Middle East Monitor | – – Pope Francis, in his Easter address on Sunday, called for peace in the Holy Land two days after 15 Palestinians were killed on the Israeli-Gaza border, saying the conflict there “does not spare the defenceless”, Reuters reports. The pope made his appeal in his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the […]
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Roman Catholicism
‘These are the keys of this paradise’: how 700 years of Muslim rule in Spain came to an end
By Elizabeth Drayson | (The Conversation) | – – It was the moment which set Spain on a course to become the greatest power in early modern Europe. On January 2, 1492 Abdallah Muhammad bin Ali, or Muhammad XII, known as Boabdil, the last Moorish sultan of Granada and head of the Nasrid dynasty, surrendered […]
Priests close Church of Holy Sepulchre over Israeli “attack on Christians”
Middle East Monitor | – – Church leaders in Jerusalem shut the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday in protest at a new Israeli tax policy and a proposed land expropriation law which they called a “systematic and unprecedented attack against Christians in the Holy Land”. Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian church leaders […]
Turkey & Vatican tag team Trump over Jerusalem
Middle East Monitor | – – Both Erdogan and Pope Francis are opposed to US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which many US allies say could doom Middle East peace efforts. Tayyip Erdogan made the first visit by a Turkish president to the Vatican in 59 years on […]
Bannon & Trump lost Long ago: White Christians not a Majority in US
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In 1976,when Jimmy Carter was elected, a big majority (81%) of Americans identified as both white and Christian, with 4 in 10 of those being white Catholics. The country even had a majority (55%) of white Protestants! Carter, an Southern evangelical, benefited from the Christian vote […]
Pope Francis, Islam and Peace-Building
Interview by Jayson Casper | (Informed Comment) | – – Dr. Kamal Boraiqa is a lecturer at al-Azhar University and a member of al-Azhar Center for Dialogue, the al-Azhar Observer for Combating Extremism, and the Egyptian Family House. With a PhD from al-Azhar in Islamic Studies, he has served as an imam at the Santa […]
Pope Francis Says Building a Wall ‘Not a Christian Gesture’
TeleSur | – – “A Christian can never say ‘I’ll make you pay for that.’ Never! That is not a Christian gesture,” said Pope Francis. Pope Francis said Wednesday that society should not create “walls but bridges” to encourage good relations among people, adding it was wrong to be spiteful and say “I’ll make you […]
The Pope Says Yes to Palestine: Embassy Opens in Vatican
TeleSur | – – On Saturday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet Pope Francis to inaugurate Palestine’s first embassy to the Holy See ahead of Paris peace talks. On Saturday Palestine will open its first embassy in the Vatican, a diplomatically significant development in the midst of ongoing threats by President-elect Donald Trump to illegally […]
Pope: Pollution, Carbon Emissions a Sin & Global Warming to harm the Poor
By Nika Knight, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – – Humans are turning the planet into a ‘polluted wasteland full of debris, desolation, and filth,’ says Pope Francis “The world’s poor, though least responsible for climate change, are most vulnerable and already suffering its impact,” Pope Francis said. Pope Francis on Thursday put forth an […]