A special Mass in Myeongdong Cathedral was celebrated by Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, auxiliary bishops and priests to mark their missions. The priests are being sent to Mexico, Japan, Spain and the United States to follow the teaching of Jesus: “Go and proclaim the kingdom of God (Lk. 9:60).”
An Italian composer and writer visited Hong Kong at the start of the year to teach a series of lectures on the history of Catholic-inspired music, and talk about the main challenges facing the sacred music of the Church, which Pope Francis said in 2017 has become permeated by "superficiality and banality."
A group of Christian church investors is planning to put pressure on companies which have no women directors or a questionable record on tax. The Church Investors Group has pension fund members with £21bn in assets.
The pope has made unstinting efforts over the past six years to shorten the moral distance between the Vatican and Asia. His visit to Japan will be made in such a context... As a young priest, Francis was keen to go to Japan to pursue missionary work. His application was, however, turned down because of his poor health. He may still have a special feeling for Japan which might have prodded him toward making his visit.
The visit of Pope Francis to the Gulf states from Feb. 3-5 marks yet another step forward in the "dialogue of life" between Christians and Muslims in today's world. The pope will travel to Abu Dhabi for the first time after accepting an invitation by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, to participate in the International Interfaith Meeting on "Human Fraternity."
Pope Francis helped launch a new mobile app and online platform connecting people around the world in prayer. The pope presented "the official platform of the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network: Click To Pray," on Jan. 20 after praying the Angelus with visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square.
Modern research is uncovering a rich canon of composition by women behind the closed doors of medieval convents. There, nuns were free to express their emotions through the glory of polyphony, which would in turn, and mostly uncited, influence Monteverdi and many other baroque masters.
Instantly recognisable for its tall, domed shape, panettone is pinpointed for its two main associations: with Christmas and with Italy. But it’s much more than a holiday cake. Merry Christmas. May the Infant Jesus fill all of us with Joy, Hope and Peace.
On the evening before another day of protests by the “Yellow Vests” movement, and while many commentators were predicting outbursts of widespread violence, the Archbishop of Paris turned towards the Virgin Mary, asking her to “look after our country” and to help the protesters return to the path of dialogue.
The pope established the World Day of the Poor to encourage the whole church to reach out to those in need and let U.N. groups estimate there are some 700 million peothe poor know their cries have not gone unheard, the pope said in his message this year. ple in the world who are unable to meet their basic needs and that 10 percent of the world's population lives in extreme poverty.
Over the years, Magis Bangla has aimed to transform and transmit Christian values and spirituality with cultural and intellectual foundations for Bangladeshi Catholic youth, said Father Pradeep Perez, the movement's coordinator.
Some 15,000 young Catholics from ten northern dioceses attended the Youth Day gathering held on Nov. 14-15 at the state-run Fair Exhibition Center in Hai Phong City. Ten bishops and 300 priests concelebrated the Eucharist.
The anxieties, pains, the groans of the dying prelude the imminent death; the pangs of a woman in labor herald the beginning of a new life. Jesus taught us the proper perspective: “When these things begin to happen, stand erect and lift up your heads, for your deliverance is drawing near” (Lk 21:28). “The fate of the world is in God’s hands, so I look up.”
A group of young Catholics calling themselves "online missionaries" will hold a social media summit aimed at discovering "strategies on delivering truth on social media" on Nov. 17.
It is a source of great joy when a bishop, priest or religious speaks out in solidarity with victims of human rights abuses. " A few weeks after the abduction of my son Jonas, I joined a group of relatives of victims of enforced disappearances along with a few priests and nuns to have a dialogue with a number of bishops."
The family is a key issue today for the Church, society and for politics, according to Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who is accompanying Pope Francis to the World Meeting of Families in Dublin.
Catholic schools in both the state and private sectors recorded another exceptional set of A level results yesterday, with many citing students achieving top grades and securing places at universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. In a separate development, there was a significant drop of 22.8 per cent in the number of young people taking Religious Studies at A level in England and Wales.
The Catholic charity, Cafod, has said it welcomes but is “troubled by” the findings of a new report by MPs that accused aid organisations of “abject failure” in tackling sexual abuse and exploitation.
Debates about the religious education of the young are as important as any imaginable. In the Catholic case, however, contributions tend to focus on seeing off threats to Catholic interests represented by the 10 per cent of the state-school system that bear the Catholic brand-name.
Ampleforth College, one of the country’s top Catholic schools, faces possible closure if it does not improve standards including the safeguarding of pupils and the rigour of its checks on staff. The Department for Education has written to Ampleforth College warning that “the Secretary of State is satisfied…. that any one or more of the independent school standards is or are not being met in relation to the school.”
