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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday issued its strongest guidance to date urging pregnant women to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) singled out a statue of Father Damien, a Catholic priest who ministered to a Hawaiian leper colony, as an example of “white supremacist culture.” Father Damien, born Jozef de Veuster in Belgium, arrived in Hawaii in 1864 when the islands were an independent kingdom. The priest conducted missionary work on the islands and for the last 16 years of his life ministered to a leper colony, until he died after contracting leprosy himself. A statue of Father Damien stands in the U.S. Capitol. “It’s not Queen Lili’uokalani…the only Queen Regnant of Hawaii, who is immortalized...

Belgian police are desperately hunting a radicalised 15-year-old son of an imam who appeared in a video pleading for the 'annihilation of all Christians'. The chilling video shows the teenager, who has not been named, calling for Allah to 'destroy' Christians and 'kill them all'. He sang the alarming outburst which was filmed in Verviers, east Belgium, and police added that the boy has been recognised and is on a list on radicalised people. A source told the Daily Telegraph that the youngster is the son of a local radical imam - a leader of a mosque. The source added...

"Do you really think a five year old will know about the goings on of a wedding in an Episcopal church?" - The OmenDo you think Obama does? But then I repeat myself. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJDpy7ATCjY]

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2009 / 10:45 am (CNA).- Today, Pope Benedict XVI canonized five new saints in St. PeterÂ’s Basilica, including Fr. Damian of Molokai. During his homily, the Holy Father noted that all of the saints followed the invitation of Christ: "Come, follow me!"Speaking to the faithful packed in St. PeterÂ’s Basilica this morning, the Pope described the invitation of Christ saying that he "invites his disciples to the total gift of their lives, without calculation and human self-interest, with a wholehearted faith in God." This call, the Holy Father continued, is welcome by the saints who...

The man who lived and died caring for Hawaii's outcasts in Kalaupapa more than 100 years ago became St. Damien in Rome today. In a Mass that began at 10 a.m. today in Rome, 10 p.m. Saturday in Hawaii, Pope Benedict XVI canonized Damien and four others, formally lifting them to sainthood. The ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican began with the pope reading a formal act of canonization, and continued with a chanting of the litany of saints. Benedict then recited the formal words of canonization, and in reciting the names of Damien and the four others,...

When the Jews return to Zion And a comet rips the sky And the Holy Roman Empire rises Then You and I must die. From the eternal sea he rises, Creating armies on either shore, Turning man against his brother 'Til man exists no more. The mother is buried in Cervete, an old cemetery now in ruins and located north of Rome - there is a jackal in the grave. "Look at me Barack, it's all for you!" Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man;...

The requisite miracle for his canonization approved in May, the Pope yesterday green-lighted the elevation to sainthood of Bl Damien deVeuster -- the Belgian priest (1840-89) who spent his life ministering to the leper community on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, eventually contracting and dying of the disease. Beatified in 1995, the news gives Stateside Catholicism its seventh product raised to the honors of the altar, and is notable on a global level given the widespread devotion to Bl Damien as unofficial patron of HIV/AIDS patients. Benedict XVI accepted 13 decrees of miracles, martyrdom and heroic virtue presented to...

The Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints has ruled that a Hawaiian woman’s cure from cancer was a miracle linked to her prayers to Blessed Father Damien De Veuster. The missionary priest, who was renowned for working with leprosy patients, is now one step closer to being declared a saint. Audrey Toguchi, a 79-year-old retired schoolteacher who lives in Aiea, became ill in 1997 with a lump on her left thigh that was discovered to be cancerous. She asked her sisters to accompany her to Kalaupapa to pray at Father Damien’s grave. “I prayed that he would ask God...

First off, I like both sets of movies and I dont think that Harry Potter is evil. But I watched Damien, Omen II tonight and the parallels between these two characters, Damien and Harry, are uncanny. Here is a list that came to mind tonight: 1) Both lost their parents when they were babes through violent and dramatic homicides. 2) Both are special people who have sets of protectors who consider him a deliverer, destined for greatness. While Harry is eventually to save his community from an evil wizard, Damien is to save the world from famine through the use...

Artist Damien Hirst has apologised for comments he made in a video essay on the events of 11 September. He is of course no stranger to shock. "What I like is that contradiction: a really gorgeous photograph of something horrific." When he said this, Damien Hirst was referring not to 11 September but to his adolescent fascination with illustrated pathology books. His "interest in wounds" included pictures of burns victims and those affected by venereal disease. "The photographs are so delicious - you are in people's pants." His taste for the macabre has clearly not left him. But to shock...

Damien Hirst has apologised unreservedly for congratulating the September 11 hijackers on a "visually stunning" work of art. Thanks to pressure from some New York art dealers no doubt - Ivan The British artist, famous for displaying animals in formaldehyde, said he was sorry if he upset families of the victims by calling the terror attacks "an art work in its own right". Proving yet again he wouldn't know real art if it bit his bum off. - Ivan He said on the eve of last week's first anniversary of the New York and Washington attacks: "Of course, it's visually...