CARTAGENA, Colombia (CNS) — Outside St. Peter Claver Parish in this colonial city on the Caribbean coast, Afro-Colombian women in colorful attire sell chopped fruit to tourists. Once tourists pay for papaya and pineapple, some ask for photos, which the women oblige, placing a fruit basket on their heads and posing for a portrait. Jesuit
By: Iacopo Scaramuzzi The Pope meets the young people of the Shalom community, “Break the mirror! And if you do look, you should laugh about yourself, it will give you joy and free you from temptation” VATICAN CITY – “Young boys and girls, break the mirror! But if you do look at yourself in the
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — By virtue of its very definition, marriage can only be between a man and a woman, Pope Francis said in a new book-length interview. “We cannot change it. This is the nature of things,” not just in the church, but in human history, he said in a series of interviews with
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) — Pope Francis arrived in Colombia Sept. 6 for a five-day visit to promote reconciliation in a deeply Catholic country scarred and reticent to offer forgiveness after decades of war. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his wife, Maria Clemencia Rodriguez Munera, welcomed the pope at the airport. Children in traditional costumes
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Environmental destruction is a sign of a “morally decaying scenario” in which too many people ignore or deny that, from the beginning, “God intended humanity to cooperate in the preservation and protection of the natural environment,” said the leaders of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Marking the Sept. 1 World Day
An Exiled Venezuelan Politician in Love A live marriage proposal at Pope Francis’ feet was the fanciful initiative of Dario Ramirez, an exiled Venezuelan politician, on August 27, 2017. The unheard of gesture surprised both his companion and the Pope. However, the break in protocol had the permission of Cardinal Schoenborn, Archbishop of Vienna, who
Pope Francis mentioned an extraordinary personal vow made by Mother Teresa, on proclaiming her a Saint a year ago. He said: “Throughout her existence, this Saint was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, rendering herself available through the reception and defense of human life, life in the maternal womb, as well as abandoned and rejected
By: Marina Droujinina for Zenit.org “Always keep a smile,” Pope Francis said to young Italians, who he encouraged to “always to look forward, to look at the joy that is Jesus.” Pope Francis unexpectedly met a group of 165 confirmed boys and girls from the diocese of Chiavari, in Liguria, on pilgrimage to Rome, near
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The day before North Korea detonated what it said was a hydrogen bomb, Pope Francis urged religious leaders from South Korea to dedicate their words and actions to building peace and harmony. “We are called to be heralds of peace, proclaiming and embodying a nonviolent style, a style of peace, with
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — God wants people to live with hope and joy — not bitterness — and to dream with him of a better world, Pope Francis said. “Please, make sure we do not pay attention to disappointed and unhappy people; let us not listen to those who cynically plead not to cultivate hope
