Obama met His Holiness Pope Francis Today-27-Mar-2014
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In his first official visit, which began at 10:27 a.m. in Rome, the president and the pope met for about 50 minutes -- longer than many had expected -- before bringing in the rest of the U.S. delegation, including Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Advisor Susan Rice and press secretary Jay Carney. One by one, the 10 members of the delegation were introduced to the pope. President Obama made the slow, formal procession to greet the pope in the ornate Small Throne Room outside the Papal Library. "Wonderful meeting you. I'm a great admirer," said Obama to Pope Francis. The two walked into the library and took seats at opposite sides of the pope's desk. "I bring greetings from my family," Obama added. "The last time I came here to meet your predecessor I was able to bring my wife and children." The president also presented the pope with a custom made chest featuring a variety of fruit and vegetable seeds used in the White House Garden. The chest was made from American leather and wood from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. "These, I think, are carrots," Obama said, holding a pouch. "Each one has a different seed in it. The box is made from timber from the first cathedral to open in the United States, in Baltimore." "If you have a chance to come to the White House, we can show you our...
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The Pope App-11-Mar-2014
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The Pope App , created by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, has seen a rise in the downloads, ever since the Rolling Stone and The Times selected Pope Francis as the Person of the Year in their cover page. This free app can be downloaded to your iPhone from iTunes App Store , or to your android phone from Google App Store. Though some other apps are also available, the one above (with links) is the official Vatican release. This App will allow you to follow Pope Francis's talks and other Papal events. The App will also alert you when new Papal events begin. It will also give you access to all official Papal-related contents in a variety of formats: news and official speeches, galleries with the latest photos and videos, access to Pope's calendar, and links to other services of the Holy See. Additionally , the App will let you see the panoramic view of the Vatican through webcams installed throughout St. Peter's Square and other historic monuments in the premises. Live shots of Vatican can be seen on Wednesday morning when Pope Francis makes his routine General Public Audience. The App had some glitches and bugs in the beginning, but have been fixed by the authorities and currently rated top in reviews, at 4.5/5. Reviews show that many people are so excited to have all news about Pope Francis on their cell phones. Till to date, there are 16 Apps exclusively made for Pope Francis in English and other languages. You can click on the high...
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Pope Reveals a Secret- How and Why he pulled off the cross?-06-Mar-2014
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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis confessed Thursday that he took the rosary cross of his late confessor from his casket and wears it to this day in a fabric pouch under his cassock. He said he did so telling the late priest, "Give me half your mercy." Francis made the revelation Thursday during an informal chat with Roman priests about the need to be merciful to their flocks. He told the story of the "great confessor" of Buenos Aires who had heard confessions from most of the diocesan priests as well as from Pope John Paul II when he visited Argentina. When the priest died, Francis went to pray by his open casket and was stunned that no one had brought any flowers. "This man forgave the sins of all the priests of Buenos Aires, but not a single flower ...?" Francis recalled. So he went out and bought a bouquet of roses, and when he returned to arrange them around the casket, he saw the rosary the priest still held in his hand. "And immediately there came to mind the thief we all have inside ourselves and while I arranged the flowers I took the cross and with just a bit of force I removed it," he said, showing with his hands how he pulled the cross off the rosary. "And in that moment I looked at him and I said 'Give me half your mercy.'" Francis said he kept the cross in his shirt pocket for years, but that the cassock he wears now as pope doesn't have a pocket. He now keeps it in a little pouch underneath. "A...
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Pope Francis Meets his Chocolate Pope:-13-Feb-2014
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It was a rare moment and sweet surprise for Pope Francis last week. He met a life-sized replica of himself, made entirely out of chocolate, after his weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, February 5th, 2014. This special treat is the creation of the famous Italian chocolate artist Mirco Della Vecchia, who is also an instructor at the Accademia de Maestri Cioccolatieri, an institute which specializes and gives training in chocolate design. The love and affection to Pope Francis took the artist and his 20 students a full 30- days-labor to complete. The "Chocolate Pontiff" is made out of a 1.5 ton of dark chocolate (which is healthy) from the lake Atitlan in Guatemala. Guatemala is famous for its authentic cocoa beans. Micro Della Vecchia is an internationally recognized chocolate master and has won many awards and records for making the longest chocolate bar and the tallest ice-cream cone. On this special occasion he also announced his intention to donate another 1.5 tons of chocolate to Caritas, a charitable organization of Catholic Church. ...
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Pope sells his Harley motorbike-$284000-13-Feb-2014
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One of the two Harley Davidson Motorbikes and the leather jacket owned by Pope Francis were auctioned last week in Paris. The bike was sold for 210,000 euros ($284,000; £174,000), to an anonymous phone bidder, which was telecast live by many TV channels around the world. Two bikes and a Leather Jacket were gifted to Pope Francis in June 2013 by the American Iconic Company, Harley Davidson, on its 110th anniversary. Accepting the gift, Pope had promised that it would be auctioned to help a soup kitchen and a hostel for the homeless in the suburbs of Rome. http://www.joychenputhukulam.com/newsMore.php?newsId=35209 The reserve price was a modest 12,000 euros, but the auction house officials of Bonhams.com hinted before the auction that it could sell for more than that. There were so many bidders and the agency didn't have enough phone lines to accommodate all bidders. Some potential buyers were turned away. The leather jacket which accompanied the motorbike also sold for 50,000 euros. The tank of the 1,585cc Harley Davidson bike has the signature of Pope Francis which can be seen in the photo attached below. ...
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Both, often chat and eat together. Catholics safer than before.-08-Feb-2014
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It is going to be one year after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. It came as a shocking news to the world, but Pope Benedict was calm and hopeful. He knew that the Holy Catholic church had navigated successfully through many deadly -diabolic storms and evil-scandals, over the last 2000 years, only to gain more strength as the Bride of Jesus Christ and the Church of Holy Mother. His decision was entirely personal, based on his wisdom and judgment, obviously guided by his spirit. Some media (including catholic media) misreported it as a 'Vision', which was later rejected by Pope Benedict as well as the Vatican as a fake story. Pope Benedict never had any "so-called vision", nor any loss of confidence. He was just physically weak (period), due to his age of 85 years, and wanted a successor to take charge---a simple Catholic Tradition of Priestly Humility and Fraternity-- of course, a model to all men and women in power. Today, he is not in the limelight and has been forgotten by the public. The term Pope Emeritus is seldom used in the media. But the strong steps he took to cleanse the Church cannot be forgotten. In just one year (2011-2012) he defrocked 400 priests who were involved in sex-scandals and ordered many top clergies to step down. It reminds me of what Jesus did in the Temple of Jerusalem, whipping the evil-men and overturning their tables, to cleanse His Father's House. Catholic Church has always faced diabolic attacks and heresi...
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Pope Francis Drafting Another Encyclical on Human Ecology:-03-Feb-2014
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Pope Francis has begun working on a draft on Human Ecology, which could become an encyclical. In July 2013 he released his first encyclical called The Light of Faith ( Lumen Fidei), which was a joint effort by himself and his predecessor Emeritus Pope Benedict. If the new draft becomes an encyclical it will be Pope Francis's second in less than a year. Father Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, said that Pope "intends to put particular emphasis on the theme of "human ecology", a phrase used by Pope Benedict to describe not only how people must defend and respect nature but how the nature of the person ---masculine and feminine as created by God---must also be defended". Pope Benedict XVI referred several times to “human ecology,” especially in his 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate. Two important paragraphs in Caritas in Veritate are quoted below: "The Church has a responsibility towards creation and she must assert this responsibility in the public sphere. In so doing, she must defend not only earth, water and air as gifts of creation that belong to everyone. She must above all protect mankind from self-destruction. There is need for what might be called a human ecology, correctly understood. The deterioration of nature is in fact closely connected to the culture that shapes human coexistence: when “human ecology” is respected within society, environmental ecology also benefits. Just ...
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Thieves Arrested- But Relic of Blessed John Paul II Still Missing:-31-Jan-2014
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Italian Police arrested two young men for the theft of the relic of Blessed John Paul II that occurred 5 days ago. It disappeared from a country chapel east of Rome, but the venerated piece of fabric stained with the late Pope’s blood could not be found. Italian media reported earlier today that police had found an empty iron reliquary (the receptacle in which the relic was stored), along with a stolen cross, buried on the grounds of a drug treatment facility in the city of L’Aquila, about 75 miles east of Rome. Two men in their early 20s, who were being questioned in connection with another crime, confessed they had stolen the objects and then revealed their location to police. But the men said they had discarded the relic itself – reportedly a piece of the clothing Blessed John Paul was wearing when he was shot May 13, 1981 – by throwing it into some bushes near the facility. Members of Italy’s specialized scientific police were searching the grounds. The relic and the cross were first reported missing from the church of San Pietro della Ienca over the weekend of January 25-26. The church, where Blessed John Paul often prayed, is located 13 miles north of L’Aquila, in the mountainous Abruzzo region where the late pope frequently went to pray on vacations. Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, who served as Blessed John Paul’s personal secretary during his pontificate, gave the relic to the chapel in recognition of the...
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Pope Francis says Internet is a gift, but warns against obsessive desire to stay connected:-29-Jan-2014
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Pope Francis in a statement released last Thursday said that "Internet is a gift from God that facilitates communication", but warned against the obsessive desire to stay connected. He stated that obsession to internet and social media can isolate people from their friends and families. Pope made these observations in a message about Catholic Church Communications, meditating on the marvels and perils of the digital era and what that means for the faithful going out into the world and interacting with people of different faiths and backgrounds. He also suggested that while engaging in dialogue with other religions, Catholics shouldn't be arrogant in insisting that they alone posses the truth or attain salvation. In a recent homily at St. Peter's Square he suggested that even atheists can find salvation if they seek God. He also wrote that, "engaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and traditions, but the pretense that they alone are valid and absolute." In his message Thursday, Pope Francis said the Internet offers "immense possibilities" to encounter people from different cultural and traditional backgrounds and show solidarity with them. "This is something truly good, a gift from God," he wrote. But he warned: "The desire for digital connectivity can have the effect of isolating us from our neighbors, from those closest to us." He called for communications in the digital era to be like "a balm w...
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Obama to visit Rome this year; Pope to visit U.S next year-28-Jan-2014
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President Barack Obama will meet with Pope Francis for the first time on March 27 ,2014 at the Vatican, the White House announced. Obama's visit with the leader of the Roman Catholic Church will be part of a larger European trip that the President will start on March 24 from Netherlands. A press release issued by White House said, "the President looks forward to discussing with Pope Francis their shared commitment to fighting poverty and growing inequality,". In his recent speeches President Obama quoted Pope's words about economic inequality and poverty. Three weeks ago U.S Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Vatican's Secretary of State, and Obama's visit was finalized during that visit. According to Vatican sources Pope Francis expressed his intention to visit the United States next year for the eighth World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. Vatican announced that the World Meeting will be held September 22-27, 2015. The visit of Pope Francis is not officially finalized. World Meeting of Families is held every three years since the late Pope John Paul II convened the first such gathering in 1994. The General Assembly of the United Nations usually meets in September of every year. This is leading to a speculation that Francis might combine the Philadelphia trip with a stop in New York to address the U.N., according to a correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter. Both his predecessors,...
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Pope Issues Strongest Condemnation of Abortion:-15-Jan-2014
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Pope Francis has issued his strongest condemnation of abortion, calling it a "horrific" symptom of a "throwaway culture" that placed too little value on human life. He used harsh words to condemn the culture of killing innocent human beings by early termination of pregnancy. He made the comments in his yearly "State of the World" address to diplomats, from all over the world, affiliated to the Vatican. Several times Pope Francis has condemned abortion, since his take over in March 2013. Two months ago he exhorted a team of gynecologists, who visited him, to desist from performing abortion. Though, some main stream media falsely reported that Pope's stance is favoring mercy over condemnation, the words he spoke yesterday at the "State of the World" reiterates the position of Catholic Church. "It is horrific even to think that there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day," he said in part of the speech that addressed the rights of children around the world. "Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as unnecessary." Over 56 million children have been killed in the U.S ever since the Supreme Court legalized abortion following Roe Vs Wade case in 1973. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ...
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Iran Considering Giving Gold to Parents to Boost Birth Rates:-15-Jan-2014
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Iran is reversing the decade-long promotion of fertility reduction. The Iranian government is now trying to increase the country's disastrously low birth rate by considering the possibility of giving gold coins to couples to encourage them to have children. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the mullahs were preaching against large families and favored sterilization. This resulted in the average birth rate plunging from 3.6 children per family to a current rate of well below 2.1 children per couple. According to the government analysis this will not maintain a stable population. The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei says," If we move forward like this, we will be a country of elderly people in a not-too-distant future". He blamed imitation of western lifestyle for this decline. But, according to a Professor of Tehran University, gold coins are not enough incentive to persuade couples to have more children, citing that the economy crippled by sanctions and a staggering inflation rate. Many young Iranians prefer to continue their studies, not marry. Lack of financial ability to buy a house and meet expenses are among other reasons why the youth postpone marriage or have no interest in raising many children. Khoran, like the Torah and the Bible, strongly endorses the idea that babies are blessings and encourages strong families. Most Mullahs originally opposed not just abortion, but sterilization and contraception as well. But during the Revolution, the population c...
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Utah illegalize Gay Marriages that took place under District Judge:-09-Jan-2014
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The state of Utah will not recognize more than 1,000 gay marriages that took place when a District Judge allowed gay weddings last month. The US Supreme Court ruling suspended them this week , in favor of the state government. Majority of the Utah residents do not support gay marriage and the Governor Gary Herbert, a conservative Republican, strongly upholds family values and principles. He has six children and fourteen grand children. A letter by the Governor Herbert, issued yesterday, said that the western US state, which had opposed the district court ruling opening the way for gay weddings, must obey the top US Federal Court decision freezing the gay marriages already taken place in the State. The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked gay marriages, after Utah filed an emergency petition to stay the District Judge's ruling, which struck down as unconstitutional a state law banning same-sex marriage. Some 1,300 marriage licenses for same-sex couples were issued in the 17 days between the two rulings in Utah. Gay rights campaigners slammed the governor's announcement, and the Supreme Court. This Supreme court ruling will open a new door for other states, who oppose gay marriage, to file petition. The New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a moderate Republican and next presidential candidate, is also personally against gay marriage. Gay marriage in New Jersey is legalized by court order, not by legislative vote. Govern...
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Priests for Life wins in federal court against Obamacare mandate-31-Dec-2013
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Priests for Life , a prolife organization, won a huge victory when a federal appeals court issued a ruling this afternoon saying it doesn't have to pay fines to the federal government for not obeying the Obamacare mandate. The new Affordable Care Act forces religious groups and businesses to pay for birth control or abortion-causing drugs for their employees. This emergency injunction granted today also means that Priests for Life will not have to cancel the health insurance for its employees. Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life said, he is "grateful his organization is free, temporarily at least, from having to comply with the unjust mandate or face huge fines by failing to comply". “We would not have complied with this mandate in any case, as it promotes the very culture of death that Priests for Life works to combat,” Father Pavone said. “We are grateful for this temporary relief and look forward to a permanent injunction once the appeal is fully heard.” “Our lawsuit was among the very first ones in the country and the necessity to launch it shows that religious freedom in America is in grave danger. We have to take action.” On Dec. 19, Priests for Life learned that the judge in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had ruled in favor of the government. Within an hour Priests for Life filed for the emergency injunction that was granted today. ...
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Pope warns cardinals and archbishops against gossip and mediocrity:-26-Dec-2013
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While addressing the Roman Curia on Saturday, Pope Francis asked the Cardinals and Archbishops to serve the Catholic Church with professionalism and holiness, rather than being mediocre. He urged officials to exercise their right to "conscientious objection to gossip", which is a vice that is "harmful to people, harmful to our works and surroundings". He warned Vatican administrators that their work could take a downward spiral into mediocrity, gossip and bureaucratic squabbling, if they forget that theirs is a professional vocation of service to the church The Pope made his remarks on Saturday, December 21, in his Christmas address to cardinals and officials of the Roman Curia, that is the Church’s central administration at the Vatican. Pope Francis said the most important quality for Vatican officials is “holiness of life”, expressed by “constant prayer, deep humility and fraternal charity in our relationships with our fellow workers”, as well as “discreet and faithful pastoral service, zealously carried out in direct contact with God’s people”. In his Christmas speech, the Pope stressed the importance for Vatican officials of professionalism and a spirit of service. Without professionalism, which he described as “competence, study and keeping abreast of things”, work follows a “slow drift downward toward mediocrity”, the Pope said. &ldquo...
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New York Elementary School omits Christ from Silent Night Song, outraged parents-25-Dec-2013
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A New York elementary school outraged parents when the authorities omitted sacred words from the song 'Silent Night', during the Annual Christmas concert, sang by fifth grade students. The school district strategically removed the following important lines of the traditional song-"Christ the Savior is born, "Holy infant so, tender and mild", "round yon virgin, mother and child" and "Jesus, Lord at thy birth". The Kings Park Central School District in Long Island has since apologized to members of the community who were outraged over the changes. The Board of Education issued a statement sincerely apologizing for the action, and published it in their website saying, " this action was not approved by the Board of Education or district administration, nor is it their role to approve the songs chosen for our concerts." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...
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