicts in the Middle East any longer, we are opposed to any attack by the United States against the government Damascus. As the pontiff said War begets war, violence begets violence.' Pope Francis, thank you for these words".  These are the thoughts of two senior Chinese government officials, who want to remain anonymous who have spoken to AsiaNews about Francis' appeal at yesterday's Angelus and more generally the figure...

AFP - Pope Francis has called for the world to unite in a day of fasting and prayer for Syria on Saturday and said "God and history" would judge anyone using chemical weapons. "May the cry for peace enter the hearts of everyone so that they may all lay down their weapons," the pope told thousands of pilgrims at the Vatican on Sunday.

The Pope has once again shown his willingness to break with tradition by bowing to Muslim royal Queen Rania of Jordan. As leader of the world's 1.2billion-strong Catholic community, protocol usually dictates that visitors bow to him when they meet him at the Vatican. But when Rania came to the Holy See with her husband King Abdullah II on Thursday, he inverted that formality by lowering his head to her. He made no discernible bow toward her husband, the king. The Jordanian royals were leaving following a private audience with the pope in his library. 'Francis behaves as he did...

As head of state at the Vatican, not to mention the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, protocol requires visitors to bow to him when they meet him at the Holy See. But Francis, who has made the forgetting of formalities a trademark of his papacy, bowed when he met a smiling Rania as she visited the Vatican with her husband King Abdullah II on Thursday. "Up until the 19th century visitors would kiss the pope's shoes, and the tradition is still that all visitors, women included, bow to him, but Francis behaves as he did before he became...

Alejandra Pereyra, 44, said she felt she had been “touched by the hand of God” after receiving the phone call from Pope Francis. Pereyra wrote to the Pope, who was archbishop of Buenos Aires before being elected pontiff in March, about 10 days ago. She said that after she had been raped by a policeman, Argentinean authorities tried to suppress her complaint and that the perpetrator had received a promotion. She was amazed to hear from the 76-year-old Pope personally when he called her on Sunday using a landline from the Vatican. They talked for approximately 30 minutes, during which...

Joel Osteen and Pope Francis August 27, 2013 By Fr. Dwight Longenecker 7 Comments Joel Osteen the prosperity preacher from Houston has just moved up from his $2m mansion to a $10m mansion. Here’s the news.This is one of the things that tickle me about American Protestantism. These are the folks who have traditionally beat the Catholics with a big stick about the Pope living in a palace surrounded by rich art works.The other thing is the way Protestants will beat up on Catholics for having a highly exalted infallible leader who is treated like a celebrity. Duh. The problem...

The Holy Spirit assures us, through the Apostle St. Paul, that Christ is the head of the body which is the Church, while we are the members that suffer together and rejoice together: "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together." (1 Corinthians 12: 26). Which makes it all the more disturbing that Pope Francis, before his election to the Chair of Peter, asserted that private homosexual unions do not affect third parties or society in general. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that, "..In the sanctorum communio, 'None of us lives...

On March 13, 2013, around 12:25 pm, I was standing behind a podium in a classroom at the law school at the University of Colorado in Boulder. I was speaking there at the invitation of the school’s Federalist Society. Unexpectedly, in mid-sentence, my cell phone vibrated. I pulled it out of my pocket, flipped it open, and saw on the screen, “New Pope has been elected.” It was a text from my wife, Frankie, and was followed by similar texts from my three siblings and a phone call from my parents, who, wisely, don’t text. Seconds later, from the...

Sentiments Conveyed in Letter of Papal Greeting to Knights’ International Convention Greeting(SAN ANTONIO) – Pope Francis praised the charitable works of the Knights of Columbus and encouraged the organization to defend the sanctity of marriage, the dignity of life, the beauty and truth of human sexuality, and the rights of believers.The pope’s sentiments are contained in a letter of greeting to the Knights’ 131st annual convention, now taking place in San Antonio.The letter, which was sent by Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone on behalf of Pope Francis, expressed the Pope’s “esteem for the ideals of faith and fraternity...