To be his worthy ministers, you must ceaselessly nourish yourselves with the Eucharist, source and summit of Christian life.
The Academy's meeting this year is devoted to an examination of the theme: "Charity and Justice in the Relations among Peoples and Nations." The Church cannot fail to be interested in this subject, inasmuch as the pursuit of justice and the promotion of the civilization of love are essential aspects of her mission of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
"Last Wednesday's catechesis was dedicated to the important figure of Origen, the Alexandrian doctor of the 2nd and 3rd century. I left out 2 aspects of Origen's doctrine, which I consider among the most important and timely, so that I could speak about them today. I am referring to his teachings on prayer and the Church."
The challenge for Latin America is preserving a "great Catholic tradition," for which the upcoming episcopal conference in Brazil will be a key event, says a Vatican official.
Orgy at the Whore house...
The tranquil silence of the Vatican Gardens was interrupted this week by a burst of activity circulating around the Casina Pio IV, the exquisite little villa nestled in the heart of the garden, today home to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The academy's 32 members meet every year to reflect on questions regarding Catholic social thought, and in the course of their deliberations they invite experts in various fields to address the academy and offer the fruit of their experience and study. What made this session unique was that while discussing the question of "Charity and Justice in the Relations Among People and Nations," the academy invited a record number of speakers, many of whom were of superstar status on the world's religious and political stage.
Germany experienced the driest and warmest April in more than 200 years - good news for a frequently sun-starved population, but bad news for farmers, who may face devastating crop losses.
Germans accustomed to Angela Merkel's domestic track record are hard-pressed to recognize the chancellor as she re-orients German foreign policy and takes it back toward its rightful place: at America's side. Thank goodness! An opinion piece by Gabor Steingart.
The Foreign Minister has embarked on a trip to the Mideast amid a deteriorating security situation in Iraq and the Palestinian-controlled areas. It's the 7th time he's toured the region.
Germany has proposed building a facility to enrich uranium under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency to prevent countries from covertly developing nuclear weapons.
Scotland's elections are being watched by secessionist groups around Europe hoping to get a glimpse of their own autonomous futures. Success for the SNP could be a real step towards independence.
There are really only 2 European models for integrating immigrants, the French and the British. Neither has succeeded and both are now being questioned. The French insist on assimilation. The British have favored laissez-faire multiculturalism.
Ehud Olmert appeared last night to have survived the political crisis triggered by a damning report on his management of the Lebanon war.
(LT op/ed: Olmert clings to office)
(DS: Olmert hunkers down)
(LX op/ed: Why the future is bleak for Olmert)
(Ha'aretz: Rally calls on Olmert, Peretz to quit)
(Ha'aretz: Netanyahu calls on Olmert to resign)
"On the face of it, it's a clear breach of the Geneva Conventions."
An Iranian Ambassador said that the outcome of talks between SNSC Secretary Ali Larijani and EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana in Turkey were positive, adding that Europe's rational approach to the issue can lead to future progress on Iran's nuclear issue.
President Ahmadinejad has to be killed. Really be killed, I mean, physically. He should be eliminated, put to death, assassinated, and all those words that serve to say the same thing. Former Mossad Director Meir Amit said this explicitly in a recent interview with the "Kfar Chabad" weekly.
The intelligence information gathered by the US regarding Iran's technological breakthrough that could lead Teheran to an atom bomb in less than 3 years bodes well with President Bush's political desperation. The intelligence information that so appropriately fits President Bush's political needs also ties in well with Prime Minister Olmert's war of survival.
The Council on Foreign Relations has echoed the warning of Zbigniew Brzezinski in claiming that a possible false flag terror attack blamed on Iran could be used to ignite a war, but absurdly pins the potential blame on "Al-Qaeda" and not the most likely perpetrators - the military-industrial complex that owns and controls the US government.
Today, the Nimitz is rapidly approaching the Persian Gulf, where it will join 2 other US aircraft carriers and the French carrier Charles De Gaulle in the largest concentration of naval firepower in the region since the launching of the US invasion of Iraq 4 years ago. With the arrival of the Nimitz battle group, the Bush administration will be in an optimal position to strike Iran with a punishing array of bombs and missiles. Why this concentration now?
Yesterday morning at the White House, President Bush commemorated the National Day of Prayer. He called upon Americans to remember that their nation is one founded upon a tradition of prayer and that prayer has greater power than is often recognized.
[WAR: "When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen." (Isa 1:15) "So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you." (Jer 7:16)]
An official inquiry was launched today into voting chaos in Scotland after a night in which Labour suffered widespread losses across Britain but avoided electoral "meltdown".
(LX: SNP breakthrough on hold)
(LX op/ed: Confusion piled upon confusion)
The world outside France's borders has mattered little throughout the presidential contest between Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal.
Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal started out with radically different prescriptions for how to invigorate the economy. But in the final days of the campaign, as both candidates court the center for the runoff Sunday, some of the differences between the two candidates have looked less pronounced.
Unless someone or something stops it soon, the mysterious killer that is wiping out many of the nation's honeybees could have a devastating effect on America's dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to a glorified bread-and-water diet. While not all scientists foresee a food crisis, noting that large-scale bee die-offs have happened before, this one seems particularly baffling and alarming.
US retail gasoline prices could hit an all-time high by the end of this month due to ongoing problems at the nation's oil refineries, automobile and travel group AAA said. AAA said it was "alarming" that gasoline prices were rising so high without the backdrop of a major geopolitical or natural event to disrupt supply, like a hurricane or a new military flare-up in the Middle East.
Venezuelan President Chavez has threatened to take over the country's private banks and largest steelmaker. But he said he would refrain from nationalisation if the firms began to work in the "national interest".
Biofuels sound like a good idea - but they could hike the price of staple grain crops like wheat and corn beyond the reach of the world's poor. What if the defining problem of the 21st century is a showdown between food and fuel?
Two Christians are meeting two atheists in a televised debate with the subject the existence of God, and Ray Comfort, a best-selling author and expert on Christian evangelism, says he can prove the existence of the Almighty in his allotted 13 minutes – without mentioning the Bible or faith.
Consider someone who has just died of a heart attack. His organs are intact, he hasn't lost blood. All that's happened is his heart has stopped beating—the definition of "clinical death"—and his brain has shut down to conserve oxygen. But what has actually died?
No matter how paradoxical it may appear, the human brain remains the most obscure object on Earth. We still have no answer to the most important question: How does this organ function?
Today in Scripture
"They began the consecration on the 1st day of the 1st month, and by the 8th day of the month they reached the portico of Yahweh. For 8 more days they consecrated the temple of Yahweh itself, finishing on the 16th day of the 1st month. (2Chr 29:17)
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