That creative interpretation of the Bible, Aleksandr Soldatov says, is just a small part of the neo-paganism which Kirill has long been associated with, a religion that has little to do with Christianity as it is typically understood but fits perfectly with Putin's view. Continue reading

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin referred the "active threat" against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to an elite presidential guards force "for immediate proper action." It was not immediately clear what actions would be taken against the vice president.

The Presidential Security Command boosted Marcos' security and said it considered the vice president's threat, which was "made so brazenly in public," a national security issue.

The presidential security force said it was "coordinating with law enforcement agencies to detect, deter, and defend against any and all threats to the president and the first family."

Duterte, a lawyer, later tried to walk back her remarks and said they were not an actual threat but only an expression of concern over an unspecified threat to her own life.

"If I expressed the concern, they will say that's a threat to the life of the president?" she said. Continue reading

The tech mogul shared disturbing images on Instagram showing a swollen, red face following an attempt to inject a "donor's" fat into his face to regain a youthful appearance.

The anti-ageing procedure reportedly caused severe swelling to his face.

On Instagram, Bryan Johnson wrote he injected a fat-derived extracellular matrix into his face as part of first therapy under a procedure called "Project Baby Face".

He said that immediately following the injections, his face began to blow up.

"And then it got worse, and worse, and worse until I couldn't even see. It was a severe allergic reaction," he added. Continue reading

I'll stop you before you get too far down the road of thinking that myself, or the man, are the macabre sort, with a weird interest in the deceased.

Visiting cemeteries, especially in the month of November, is a Catholic thing to do.

And the aforementioned man and I are both very Catholic.

And, further, picnicking in cemeteries was once a fashionable thing to do.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, graveyards across America, Europe, and parts of Asia and the Mediterranean, were full of the still-breathing general public.

An internet search of picnics in cemeteries will produce an abundance of black-and-white photographs, of these graveyard get-togethers. Continue reading

Robert Graham Mathieson, 62, a Clinton pensioner, represented himself at a judge-alone trial before JPs Drewe Carran and Judy Smart in the Gore District Court on Wednesday.

Mathieson, who was charged with using insulting language in a public place, was convicted and fined $300. However, he told the JPs they had ‘'made the wrong decision'' and that he was going to appeal the sentence.

Mathieson had gone to Clinton's RD Petroleum Express service station to put air in his car tyres. However, the air compressor was not working, and he had a brief altercation with a worker before the manager, Sidharan Akhil Paininnal, arrived. Continue reading

Stefano Ramunni, 61, was taken into custody along with another man who accompanied him to a post office near the Vatican to try to get the loan. (The Italian post office offers small personal loans, ranging from $3,200 to $63,000, to anyone with a bank account.)

According to media reports, Ramunni presented himself at a postal service branch near the Vatican, on Rome's Via Anastasia II, and asked to be issued a loan.

He identified himself as Giuseppe Laterza, a Vatican official. (Laterza, 54, is currently the Apostolic Nuncio to the Central African Republic.)

Ramunni's companion, Francesco Albanese, reportedly is a 40-year-old with a previous arrest for impersonating a member of Italy's carabinieri, or military police. Continue reading

The pope - or at least someone in the Vatican communications office - has been inadvertently rooting for the Saints since Nov. 1 - All Saints Day - even as the team lost yet another game and fired their coach.

Thanks to an automatic function on X, formerly Twitter, the team's fleur-de-lis emoji is automatically added to the hashtag #Saints. That has given the impression that the @Pontifex account on X, which has 18.4 million followers and happens to be tweeting a lot about saints lately, was talking about the team when in fact the pope was extolling how actual saints "are precious pearls and are always living and relevant."

The comments sections on the handful of papal #Saint tweets in recent days have blown up, with more than twice as many comments as normal @Pontifex tweets.

"They need more than what you can do Pope Francis. They need to consult the big guy," wrote @DaBears_26 on Nov. 2.

In the past week, Saints fans have lamented yet another loss at last-place Carolina, which extended the Saints' losing streak to seven games — their longest since 1999 — and brought their record to 2-7. And they have welcomed the firing of Coach Dennis Allen on Monday. Continue reading

Yes, the sizzling star who lights up the screen with her performances was ready to devote her life to the Catholic Church.

But the plot twist?

She learned that nuns don't get paid. Game over for the convent dream!

Growing up in LA, Mendes was raised in a lower-middle-class Cuban-American family.

She had visions of becoming a nun dedicated to faith and service.

But her sister shattered that holy dream with a simple yet crushing truth: "Eva, you know, nuns don't get paid." And just like that, the sacred aspirations evaporated. Continue reading

An unprecedented 3-0 clean sweep in India secured, a team of cricketing saints are heading back home.

The Black Caps tonight completed their greatest series win - one of the best results for any nation in test history - by whitewashing India in their own conditions. Continue reading

Videos showing the muck up day prank have amassed millions of views after the students from Sacre Coeur in Glen Iris, Victoria shared them on TikTok.

At least 100 girls donned the iconic yellow and red costume, complete with the red curly wig, before descending on their local "Golden Arches" as part of the annual end of school festivities.

The Catholic school girls could be seen running into the fast-food joint in a clip that has been viewed almost 40 million times, while CCTV filmed inside the restaurant revealed how the students completely took over, filling the space from the front entrance to the counter.

A few of the girls event ventured behind the counter to pose for photos, while others were filmed interacting with McDonald's staff members. Continue reading

Robert was born in Winters, TX, to the late Walter Boehm and Betty Smith on May 6, 1950, after which God immediately and thankfully broke the mold and attempted to cover up the evidence.

Raised Catholic, Robert managed to get his wife Dianne pregnant (three times) fast enough to just barely miss getting drafted into the Vietnam War by fathering Michelle, John, and Charlotte between 1967 and 1972. Much later, with Robert possibly concerned about the brewing conflict in Grenada, Charles was born in 1983.

This lack of military service was probably for the best, as when taking up shooting as a hobby in his later years, he managed to blow not one, but two holes in the dash of his own car on two separate occasions, which unfortunately did not even startle, let alone surprise, his dear wife Dianne, who was much accustomed to such happenings in his presence and may have actually been safer in the jungles of Vietnam the entire time.

While the world was in conflict elsewhere, Robert made due by learning to roof, maintain traffic signs with the City of Amarillo, and eventually becoming a semi-professional truck driver—not to be confused with a professional semi-truck driver.

Robert also kept a wide selection of harmonicas on hand—not to play personally, but to prompt his beloved dogs to howl continuously at odd hours of the night to entertain his many neighbours and occasionally to give to his many, many, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren to play loudly during long road trips with their parents.

We have all done our best to enjoy/weather Robert's antics up to this point, but he is God's problem now.

Full obit: Robertson Funeral

Pelosi, a top Democrat from California, revealed her thoughts on saying the former president's name and described him as "what's-his-name" during an interview with The Guardian released Tuesday.

"I hardly ever say his name," Pelosi said.

"I think [Trump is] a grotesque word…You just don't like the word passing your lips," she added. "I just don't. I'm afraid, you know, when I grew up Catholic, as I am now, if you said a bad word, you could burn in hell if you didn't have a chance to confess. So I don't want to take any chances."

"It's up there with, like, swearing." Continue reading

The project, titled "Train your body & soul," aims to make the church space more accessible and appealing to a wider audience.

Planned changes include

• The church pews will be removed and replaced with freestanding wall objects for bouldering, a form of rope-free climbing.
• The altar area will be preserved for liturgical celebrations.
• The ground floor will be redesigned to accommodate a reception area, gastronomy, changing rooms, and a children's adventure area, which the climbing facility manager will operate.
• The chapel will remain accessible at all times, and a "youth service" will be held in the main church space on Sunday evenings.

Motivations and expectations

Bishop Glettler hopes this project will benefit all parties involved.

He believes it will make faith accessible to people who would otherwise never come into contact with the church.

The bishop envisions Petrus Canisius becoming "an open, friendly place for encounters with the church" where "all climbing and fitness enthusiasts who use the church space in their own way can also come to rest and spiritually recharge at this Christian site".

The changes are part of a larger reorganization involving the merger of the Petrus Canisius and Good Shepherd parishes. The church building, constructed between 1968 and 1972, is dedicated to St. Peter Canisius and is under monument protection.

This unconventional use of sacred space has sparked discussion about the appropriate use of church buildings and the balance between pastoral and economic considerations in church management[2].

Source

• Kath.net

The album offers listeners the opportunity to pray the Rosary accompanied by song.

Noting Pope Francis' words in Evangelii Gaudium, "Mary is the handmaid of the Father who sings his praises" (EG, 286), Huval shared she was inspired by the Blessed Mother's openness to the Holy Spirit.

"In 2022, I consecrated myself to the Blessed Mother and started praying the Rosary every day," she said. "Her fiat gave me the courage and strength to complete the project."

Huval hopes that the album, which features the prayers of the Rosary set to music, will bring listeners into a more profound relationship with the Lord.

"My core mission is to teach people to pray with music and encounter Jesus more deeply," she told the Register. "My prayer is that Sing the Rosary will lead to a transformation within the Church and a renewed love and passion for the Holy Rosary."

The beauty of this project is that it is meant to meet the faithful across a variety of life situations.

"Families have the option to pray and listen to a decade each night, or to listen while on the go. In addition, small groups can choose to sing the first few decades and recite the remaining ones." Continue reading

The request is part of Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters' ongoing efforts to require Bibles in every classroom, which has been met with resistance by some of Oklahoma's largest school districts.

Walters is seeking to spend $3 million in state funds for Bibles that fit a certain criteria, including that the pages are supplemented with U.S. historical materials.

The Bibles must also be "bound in leather or leather-like material for durability," according to state bidding documents posted this week.

The nonprofit news outlet Oklahoma Watch first reported Thursday that the requirements match the "God Bless the USA Bible" that Trump urged his supporters to begin buying earlier this year at a website that sells the book for $59.99.

Asked Friday if the state's bid was tailored for the Bible backed by Trump, a spokesman for Walters said the proposal was open to any vendor. Continue reading

The Lourdes-based club FCL XV had its players pose in front of the church façade for the 2024/2025 season, the online magazine "lourdesactu" reported on Monday. The team presents itself in both home and away jerseys. Continue reading

Last weekend Beth Walker - an executive assistant and researcher in Green MP Julie Anne Genter's office - moved into her new flat with the help of a collection of cargo bikes and a little elbow grease from like-minded friends and volunteers.

But Walker said the journey was not without a few bumps in the road with some of the lanes proving a tight squeeze for heavily laden bikes and cargo trailers.

It took just over three hours to get Walker's belongings - including a queen-size bed and large chest of drawers - from her old flat in Island Bay to her new location in Newtown.

"It was brilliant. It was such a good time and it went really smoothly and just really proved the point that these things are super achievable and there are alternative options to cars and vans," Walker said. Continue reading

In the magazine "Dal cuore dello Stato", the government of the smallest state in the world lists 29 pages of advice from its specialised departments on how to live sustainably and conserve resources.

For example, we should not overload fridges and freezers in the home, use low temperatures in the dishwasher and washing machine and use pressure cookers and aluminium pans, which are 14 times more efficient at conducting heat than steel.

Standby switches and outdated or broken appliances should be taboo; instead, consumers are advised to use LED lamps, blackout curtains instead of air conditioning running at full speed and showers instead of baths with a maximum water temperature of 40 to 50 degrees. Continue reading

It also depicted Prime Minister Christopher Luxon as Judas, in a somewhat bizarre take on Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper painting.

The student magazine took to social media this week to explain its centre-spread artwork and to reinforce that it never intended to disrespect or insult any religion.

"Canta respects all religious identities and backgrounds," it wrote.

"Our intention for the centrefold was to bring to light how politicians are often held on a pedestal, much like religious figures often are," Canta managing editor Hariklia Nicola told The NZ Herald's Media Insider, reinforcing the comments that the magazine had posted on social media.

"In addition to this, we wanted to highlight the specific meaning behind the Last Supper imagery, to demonstrate that although politicians are often seen as separate entities fighting different fights - and sometimes against each other - that at the end of the day, they are united in their purpose to better the lives of people in New Zealand however they may see fit."

That doesn't quite explain why Swarbrick was selected as Jesus, while Luxon is Judas, the traitor. Continue reading

The church calls it the season of creation.

In Laudato Si: On the Care of Our Common Home, the Pope argues that everything is connected.

"We must hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor."

During this Season of Creation, when reflecting on the interconnection and goodness of all that God created, we are told that in Springfield,"They are eating our dogs and eating our cats."

Thankfully, in amongst bomb threats, verbal and written attacks and the presence of hate groups on the city's edge, church leaders in Springfield are embracing Haitians.

"Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is with us in truth. And the truth is that Haitians are not eating pets in Springfield," said the Rev. Carl Ruby, gripping the pulpit of Central Christian Church in Springfield, Ohio.

The inspiring Catholic social justice and peace activist, and "Servant of God" Dorothy Day, said, "Like Dostoevsky, I began to believe that the world would be saved by beauty."

Looking upon the sun, the moon, and the stars, Day said to her atheist live-in partner, "How can there be no God when there are all these beautiful things?"

With further reflection, she concluded, "It was this beautiful, natural world that slowly led me back to God."