Pope Francis condemned the attack on Christians celebrating Easter in Pakistan on Sunday. At least 74 people, 24 of whom children, were killed in the incident. The pontiff described the attack “reprehensible.” He said Easter “was bloodied by an execrable attack which massacred many innocent people, mostly families of the Christian minority.” “I appeal to Read more
World Youth Day organizers in the United States and Poland remain in touch with diplomatic and security officials in their respective countries to ensure that pilgrims will remain safe during the festival of faith in late July. Security is expected to be extremely tight in Krakow, Poland, the WYD host city, as authorities in both Read more
Pope Francis expressed “prayerful solidarity” with victims of the suicide bombing in Istanbul on Saturday. “[Pope Francis grieved] to learn of the casualties caused by the bombing in Istanbul … and he expresses his prayerful solidarity with all touched by this tragedy,” read a telegram to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Read more
A French priest has been stood down after he compared those killed in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris with the ISIS terrorists who shot them. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon announced the standing down of Fr Hervé Benoît last Friday. The priest had written a column posted to a traditionalist website in which he Read more
Starting his three-nation African visit on Wednesday, Pope Francis said violence and terrorism feed on “despair” which comes from poverty and frustration. Speaking in Nairobi, Kenya, the Pope said fear and mistrust spring from the same source. He also re-iterated his view that the protection of the environment needs to take place alongside building a Read more
ISIS considers itself the “Islamic Caliphate” (a theological empire) and controls vast swathes of land in western Iraq and eastern Syria. They also have “allegiance” from different radical Islamic groups around the world (from Afghanistan to Nigeria) who “govern” self-proclaimed provinces. Within the areas they control they have established a reign of terror second to Read more
There’s something profoundly rotten about cultures that can give birth to the murderous behaviour on show in Paris last Friday. This is just the latest and probably most visible instance because it happened in one of the hubs of the European and North American news media. These hubs make things that happen in too many other Read more
I’ve come to the conclusion that there are too many SOBs in the world. Islamic terrorists, dictators, neo-Nazis and everyday thugs. Perhaps we should put them all on an island and drop a bomb on it. But then that would make us the SOBs. Such is life. I’m being simplistic but the horror of Paris generates simple emotions: Read more
The Vatican’s Secretary of State has supported military intervention to disarm an unjust aggressor in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. Speaking on Sunday, Cardinal Pietro Parolin cited conditions stipulated under Catholic just war doctrine. He said comments Pope Francis made in 2014 that it is “licit” to use force to disarm an unjust Read more
Pope Francis, Friday, likened a person who gossips to “a terrorist who throws a bomb,” telling his followers that sowing divisions is a sickness within the Catholic Church. Speaking during his homily at his Santa Marta residence, Francis criticized people who think gossip is harmless. “Gossiping is like terrorism because the person who gossips is Read more