“I have received with some concern the news from the Christian communities of Mosul, Iraq, and from other parts of the Middle East who, ever since the beginnings of Christianity, have co-existed there alongside their fellow citizens, making a significant contribution to the good of society”, said the Pope after Sunday’s Angelus prayer. “Today they are persecuted. Our brothers are persecuted, they are cast out, they are forced to leave their homes without having the chance to take anything with them…

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that no right to same-sex “marriage” can be imposed by the EU on member states, and that to say otherwise would be a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Court said in a ruling in Strasbourg on July 16 that the Convention cannot be interpreted “as imposing an obligation” on states that are signatories to the treaty “to grant same-sex couples access to marriage.”

Although the Court had previously found no such right exists in the Convention, it went further in its latest ruling, stating that in Article 12 the treaty “enshrines the traditional concept of marriage as being between a man and a woman [and] cannot be construed as imposing an obligation on the Contracting States to grant access to marriage to same-sex couples.”

In addition, it found that no consensus in favour of same-sex “marriage” exists in Europe because only ten of the 47 signatories to the Convention have legalised it…

Following last Sunday’s heartfelt appeal for continued prayer for peace in the Holy Land, this morning the Holy Father Francis personally telephoned President Shimon Peres of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine to share his very serious concerns regarding the current situation of conflict involving in particular the Gaza Strip which, in a climate of growing hostility, hatred and suffering for the two populations, is claiming many victims and giving rise to a serious humanitarian emergency…

Pope Francis has expressed his appreciation for the work being done by all the Vatican’s media services in enhancing their presence and participation in the digital world. The Pope’s words came on Monday as he was given a personal viewing of the new updated version of  “The Pope App”, developed by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. 

Council President Archbishop Claudio Celli, accompanied by project coordinator, Thaddeus Jones, met with the Pope to demonstrate features of the app, which was released in the iTunes and Google Play stores on July 4th…

“Now, Lord, help us! Grant us peace, teach us peace, guide us toward peace. Open our eyes and our hearts and grant us the courage to say: ‘no more war!’; ‘with war all is destroyed’!. Instill in us the courage to perform concrete actions to build peace…. Make us willing to listen to the cry of our citizens who ask that our arms be transformed into instruments of peace, our fears to trust and our tensions to forgiveness”…