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Mother Teresa has been proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis in front of 100,000 Catholics this morning. Mother Teresa, the tiny nun who cared for the world's most unwanted and became an icon of the Catholic Church, was canonised at a ceremony in St Peter's Square. Two supposedly miraculous cures have been attributed to Mother Teresa by the Vatican, paving the way for her sainthood. At least 100,000 pilgrims and tourists were expected at the ticketed ceremony this morning, as well as dozens of heads of state. Pope Francis, who yesterday decried the modern 'sin of indifference' to suffering, presided...

Norwich, U.K., Sep 2, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- For more than 950 years, pilgrims have been making their way to a small medieval village in England's Norfolk region to visit the site of a Marian apparition and what is believed to be the oldest shrine to Our Lady in the world. Save for a tiny chapel on the outskirts of the town of Walsingham, and a single stone arch of what had been the priory, almost nothing remains of the original pilgrimage site which was decimated during the English reformation under the orders of Thomas Cromwell. Yet several...

When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the new Catholic pope in 2013, he chose the name of Francis to indicate that his pontificate would be one of mercy and compassion for the poor and needy...St. Francis (1182-1226) is indeed known for all those qualities. But he was known for something else his modern-day namesake fails to live up to: unapologetically confronting Islam...

The provenance of this poll, very much Democratic, is dubious, and the sample size suffers from the usual problem when polling Jews in Florida, it's vanishingly small, yet the results are interesting in one particular regard. Orthodox Jews as a group comprise the single outlier to this trend, with 46 percent identifying Israel as one of their top two voting priorities. They constitute the only group within the survey—including age, education and denomination—to identify as majority Republicans(67 percent). They hold extremely positive views of President George W. Bush (+69) and extremely negative views of President Barak Obama (-55). Sixty-six percent...

September 2, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — A renowned psychiatrist who has worked with victims of priestly sexual abuse and priest abusers has strongly condemned the Vatican’s new sex education program as abusive and “the most dangerous threat to Catholic youth” he has seen in the past 40 years. The gravely concerned psychiatrist is Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons, a counseling center director who has been a consultant to the Congregation for the Clergy at the Vatican and has served as adjunct professor at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Catholic University of America. In an essay...

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor...

Recently a Facebook friend shared an example of Christian white magic in the real world. You’ll never guess what magic book it was. His family owned a “book of magic,” a fantasy novel. That wasn’t the dangerous magic. Instead, someone he knew became alarmed at the book. She effectively cast a spell against his family. She removed herself from their contaminated space and created a magic circle. This phrasing is only mild hyperbole. But unfortunately, this is what many Christians do. We believe in magic, and even practice types of spells, all in an attempt to avoid bad magic. Deuteronomy...

Zvezdny Gorodok (the Moscow Region), September 2, Interfax - Member of the new International Space Station crew Sergey Ryzhikov is going to take icons, the Gospels, letters from his relatives, and stones from Mount Tabor. At a press conference in the Astronaut Training Center named after the first Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin he also said that the crew call is 'Tabor' after the holy mount in Israel where Christ was supposed to transfigure 40 days before the crucifix. The launch of the piloted spaceship Soyuz MS 02 that will deliver the new crew to the ISS is planned for September...

Pope Francis has said that he is “gratified” by UN goals that call on member states to “ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health” by 2030. The term “sexual and reproductive health”, as generally defined, includes access to contraception, including abortifacient methods, and, often, other forms of abortion. In a message entitled “For the celebration of the world day of prayer for the care of creation” Pope Francis stated that he was “gratified that in September 2015 the nations of the world adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, and that, in December 2015, they approved the Paris Agreement on climate...

The Caliphate’s official magazine attacks Popes Francis and Benedict XVI, calls to break the Vatican’s cross. For Mar Sako, this is an attempt to "put pressure" on the West. Muslims who seek dialogue and reconciliation are at risk. Islam cannot know Christianity from the Qur’an. The Chaldean primate writes an open letter to Muslims to turn against the Islamic State “cancer”.Baghdad (AsiaNews) – The direct attack and death threats made by the Islamic State (IS) in recent days against Pope Francis are part of a "propaganda strategy" to "exert pressure on the West using the figure of the pope,” Chaldean...

The Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) has joined the Conference of European Churches and the European Christian Environmental Network in calling for a five-week observance of a “Time for Creation". ”The “Time for Creation” begins on September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and concludes on October 4, the memorial of St. Francis of Assisi. “According to the Gospel, responsibility for the environment can never be detached from responsibility for other human beings: for our neighbor, for the poor, or the forgotten, all in a true spirit of solidarity and love,” the organizations said...

September 1, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The large sum of money billionaire George Soros put up to influence Pope Francis’ U.S. visit last fall before a presidential election year and to push the American bishops toward support for radical “social justice causes” was not the first time the leftist financier has used his wealth to try and negatively affect the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has continuously withstood and will always survive more formidable opponents than Soros. But this fact is clearly lost on him, given his history of attempting to nefariously impact the Church by funding groups labeled “Catholic”...

When Brahmachari Vrajvihari Sharan led his first worship service in his new job as a Hindu chaplain Sunday, he knew his audience. As the service began, he asked worshipers to clear their minds. “Close all the tabs that are open, just as you would do to a Firefox window,” he said. The comparison — of a spiritual mindset to an Internet browser — worked at once. More than 40 college students, many of whom had been up until 3 a.m. the Saturday night before this 9 a.m. service, chuckled appreciatively and fell into a reverent silence. This is Sharan’s new...

A Rapture, of Sorts? Disclaimer: First things first. I do not believe in what some people call a pre tribulation rapture and I’ve discovered that there is no *seven year tribulation, ergo, no mid tribulation anything. But there is a return and that I can write about. Second the word rapture does not appear in the Bible so let me find a word that is there... Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Took: לָקַח לָקַח lâqach, law-kakh'; a primitive root; to take (in the widest variety of applications):—accept, bring, buy, carry...

Patriarch Aphrem warned that Christianity is at risk of disappearing from Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. NEW YORK (Aug. 30, 2016)—A leading Syrian prelate urged Europe to take tougher action to stop fundamentalists from entering its territory. Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, the Damascus-based leader of Syriac Orthodox Church, warned of the threat posed by a new generation of radicalized Muslims bent on imposing Sharia law as widely as possible. While many Muslim refugees entering Europe are peace-loving moderates, he added, Western governments “must be better prepared” to ferret out jihadists. In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN),...

A new social dicastery has been established and is to be headed by Cardinal Turkson. At the moment, Francis is taking charge himself of migration, thus underlining the importance of this emergencyThe new Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development”, which merges a number of pontifical councils, was established today. For the moment, however, Francis has decided that he will be personally in charge of the department dedicated to migrants and refugees. His choice comes as a response to the current crisis in this field. It is a way to highlight the importance of this issue and to show the Pope’s...

Worries knife-wielding ISIS jihadists will target churches were raised by experts and revealed by churchmen. New counter-terrorism advice is being urgently issued to vicars and churches across the UK this week over fears an attack on British Christians is now likely. The new security measures follow the murder of a priest by two Islamic State killers in France last month, amid fears a similar attack could now happen in the UK. Experts warned a terrorist attack on churches "is coming”. Places of worship in the UK, which are 'easy targets' for jihadists, are now being urged to take precautions and...

OKLAHOMA CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - After a black mass in Oklahoma City on August 15, a woman used a crucifix to murder her daughter. Juanita Gomez of Oklahoma City told authorities she believed her daughter was "possessed" by Satan. Police showed up to the Gomez house Saturday, August 27, on a welfare check to find the daughter, Geneva Gomez, lying in the form of a cross with a large crucifix resting on her chest. ChurchMilitant.com obtained the affidavit released by the courts earlier this week. The affidavit reads: "Juanita stated she punched her daughter (Geneva Gomez) repeatedly and forced a crucifix...

August 30, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — A Spanish priest who carried out a marriage-like “blessing” of a homosexual couple after the registration of their civil “marriage” last week has been reprimanded by his diocese and apologized, according to chancery officials. The diocese of Segorbe-Castellón in the Spanish province of Valencia issued a statement noting that the actions of Fr. José García, who conducted the ceremony on July 30, “gravely contradict” the teachings of the Catholic Church on the immorality of homosexual behavior. “Regarding the equalization of homosexual unions with marriage or of actions that could be understood in that way,...

The head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See, has called upon “Muslims and non-Muslim people of good will” to repudiate the Islamic State, which currently controls approximately 15% of Iraq and 30% of Syria. “We know that the majority of Muslims are neutral, unbiased, open-minded and willing to work hard for the benefit of their countries and their fellow citizens,” Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako said in a message posted on the patriarchate’s website. “Their initiative should be a united and strong stance, with which they can together stop the...