2014-12-09T09:02:00+00:00

Karachi, Pakistan, Dec 9, 2014 / 02:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archdiocese of Karachi last month launched Pakistan's first Catholic radio station online, focused on the spirit of the new evangelization and aimed at spreading faith in the country. Archbishop Joseph Coutts voiced hope that “the radio will plant seeds which will sprout and grow as listeners will learn the message of Jesus Christ” at the Nov. 22 launch at St. Patrick's Boys' High School in Karachi. More than 1,000 laity were present at the launch of FM 777 – Media for Jesus, along with priests, religious, and Archbishop Emeritus Evarist Pinto. “My vision is simple, but very strong: to use media for Jesus, to evangelize everyone,” said Fr. Arthur Charles, the brain behind the project, said. “We are committed to spreading the message of Jesus Christ our Lord and the teachings of the Church to the world through media … this radio station is sure to enrich the lives of our listeners in our country and beyond,” he told CNA Dec. 4. Fr. Charles, who is director of social communications for the Karachi archdiocese, said that with the advent of broadband, online radio “offers opportunities” that beat out the traditional radio format. With a team of seven volunteers, FM 777 broadcasts content 24/7 through live streaming, with podcasts of programs always available for access. “FM 777 is more than just talk radio,” Fr. Charles said. “It's a platform for illuminating informative subjects, covering life seen through the lens of Scripture, coupled with the teachings and canonical tradition of the Church.” Talk shows will feature guest speakers discussing social issues, global events, politics affecting matters of faith, the Church, interreligious affairs, current events, journeys to faith, theology, and apologetics. Many segments will be aired in both European languages including English, and Asian languages including Tamil, Konkani, Hindi, and Arabic. Music heard on the station features lyrics in Latin, Arabic, Tamil, and Urdu, among other languages. “We give thanks for all that God has done and commit the radio project into his hands,” said Archbishop Coutts. “Hopefully people in the country and all over will receive a message of hope along with information to enhance their lives in peace, love, and harmony.” Archbishop Pinto congratulated Fr. Charles and his team, calling FM 777 “a significant milestone” and praying that Christ might bless the venture “to bring the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the men and women to our times.” He pointed to Pope Francis' constant exhortation to the faithful to be present in the world of media, and recalled St. John Paul II's calling media the 'Areopagus of the modern age.’ Among FM 777's collaborators are Gohar-i-Nayab, a teacher; and Waris Shakeel, a senior accountant at Good News TV and a staff member of the Catechecial Centre Karachi. They are currently developing a mobile app for smartphone users. The radio station joins a host of other media offered by the Archdiocese of Karachi, including The Christian Voice, an English-language weekly; the web-based Good News TV; Agahi, a weekly newspaper with an online edition; and accounts on Facebook and Twitter. “The Lord is using us to reach the entire world with the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Fr. Charles concluded. “Catholic web radio is the need of the hour, because it will facilitate to develop values, understanding our beliefs and moulding our personality and knowledge,” Asif Nasir, a catechist, told CNA. “It will produce a healthier mental and emotional life, more stability, and all the necessary tools to face their challenges in life in the best possible manner.” Read more

2014-12-09T07:01:00+00:00

Vatican City, Dec 9, 2014 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The establishment of two large congregations, to include many tasks formerly divided among several pontifical councils, is expected to be discussed in the meeting of the Council of Cardinals schedu... Read more

2014-12-09T05:04:00+00:00

Los Angeles, Calif., Dec 8, 2014 / 10:04 pm (CNA).- A new billboard campaign in Los Angeles leading up to Christmas is hoping to raise awareness of persecuted Christians both locally and around the world. The Catholic League, a Catholic civil rights organization, has sponsored a Christmas billboard displayed in Los Angeles. Last year, the group sponsored a New York City billboard, and this year, it hopes to make its mark on the culture right outside of Hollywood. “For the past several years, we’ve been engaged in a battle of the billboards with our atheist foes at Christmastime,” stated Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, in a Dec. 3 press release. The large, illuminated billboard sits on Pico Boulevard, just west of Fairfax Avenue, one of the most heavily traveled East-West routes in Los Angeles. The Catholic League hopes to target the traffic between Century City and Downtown Los Angeles. The Catholic League's message on the billboard reads: “Not all Christian haters are equal: Abroad we’re beheaded At home we’re bashed. The differences are profound; So are the similarities. Have a peaceful and joyous Christmas.” The billboard will be on display until Dec. 28, and the organization says it hopes to highlight the reality of persecuted Christians domestic and abroad – emphasizing that any kind of religious discrimination is unacceptable. “No, the Hollywood moguls who disrespect Christians are not the same as radical Muslims who behead us, but both are full of hate,” Donohue stated. “Christians are fed up with the barbarians abroad and the bigots at home,” he continued, saying that “it’s time all these bullies learned to practice the virtue of tolerance and the meaning of diversity.” Read more

2014-12-09T00:30:00+00:00

Denver, Colo., Dec 8, 2014 / 05:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Little Sisters of the Poor asked an appeals court Monday to shield them from the federal contraception mandate, saying that it threatens their 175 years of service to the poor and dying. &l... Read more

2014-12-08T23:23:00+00:00

Vatican City, Dec 8, 2014 / 04:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis in his latest interview reflected on October’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family, dismissing fears of doctrinal “collapse” while considering difficult topics like mar... Read more

2014-12-08T19:22:00+00:00

Vatican City, Dec 8, 2014 / 12:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- More than $19.6 million in the accounts of two former managers of the Institute for Religious Works, commonly known as the Vatican Bank or IOR, have been frozen by a Vatican prosecutor in the course of an investigation, it was announced Sunday. At a Dec. 6 press conference, Holy See press officer Fr. Federico Lombardi confirmed that Gian Piero Milano, promoter of justice for Vatican City State, was investigating two former IOR directors regarding suspected embezzlement between 2001 and 2008. The investigation is based on suspicions aroused during a 2013 internal review, part of ongoing financial reform at the Vatican aimed at transparency and tackling money laundering. Fr. Lombardi added that the accounts of those under investigation were frozen “as a precautionary measure.” Writing for Reuters on Saturday, Philip Pullella said Milano suspected Angelo Caloia, a former president of the IOR; Lelio Scaletti, its former director general; and Gabriele Liuzzo, a lawyer, of embezzlement of funds relating to the sale of 29 buildings which had been sold by the institution. The IOR announced that it was pressing charges against the three in keeping with its “commitment to transparency and zero tolerance.” According to Pullella, “in the freezing order, Milano said Caloia and Scaletti regularly under-represented the proceeds from real estate sales in the Vatican Bank’s official books. The men allegedly received the difference between the real sale prices and the amount officially recorded separately and often in cash, according to the order.” Milano charges that over the seven-year period, the three embezzled more than $70.2 million in this way. Financial reform at the Vatican is being headed by Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the recently-established Secretariat for the Economy. In a Dec. 4 article for the Catholic Herald, he wrote that the principles at the heart of his reform are the adoption of international financial standards, transparency, and a separation of powers. The normalization of Vatican finances was begun in 2010 by Benedict XVI, the cardinal noted, with the establishment of the Financial Information Authority, an agency “dedicated to preventing and eradicating money laundering.” Pope Francis has continued this process of reforms, Cardinal Pell noted, “which are well under way and already past the point where it would be possible to return to the 'bad old days'. Much remains to be done, but the primary structural reforms are in place.” Continuing reform, he noted, is “designed to make all Vatican financial agencies boringly successful, so that they do not merit much press attention.”   Read more

2014-12-08T19:22:00+00:00

Vatican City, Dec 8, 2014 / 12:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- More than $19.6 million in the accounts of two former managers of the Institute for Religious Works, commonly known as the Vatican Bank or IOR, have been frozen by a Vatican prosecutor in the course of an investigation, it was announced Sunday. At a Dec. 6 press conference, Holy See press officer Fr. Federico Lombardi confirmed that Gian Piero Milano, promoter of justice for Vatican City State, was investigating two former IOR directors regarding suspected embezzlement between 2001 and 2008. The investigation is based on suspicions aroused during a 2013 internal review, part of ongoing financial reform at the Vatican aimed at transparency and tackling money laundering. Fr. Lombardi added that the accounts of those under investigation were frozen “as a precautionary measure.” Writing for Reuters on Saturday, Philip Pullella said Milano suspected Angelo Caloia, a former president of the IOR; Lelio Scaletti, its former director general; and Gabriele Liuzzo, a lawyer, of embezzlement of funds relating to the sale of 29 buildings which had been sold by the institution. The IOR announced that it was pressing charges against the three in keeping with its “commitment to transparency and zero tolerance.” According to Pullella, “in the freezing order, Milano said Caloia and Scaletti regularly under-represented the proceeds from real estate sales in the Vatican Bank’s official books. The men allegedly received the difference between the real sale prices and the amount officially recorded separately and often in cash, according to the order.” Milano charges that over the seven-year period, the three embezzled more than $70.2 million in this way. Financial reform at the Vatican is being headed by Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the recently-established Secretariat for the Economy. In a Dec. 4 article for the Catholic Herald, he wrote that the principles at the heart of his reform are the adoption of international financial standards, transparency, and a separation of powers. The normalization of Vatican finances was begun in 2010 by Benedict XVI, the cardinal noted, with the establishment of the Financial Information Authority, an agency “dedicated to preventing and eradicating money laundering.” Pope Francis has continued this process of reforms, Cardinal Pell noted, “which are well under way and already past the point where it would be possible to return to the 'bad old days'. Much remains to be done, but the primary structural reforms are in place.” Continuing reform, he noted, is “designed to make all Vatican financial agencies boringly successful, so that they do not merit much press attention.”   Read more

2014-12-08T17:48:00+00:00

Vatican City, Dec 8, 2014 / 10:48 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his Angelus address for the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Monday, Pope Francis said because everything we have received is “a gift freely given by God,” we too must “become a gift for others.” “The message of today's feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary,” the Pope said at St. Peter's Square, can be summarized as follows: “Everything is a gift freely given by God, everything is grace,” and everything is given because “of his love for us.” The feast of the Immaculate Conception, commemorated annually on Dec. 8, is the day in which the Church celebrates Mary having been conceived without original sin. Pope Francis reflected on the Gospel account of the Annunciation, during which Gabriel declares Mary to be “full of grace.” “In her there was no room for sin,” he said, for “God had chosen her (from the beginning) to be the mother of Jesus,” thus preserving her from “original sin.” The Holy Father noted Mary's receptivity to grace, and her abandonment to the words of the Angel: “Be it done unto me according to your word.” “She did not say 'I will act according to your word': no! Rather: “Be it done unto me...” Mary's response, Pope Francis said, shows “that we must abandon ourselves to God” in order to truly be conformed “to his will.” “Mary is receptive, but not passive,” he said. “On a physical level, she receives the power of the Holy Spirit, but then gives (her) flesh and blood to the Son of God who is formed within her. Therefore, on a spiritual level, she welcomes the Grace and conforms to it with faith.” Pope Francis went on to stress that “salvation is a gift” freely given by God, which we in turn “are called to freely give.”   This call to give what has been received, he said, is in “imitation of Mary who, soon after having heard the announcement of the Angel, went to share the gift of fruitfulness with her relative Elizabeth.” “The Spirit is given to us and we, with the strength of the Spirit, must become a gift for others,” he said, allowing “the Holy Spirit to make us instruments of welcome, instruments of reconciliation, instruments of forgiveness.” After leading the crowds in the recitation of the Angelus, Pope Francis told the crowds of “pilgrimage”  later in the afternoon to Rome's Piazza di Spagna where he would venerate the statue of the Immaculate Conception. “I ask you to spiritually unite yourselves to me in this pilgrimage, which expresses filial devotion to our Heavenly Mother.” Later in the afternoon, Pope Francis paid a visit to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major where he venerated the Salus Populi Romani, an image of Mary which holds special significance to the people of Rome. Afterward, per the tradition set by his predecessors, Pope Francis visited the statue of the Immaculate Conception. The statue of Our Lady, which rests atop a 40 foot-high pillar, was erected in 1857 to commemorate Bl. Pius IX's proclamation of the doctrine that Mary was conceived without original sin. Earlier in the day, a large wreath had been hung on the statue's arm, and flowers at the column's base, in preparation for the Holy Father's visit. Following the recitation of a reading from Revelation, Pope Francis read aloud a prayer to Our Lady, invoking her to “give life” to the hope which comes from evil's powerlessness against her. “The power of God's love, which has preserved you from Original sin, free all of humanity through your intercession from every spiritual and material slavery, and make the designs of God's salvation victorious within hearts and events.” In the days leading up to Christmas, Pope Francis called on Mary to “teach us to go against the tide, to deprive, debase, give of ourselves, to listen, to be silent, to decentralize ourselves, in order  to leave space for the beauty of God, the source of all true joy.” Read more

2014-12-08T15:54:00+00:00

Mexico City, Mexico, Dec 8, 2014 / 08:54 am (CNA).- Responding to an invitation from Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera to seek reconciliation with Christ during the season of Advent, nearly 5000 Catholics stood in line for hours to receive the Sacrament of Confession. According to the Archdiocese of Mexico City's News Service, some 30 priests spent 12 hours in shifts hearing confessions at the Cathedral of Mexico City Nov. 29. Cathedral officials said many people also attended an Advent talk given by Father Julian Lopez Amozurrutia entitled, “Coming Home.” Although the lines generally kept moving, the number of penitents was so large that some stood in line for up to four hours to go to confession. Cardinal Rivera granted the priest confessors the faculty to absolve the sin of abortion, which according to Canon Law is normally reserved only to bishops. One penitent, Alejandro, who had not been to confession for almost 25 years, expressed gratitude to Cardinal Rivera for the marathon penance service. “My work schedule doesn't allow me to go to my parish for confession. After carrying the burden of many sins for so long, to hear the absolution of the priest makes you feel incredibly good,” he said. Cathedral officials said they hoped to repeat the service next year, and to offer penitents a guide to confession, more spiritual talks and perhaps exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.     Read more

2014-12-07T23:02:00+00:00

Vatican City, Dec 7, 2014 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Mass was said on Wednesday at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls to mark 100 years of restored diplomatic relations between Britain and the Holy See, a relationship first broken amid the English Reformation. The UK's ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker, was present at the Dec. 3 Mass and stressed the significance of the anniversary coinciding with that of the beginning of World War I. The reason relations were restored between the Holy See and the UK “was because of World War I,” the ambassador told CNA. “In a sense, it seems strange to be celebrating something that came out of WWI, the great human catastrophe, a calamity for Europe in particular,” he said. “But good things can come out of bad.” From the time of his election in 1914, Benedict XV “worked incredibly hard to try and bring the different warring powers to the peace table,” he explained. Diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the UK were maintained during the Middle Ages until the English Reformation in the 16th century, a period marked by brutal persecution of Catholics throughout England.   Relations were officially ruptured in 1536 following Henry VIII's establishment of the Anglican Church; they were then re-established in 1553 by Mary, a Catholic monarch who reigned only five years, only to be broken again under the reign of her half-sister, Elizabeth I. It was not until December 1914, that the UK re-established relations, with the assigning of Henry Howard, a Catholic, to the “Special Mission to the Vatican” with the aim of engaging, Baker said, “with the Holy See on issues of peace, war, and conflict.” Relations between the UK and the Holy See then received full recognition in 1982, marked by the official establishment of the embassy. That year also marked “the first ever visit to Britain’s shores of a reigning Pope,” Baker said. Saint John Paul II's pastoral visit in 1982 was significant, he continued, for it “played a huge role in allowing Catholics to see themselves as a normal part of British society.” Developments in diplomatic relations between the UK and the Holy See have continued to develop over the years, including Benedict XVI's well-received visit to the nation in 2010 for the beatification of John Henry Newman. The beatification, Baker said brought together “Anglicans and Catholics, in a sense, in his person” because “of his Anglican past, and now as a Blessed member of the Catholic pantheon,” Relations were further strengthened in April 2014, when Elizabeth II paid a visit to Pope Francis in the Vatican. “She doesn’t travel much these days,” Baker said. “I think it was a sign of the importance that the kingdom places on the relationship that this is one meeting that she was very keen to have.” April's visit, he said, “helped to cement the bonds between the papacy and the crown, and I think developed a good, personal relationship between her majesty and Pope Francis.” In his homily at the Mass, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, said, “We offer today thanksgiving for the renewed relationship of trust and respect between the Holy See and the British Crown, fostered across the length of a century.” Over the century “the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and other Christian communities have worked together with the British Authorities” in the areas of “justice, peace and reconciliation,” he noted. The centenary is also a time to recognize “that we have been sustained by the faith and perseverance of so many before us,” Cardinal Parolin continued. He recalled, for instance, St. Augustine of Canterbury's arrival to England 1,400 years earlier, where he discovered that “the Gospel of Christ had already taken root in Britain.” “From that time on, the Christian message has prospered in every age, even to our own, thanks to the zeal and courage of missionaries and ministers of the Gospel,” the cardinal said. “The need to hear and proclaim that message never diminishes, indeed our own age hungers for the consolation of God’s love, and thirsts for his truth.” The Mass was attended by a delegation from the United Kingdom, representatives from various religious orders, as well English, Irish, and Scottish seminarians and priests from the various colleges in Rome. Also attending the Mass was Joyce Anelay, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. “I am delighted to represent Her Majesty’s Government on in this important anniversary,” she said in a press release ahead of her visit. “Relations between the United Kingdom and the Holy See have developed enormously since 1914,” she said, citing Benedict XVI's 2010 visit to the UK, followed by the Queen's 2014 meeting in April as the most recent examples. While in Rome, Anelay is taking the opportunity to meet with Vatican officials to discuss a range of issues. “The visit is an important occasion to further strengthen the UK’s engagement with the Holy See on a range of issues of mutual concern, and to consider ways in which our networks might work more closely together, from human trafficking and freedom of religion and belief, to wider human rights issues and international development.” Read more



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