Pope Francis calls for 'new journey towards peace' in unprecedented prayer meeting at the Vatican between Israeli and Palestinian presidents, Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas.
For over a decade, Viola has been pondering the task of making two video-art altar pieces for St Paul’s Cathedral, to stand at the east ends of the north and south choir aisles. Now, after over a decade of thought, they are completed, installed and will be seen for the first time by the public at evensong on Wednesday, May 21st.
In 1994, ethnic tensions in Rwanda culminated in one hundred days of killing, in which nearly one million Tutsi men, women and children were killed by their Hutu neighbors. Now, two decades later in the largely Christian country, many perpetrators are being released from prison and seeking forgiveness from those they traumatized.
Holding on to traditional values – including keeping God in its promise – has helped the Scouts see a dramatic increase in members, the organisation’s chief commissioner has insisted. New figures show that the number of Scouts in the UK has jumped by almost a quarter in the last decade and membership is now at its highest level for a generation.
Chinese Catholics weep as statues depicting the Passion of Christ are removed or hidden from public view in what they say is reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution
Holy statues depicting Biblical scenes including Jesus’ crucifixion have been destroyed, removed or "hidden" by authorities in a city known as China’s Jerusalem
While Shouwang has been a target of the government for many years, the latest move against underground churches is part of a broader crackdown on dissent since the regime of leader Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012. The new government is targeting any organization perceived as a threat to Chinese Communist Party policy.
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The world has been re-arranged, the reset button of history has been hit. Many are called to take initiatives that before would have seemed unlikely, if not downright impossible, including the rethinking of the reality of the Intelligence that underlies the universe….
In this exclusive interview, Pope Francis speaks about Christmas, hunger in the world, the suffering of children, the reform of the Roman Curia, women cardinals, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), and the upcoming visit to the Holy Land.
In his inaugural lecture at Heythrop College, newly-appointed Professor Michael Barnes SJ explored the value attributed to the ‘fourth stage’ of life by various religious traditions. Old age ‘opens up a contemplative space that cultivates attention not just to the great sweep of life but more exactly to the present moment’: how does this idea find expression in different communities of faith?
John Henry Newman wrote the greatest spiritual autobiography in English, his Apologia. In it, he recalls that, when young, he lived under the ''detestable doctrine’’ of predestination. He believed he was saved, which made him ignore everyone else and ''rest in the thought of two and two only absolute and luminously self-evident beings, myself and my Creator’’.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is encouraging Anglicans to adopt the practice of going to confession, a tradition more commonly associated with the Roman Catholic Church. His comments came as he addressed the heads of other churches – including the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England Wales, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols – about divisions between Christians.
In a damning report, the education watchdog warned that teaching about Britain’s principal religion was “one of the weakest aspects” of RE lessons in English state schools. Ofsted found that overall standards of RE were poor in six-in-10 primary schools and just over half of secondaries.The subject was a “very low priority” in many schools, inspectors warned.
In 2006, after midweek evening Mass I found myself - through a chance conversation - attending an evening to introduce parishioners to the parish Landings group, whose aim is to welcome back those who have been 'away' for a time and want to return.
Godgossip pays tribute to teachers who invest the best of their lives to help children to grow as persons and as sons and daughters of God. Our North East reporter has sent us a Prayer for both teachers and children at the start of the new school year.
As for religious education, state schools are required to offer the subject, but parents may keep their children away; and significantly, the content (ie, which faiths are explained) is determined by agreements with local authorities in which faith groups are consulted.
I do not know how many thousand or hundreds of thousands filled The Sanctuary at the site where the original holm oak grew that formed the platform for Our Lady to alight upon, but it was many. The came by road, sea and air and many walked from their villages in the North of Portugal.
A resolution passed by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly is being lauded as an important – although limited – recognition of religious and conscience rights in the public sphere. “The important step with this resolution is the mention of the right to conscientious objection and the enlargement of its scope of application,”
Summer 1936 at the start of the Spanish Civil War. The film tells us about the martyrdom of 51 members of the Claretian Community of Barbastro (Huesca, Spain). Excellent portrait of the human and religious dimension of each person involved in such a real tragedy of our history. The sacrifies of young Claretians proclaim that "Love overcomes death."
In his address, Lord Williams said: ''Religion has always been a matter of community building, a matter of building relations of compassion, fellow-feeling and, dare I say it, inclusion. ''The notion that religious commitment can be purely a private matter is one that runs against the grain of religious history.''
