Tag Archives: VATICAN

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Thursday took wealthy nations to task over unequal healthcare and systems which increasingly penalise all but the very wealthy. Healthcare is a particularly hot-button issue in the United States, where President Donald Trump has been fighting to scrap the Affordable Care …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP |  Pope Francis on Friday renewed calls for global nuclear disarmament, warning that new technology had increased the risk of deadly weapons falling into the hands of terrorists. “You only have to note that nuclear technologies are spreading, partly because of digital communications, and …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis has confessed he sometimes nods off while praying and claims saints too have been known to grab some Holy shut-eye. “When I pray, sometimes I fall asleep,” he said in an episode of a Catholic TV2000 television programme published Tuesday on Youtube. …

Wittenberg, Germany | AFP |  Catholic and Lutheran leaders Tuesday asked forgiveness for violence sparked by the Reformation, as worshippers celebrated 500 years since the religious revolution that created the Protestant church. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived for a service at the church where German theologian Martin …

Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Pope Francis will push for peace during his visit to mainly-Buddhist Myanmar, a church official said Thursday, a trip that plunges the pontiff into the centre of a simmering religious conflict which has sparked an exodus of Muslim Rohingya. Myanmar’s western Rakhine state has been torn …

Rome, Italy | AFP | Two prisoners who were invited to meet Pope Francis for lunch on his recent visit to Bologna took advantage of the occasion to escape, local media reports said Wednesday. The two men, who were being held in a rehabilitation facility for drug addicts and prisoners, were …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Wednesday urged people across the world to open their arms to migrants, as Catholic charity Caritas launched its “Share the Journey” campaign on migration. “With open arms … that is exactly how to welcome (migrants), with arms wide open,” Francis …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The pope’s representative in DR Congo said the pontiff will not visit Kinshasa before long delayed elections are held in the strife-torn country, calling it a “predatory state.” In March, Pope Francis cancelled a planned summer visit to Kinshasa owing to the climate of political …

Bogota, Colombia | AFP |  Pope Francis starts his fifth visit as pontiff to his native Latin America region on Wednesday with a trip to Colombia as it moves on from a half-century civil conflict. Here are five facts and figures about the 80-year-old Argentine-born pope’s trip from September 6-10. …

Rome, Italy | AFP | A top cardinal due to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow this month says he will be seeking to clear the way for Pope Francis to make a historic visit to Russia. Pietro Parolin, the number two in the Vatican hierarchy and its de-facto foreign minister, …