When Pope Benedict XVI travelled to Cuba two weeks ago, he was acting within a long tradition. Popes, after all, are not only spiritual leaders, they are representatives of the oldest continuous absolute monarchy in the world, which traces back to the Apostle Peter two millennia ago: The Holy See has been engaging in diplomacy Read more
Pope Benedict XVI will visit Lebanon from the 14th to the 16th September. The announcement was made in two separate statements by the Presidency of the Republic of Lebanon and the Lebanese Bishop’s Office for Communications on the very day the Pope appealed for peace in the Middle East and the Holy Land. The Holy Read more
Gruesome re-enactments of Jesus’ crucifixion are an increasing Good Friday tourism drawcard in the Philippines. “There are few places on earth where religious fervor is matched in such graphic shows of penitence and resolve to do better”, Asian Pearl Vision, a small luxury travel designer in the Philippines writes on its website. In an article “Crucifixion in Read more
Holding a tall lit candle, Pope Benedict introduced light to a pitch-black and packed Vatican Square, Easter Saturday night. Picking up from the darkened surrounds, the Pontiff wove his homily around the theme of darkness and light. “Life is stronger than death. Good is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than hate. Truth is stronger Read more
As bells rang throughout Havana, Cuba, on Good Friday, only around 100 attended the city’s main cathedral where Cardinal Jamie Ortega presided at the ceremony. Authorities also allowed Cardinal Jamie Ortega to transmit the Good Friday service on State Television. It is the first time in 50 years Cubans were granted a public holiday on Read more
Three decades ago, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger rose to fame as the architect of the Vatican’s crackdown on liberation theology in Latin America, which he saw as a dangerous baptism of Marxist class struggle. That stance made Ratzinger a hero to anti-communist stalwarts everywhere, the perfect intellectual complement to John Paul II’s muscular challenge to the Read more
“I think he won’t travel that much anymore, because it’s more and more of an effort,” Rev Georg Ratzinger said of Pope Benedict XVI, who has looked frail in recent weeks.
Rev Ratzinger, who is three years older than his brother, made the remarks during an interview with a Catholic news agency in Germany, KNA.
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Cuba has responded to Pope Benedict’s visit by announcing that this coming Good Friday will become a ‘one-time’ national holiday. Minutes before Benedict departed from Cuba on March 28, President Raul Castro told the Pope of his desire to declare Friday, April 6 a holiday “as an exception, and in consideration to His Holiness and Read more
It was announced on Saturday Pope Benedict XVI has given $100,000 (US) for the charitable work of the local Church in Syria. The Holy Father has repeatedly appealed for the end of violence in Syria, and has called for dialogue and reconciliation between the those involved in the conflict, in view of peace and the common good.
The donation was made through the Pontifical Council ‘Cor Unum’.
Read the article...A leading Cuban dissident has identified the mystery man who yelled anti-government slogans just before a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI this week before being hustled away by security agents.
Jose Daniel Ferrer told The Associated Press that the protester’s name is Andres Carrion Alvarez, and identified him as a 38-year-old resident of the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. Ferrer said the man was still in custody Friday.
The protester shouted “Down with the Revolution! Down with the dictatorship!” near journalists at the Mass at Santiago’s crowded Revolution Plaza on Monday. Video of the incident showed him being hit by an apparent first-aid worker wearing a white T-shirt with a large red cross, before they were separated. Security agents quickly took him away.
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