News

Should Catholics participate in carnival?

02/03/2019

  • Beginning especially in the Middle Ages, cultures around the world created unique traditions to precede the Lenten season of fasting.

    This unofficial pre-Lenten season is called a number of different names, such as “Mardi Gras” or “Carnival,” but each shares a common spirit of feasting.

    One of the practical reasons for these festivals was the severity of the fast and the need to get rid of any meat, butter, cheese, milk, eggs, and fats that were strictly forbidden during Lent…

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Indian and Pakistani Churches urge for peace between their nations

01/03/2019

  • The Catholic bishops of India and Pakistan are appealing for peace and dialogue as tensions and armed exchanges between the two nuclear-armed neighbours escalate. 

    Indian Church

    “We pray and work for peace between India and Pakistan.  We call on the rulers to choose the path of dialogue, the situation today is very delicate and we must not make false or hurried steps,” said Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias Archbishop of Bombay. 

    “We condemn any act of terrorism against Indian forces…

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Document on youth synod to be published in March

26/02/2019

  • The Vatican announced Sunday that Pope Francis will publish in March a post-synodal exhortation on last October’s synod on young people, faith, and vocational discernment.

    The papal document, for which a title has not yet been announced, will be released March 25 during a papal trip to Loreto, Italy, the location of the Shrine of the Holy House of Loreto, where Pope Francis will present the document to the Blessed Virgin Mary…

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Pope Francis’ message for Lent 2019

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rom 8:19)

26/02/2019

  • Dear Brothers and Sisters,

    Each year, through Mother Church, God “gives us this joyful season when we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed… as we recall the great events that gave us new life in Christ” (Preface of Lent I). We can thus journey from Easter to Easter towards the fulfilment of the salvation we have already received as a result of Christ’s paschal mystery – “for in hope we were saved” (Rom 8:24)…

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The elderly: Active participants and not spectators

26/02/2019

  • HelpAge, taqsima fi ħdan Caritas Malta, għandha ħafna għal qalbha  d-dinjità tal-anzjani u  fid-19, 20 u 21 ta’ Frar, xahar iddedikat għall-imħabba, organizzat tlett ijiem ta’ festa bit-tema – Love is Patient, Love is Kind, f’lukanda f’Tas-Sliema.

    Għal din il-festa attendew madwar 400 anzjan minn diversi parroċċi f’Malta.  

    L-attività kienet tinkludi quddies iċċelebrata minn Mons…

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Pope on artificial intelligence: Technology is a human characteristic

26/02/2019

  • Pope Francis addresses the Pontifical Academy for Life in a Plenary Assembly marking 25 years of activity, on the theme “Roboethics. People, machines and health”.

     

  • Despite all of the potential that science has, the accumulation of it all does not always obtain the results hoped for, says Pope Francis when addressing the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for life…

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Pope Francis: Protecting children – Eradicating abuse

25/02/2019

  • “The time has come, then, to work together to eradicate the evil” of child abuse, Pope Francis said, in a speech delivered at the close of the final Mass for the Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church. “The time has come to find a correct equilibrium of all values in play and to provide uniform directives for the Church, avoiding the two extremes of a ‘justicialism’ provoked by guilt for past errors and media pressure, and a defensiveness that fails to confront the causes and effects of these grave crimes”…

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Pope Francis: Woman is the image of the Church that is Mother

23/02/2019

  • For the first time since his opening address, Pope Francis on Friday afternoon took the floor to speak to the participants at the Meeting for the Protection of Minors in the Church.

    The Pope’s off-the-cuff remarks followed the speech by Dr Linda Ghisoni, the first woman to deliver a presentation during the General Assemblies. “Listening to Dr Ghisoni,” the Pope said, “I heard the Church speaking about herself.” He explained, “Inviting a woman to speak about the wounds of the Church is to invite the Church to speak about herself, about the wounds she has.”

    Pope Francis said that this is “not just a question of style, the feminine genius reflected in the Church, which is woman.” Nor is it simply a matter of giving women a greater role in the Church, although this is important…

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