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The Pope 'played a very important role' in opening up a dialogue between the United States and Cuba, says President Barack Obama. 'The Pope doesn't wield armies. He can't impose sanctions, but he can speak with great moral authority, and that makes a difference,' the U.S. president said in an interview that aired today on Good Morning America. 'And it certainly made a difference in this case,' he added.

>The conclusion of an agreement to normalize diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba has the White House treading cautiously, especially after bipartisan condemnation from Cuban-American Senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez. The latter, who chaired the Foreign Relations Committee until yesterday, accused Barack Obama of “vindicat[ing] the brutal behavior of the Cuban government” and of “set[ting] an extremely dangerous precedent.” Menendez is of course a Democrat and ostensibly an ally of the White House on foreign policy.In anticipation, at least one official in the Obama administration has decided it’s better to share the credit, and preferably with someone whose...

Among other things, the questionnaire asked how the church can care for families with gay children and discern "positive and negative elements" in heterosexual civil unions. It also asked how the church can better provide sacraments for Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the church. Church teaching holds that without an annulment, or a church decree that the first marriage was null, such Catholics are living in sin and are thus ineligible to receive communion. Francis has sought to end what he calls "de facto excommunication" for these Catholics, and the issue was a source of heated debate during the...

ROME – On his flight back to Rome after visiting Turkey, the Roman Catholic Pontiff known as Pope Francis told reporters that Islam should not be equated with terrorism and violence–a statement that some may disagree with considering the teachings of the religion. “On Islamophobia, it is true that when one sees these terrorist acts, not only in this region, but also in Africa, there is this reaction [of], ‘If this is Islam, I am going to get angry,'” he said. “And so many Islamic people are offended.” “Many, many [Muslims] say, ‘No, we are not this. The Koran is...

Pope Francis equated Christianity with Islam while leaving Turkey. “We have our share of fundamentalists” too. The pope also said fighting poverty and hunger were key to defeating Islamist killers. Ugh. The Jerusalem Post reported: Pope Francis said Sunday that equating Islam with violence was wrong and called on Muslim leaders to issue a global condemnation of terrorism to help dispel the stereotype. Francis, the leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, told reporters aboard his plane returning from a visit to Turkey that he understood why Muslims were offended by many in the West who automatically equated their religion with...

The Chinese government has proposed a cooperative arrangement with the Vatican regarding the appointment of Catholic bishops. The Beijing regime has clashed repeatedly with Rome over the appointment of bishops. The Vatican insists that all bishops must be appointed with a mandate from the Holy See, and has announced the excommunication of Chinese bishops appointed without that mandate. China, on the other hand, claims that the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association should appoint bishops. In his 2007 letter on the Church in China, Pope Benedict XVI said that the universal Church cannot recognize the authority of a group like the Patriotic...

I found it very suspect that our King plus a huge trade delegation visited Japan a day before Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda announced the new extreme surprise round of stimulus. Gold Repatriation Stunner: Dutch Central Bank Secretly Withdrew 122 Tons Of Gold From The New York Fed http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-21/gold-repatriation-stunner-dutch-central-bank-secretly-withdrew-122-tons-gold-new-yor Need Tips on Sticking to your Trade Plan? Global Consequences The impact of the Dutch gold repatriation can be huge. First of all, because it underlines more and more countries are getting nervous about their gold reserves stored in the US. Venezuela repatriated most of its reserves from abroad in...

It’s no secret that liberals adore Pope Francis. The more secular the “progressive,” the greater the reverence for the new man in the Vatican. Liberals—which includes liberal Catholics and Protestants as well as secularists—see the pontiff as the long-awaited liberator of the reactionary Roman Catholic Church.And yet, if you think about it, there aren’t many things they actually want from Francis. What kind of wish-list do they have in mind as they celebrate his arrival? Francis is not calling for women priests, for abortion-on-demand, or for clowns dancing at the altar during consecration of the Eucharist. Sure, they relish his...

Pope Francis warned Thursday that planet earth would not forgive the abuse of its resources for profit, urging the world's leaders to rein in their greed and help the hungry -- or risk a doomsday scenario in which nature would exact revenge. "God always forgives, but the earth does not," the Argentine pope told the Second International Conference on Nutrition (CIN2) in Rome, a three-day meeting aimed at tackling malnutrition, a global scourge which afflicts poor and rich alike. "Take care of the earth so it does not respond with destruction," he warned representatives from 190 countries gathered for...

The pro-abortion fanatics from the activist group Femen are at it again. This time they took to St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican to make their views known and grab attention. Not only did they bare their breasts at the home of the Catholic Church, they simulated anal sex using crucifixes. Authorities quickly arrested them. Femen, the women’s rights group known for topless protests, took their act to a new level of provocation on Friday with an explicitly sexually suggestive demonstration in front of the Vatican. In what they described as a protest over Pope Francis’s upcoming visit to...

Shortly after Brittany Maynard took her own life, a leading Catholic Church official said assisted suicide was “reprehensible” because it violated the dignity of human life. Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, the head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said “dignity is something other than putting an end to one’s own life,” when asked about Maynard’s decision to kill herself. Carrasco de Paula said “Brittany Maynard’s act is in itself reprehensible, but what happened in the consciousness we do not know.” brittanymaynardHe cautioned that he was not judging individuals “but the gesture in and of itself should be condemned.”...

Brittany Maynard’s mother is responding angrily to the Vatican's criticism of Maynard’s decision to end her life early under an Oregon law written to let terminally ill patients die on their own terms. […] Maynard’s mother, Debbie Ziegler, issued a sharp written response Tuesday. She says the Vatican official’s comments came as the family was grieving and were “more than a slap in the face.” …

In his latest bid to ease the suffering of the poor — and upend the expectations of the papacy — Pope Francis plans to build showers for the homeless under the sweeping white colonnade of St. Peter’s Square. A homeless man sits close to where the showers are going to be built in St. Peter’s square. Photo via Josephine McKenna/RNS Related Reading VIDEO: Our Neighbors in the Pews by The Editors Left Behind by John A. Zukowski Compassion in the Stacks by Brittany Shoot Forty Shades of Green by Sean McDonagh The Rich Get Richer by Julie Polter Three showers...

Just at first glance, and without looking it up on Google Translate, what is the difference between these two passages of a recent important Vatican document, the final “Relatio” from October’s Extraordinary Synod of Bishops? “…confronto alla luce del Signore Gesù per discernere le vie con cui rinnovare la Chiesa e la società nel loro impegno per la famiglia fondata sul matrimonio tra uomo e donna.” and “…facing the situation, with an eye on the Lord Jesus, to discern how the Church and society can renew their commitment to the family.” A little pared down, perhaps? The official Italian original...

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are gathering at a moment of turbulence for them and the American church, as Pope Francis moves toward crafting new policies for carrying out his mission of mercy - a prospect that has conservative Catholics and some bishops in an uproar. The assembly, which starts Monday in Baltimore, comes less than a month after Francis ended a dramatic Vatican meeting on how the church can more compassionately minister to Catholic families. The gathering in Rome was only a prelude to a larger meeting next year which will more concretely advise Francis on church practice. Still, the...

VATICAN CITY — American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who championed campaigns to deny Holy Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion, was removed by Pope Francis from another top Vatican post on Saturday. The removal of Burke as head of the Holy See's supreme court was widely expected in Catholic Church circles. While he was archbishop of St. Louis, from 2003 to 2008, he led fellow American bishops in campaigns to stop giving Holy Communion to Catholic politicians who support legalized abortion. He has questioned some of the pontiff's pronouncements and approaches. Last year, Francis took Burke off the Vatican's powerful...

Visitors to the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel will now be able to see its world-famous frescos in a new light – 7,000 new LED lights to be exact. ... “This type of LED lighting guarantees a homogeneous lighting, which is very precise and allows us to understand the Sistine Chapel as a whole and each fresco individually, in minute detail,” says the Director of the Vatican Museums, Antonio Paolucci. The non-intrusive, energy-saving bulbs have been concealed along the edges of the ledge which runs around the chapel. Positioned to match the frescoes’ pigments, they can be adjusted to different levels. “This...

Catholics around the world need to know that the Vatican communications machine is still doing its best to manipulate the results of the Synod on the Family. As can be seen from the link here and below to the relevant page on the Vatican website, all the preliminary and more liberal documents of the Synod are up there in multiple languages, while the only one that matters de jure - the final and official relatio which did not even propose - much less approve - Communion for divorced-and remarrieds or "welcome" for homosexuals and their "gifts", is posted only in...

The departure of Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke from the Apostolic Signatura has been rumored for weeks, but nothing official had been forthcoming. Yesterday, Burke himself confirmed it in an interview with Buzzfeed – kind of. Actually, when one reads Burke’s response, it sounds as if he still hasn’t heard anything official about his future: In the interview with BuzzFeed News, Burke confirmed publicly for the first time the rumors that he had been told Francis intended to demote him from the church’s chief guardian of canon law to a minor post as patron to the Sovereign Military Order of...

Pope Francis may believe that the current economic system is driving the world towards the “idolatry of money” but that won’t stop the Holy Father from getting some corporate dollars. The pope rented out the Sistine Chapel to Porsche for a private concert for 40 high paying tourists. The Catholic church did not reveal how much they would get from the event, but insists that the proceeds will go to the pope’s various charities. The event is part of a 5 day tour around Rome arranged by the Porsche Travel Club that costs about €5,000 ($6,400) a person. According to...