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Cardinal Kurt Koch, who leads ecumenical relations for the Vatican, made the comments at an interfaith meeting in CambridgeChristians have a mission to convert all Muslims, according to one of Pope Francis’s senior aides. Cardinal Kurt Koch, who leads ecumenical relations for the Vatican, made the comments at an interfaith meeting held by Cambridge University’s Woolf Institute. Cardinal Koch also said that Christians should not try and convert Jews and should view Judaism as a “mother”. “We have a mission to convert all non-Christian religions’ people [except] Judaism,” he said, before reportedly adding that this extended to jihadis responsible for...

The longtime personal secretary to Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI has spoken of a "dramatic struggle" at the conclave of 2005, and insisted that the former Pontiff did not resign because of the "Vatileaks" scandal. Speaking at the launch of a book about Pope Benedict, Archbishop Georg Gänswein-- who continues to act as secretary to the retired Pontiff, while also serving as prefect of the pontifical household-- said that the "Vatileaks" scandal had "little or nothing" to do with the Pontiff's decision to resign. He said that Benedict XVI was motivated by his realization that he was growing weaker. By resigning, Archbishop...

Excerpts from a recent sermon by Patriarch Kyril of the Russian Orthodox Church with English subtitles.

This article is to those that might be going through a physical affliction and wondering if it is God's will for you to be healed. I just want to encourage you that it is God's will that you receive your healing. Let me make these points to help convince you of that because I want you convinced so that nobody can talk you out of it. First, In Matthew 15:26 Jesus said healing is the children's bread. What is bread, it is your right. Every child has a right to be fed. In fact, it a father's obligation to feed...

It's at the top of Drudge right now, "Why Does Everyone Hate Hillary?", some kind of internal Democrat bickering, of no real interest to people out in flyover country. What if Jesus Christ could have saved...Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Margaret Sanger? He does have the power, he just doesn't bully you, if you really don't want him, he won't force himself on you. Hillary can choose to be Jesus' friend. That's between the two of them. Our imaginary hatred of a spectre we call "Hillary" is something in our own heads. Just make sure we put the same choice first in...

This is not violence,” an angry abortion advocate screams while physically attacking a Created Equal team member. Last week a Columbus, OH resident roughed up one of our outreach team members even before he had an opportunity to dialogue with his intended audience. It seems increasingly common for abortion advocates not only to dissent to our message but also to resort to violence. In defending the violence of abortion, abortion advocates use violence to intimidate preborn defenders. But this call for protectionism isn’t just for abortion advocates or unbelievers anymore, but we now see it cropping up among Christians, especially...

Is Love the Cause of Hatred? The Answer May Surprise You Msgr. Charles Pope • May 22, 2016 • There is an old saying that the opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference. Indeed, it’s pretty hard to hate or even to have a strong aversion to something or someone we don’t really care about. But when we do love, we care. And the stronger our love, the more intense our concern, anger, or even hatred for what is wrong.But does this mean that love is the cause of hatred? Our instinct is to recoil and say,...

Christ, before his Passion, said to his apostles, “My soul is sorrowful even to death.”1 He was about to enter the garden to pray, and his disciples would soon fall asleep, flee him, and become divided. Christ’s agony in the garden envisaged the entire history of the Church; perhaps one of the Church’s most enduring traditions, unfortunately, has been division. William Blake (1757-1827) once wrote that, “It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend.”2 One of the more ill-fated examples of division in the Church is the antagonism between the Eastern Catholic priest, Father Alexis Toth (1853-1909), and...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Peter (The Acts of the Apostles) (Acts 5) 17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.” 21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told,...

The communist authorities have released the priest in his 70's, leader of the struggle for rights and religious freedom. The years in jail have taken their toll physically, but not on his spirit. He is "bright and determined." Activists say his release is a gift to Obama on the eve of his trip to Vietnam.Hanoi (AsiaNews) – Hanoi’s Communist authorities have released Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest in his 70s one of the top leaders in the struggle for religious freedom and civil rights in the country. According to some sources, the decision is a "good will" gesture ahead...

SHUITOU, China — Along the valleys and mountains hugging the East China Sea, a Chinese government campaign to remove crosses from church spires has left the countryside looking as if a typhoon had raged down the coast, decapitating buildings at random. In the town of Shuitou, workers used blowtorches to cut a 10-foot-high cross off the 120-foot steeple of the Salvation Church. It now lies in the churchyard, wrapped in a red shroud. About 10 miles to the east, in Mabu township, riot police officers blocked parishioners from entering the grounds of the Dachang Church while workers erected scaffolding and...

It is difficult, indeed almost impossible, to know how many Americans believe in God. Why? Because the word “God” means different things to different people. Mr. A may have one idea of God while Mr. B has quite another, even though they both tell us that they believe in God. It’s like “democracy.” Communists and anti-Communists both called themselves democrats, but they had radically different ideas of democracy.A couple of centuries ago, almost everybody in the western world (which used to be called Christendom) had pretty much the same idea of God. You might be Catholic or Protestant, but your...

May 23, 2016 Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Pt 1:3-9 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hopethrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,kept in heaven for youwho by the power of God are safeguarded through faith,to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time.In this you rejoice, although now for a little whileyou may have to suffer through various trials,so that the...

The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.(Psalm 9 :17-20)Many people miss the full import of the Psalms of the Bible, because they limit their understanding of them to being divine poetry, or as wisdom literature. Some correctly go further and realize that the...

Pastor J.D. explains how last week’s developments are preparing the world for the antichrist to come on the scene. Prophecy update follows building update.

This week, John looks at the Push for Peace in the Middle East, specifically the Quartet (US, EU, Russia and the UN) who are accelerating their push to divide up the land that was given to Israel by God Himself. That, dear friends, is never a good idea, as God will not be mocked and He will impart judgment on those who threaten the peace and security of Israel. With the Huffington Post's article on "Jesus, the First Transgender" and the Harvard meeting on creating a synthetic human genome, it is even more clear that we are spiraling out of...

The “religious sense” has hit Nat Geo overnight – and the Catholic Church has found itself on center stage.First came a dramatized documentary about Pope Francis and a new series from Morgan Freeman about the “the story of God” (which affirmed the co-existence of faith and science in Catholicism and displayed a kind of “spiritual bond” with Rome).Now, Catholicism is at the center of a very different sort of travelogue, a two-hour special called “Map of Hell.” Donning a silver cross, action anti-hero Danny Trejo (Machete) kicks this special off with some “bad news”: “Someday, we’re all gonna die.”...

Today, May 21, 2016, the Holy See Press Office has released, in its daily bulletin, a statement attributed to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The statement categorically denies the affirmation, reported here, from Fr. Ingo Dollinger, which speaks of a private conversation in which then-Cardinal Ratzinger spoke to Dollinger, a personal friend, about there being more to the Third Secret of Fatima than was published by the Vatican in June of 2000. Here is the full text of the Vatican statement:

One and One and One Are One - A Homily for Trinity Sunday Msgr. Charles Pope • May 21, 2016 • There is an old spiritual that says, “My God is so high you can’t get over Him. He’s so low you can’t get under Him. He’s so wide you can’t get around Him. You must come in, by and through the Lamb.”It’s not a bad way of saying that God is “other.” He is beyond what human words can describe, beyond what human thoughts can conjure. And on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, we do well...