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In a February 8 interview with one of Italy's most prominent dailies, Corriere Della Serra, Pope Francis praised Italy's leading proponent of abortion - Emma Bonino -- as one of the nation's "forgotten greats," comparing her to great historical figures such as Konrad Adenauer and Robert Schuman. Knowing that his praise of her may be controversial, the Pope said that she offered the best advice to Italy on learning about Africa, and admitted she thinks differently from us. "True, but never mind," he said. "We have to look at people, at what they do." At 27, Bonino had an illegal...

Isotope analysis of 2000-year-old skeletons buried in Imperial Rome reveal some were migrants from the Alps or North Africa, according to a study published February 10, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Kristina Killgrove from University of West Florida, USA, and Janet Montgomery from Durham University, UK. Previous work has focused on the overall human migration patterns within the Roman Empire. To understand human migration on a more granular level, the authors of this study examined 105 skeletons buried at two Roman cemeteries during the 1st through 3rd centuries AD. They analyzed the oxygen, strontium, and carbon isotope...

The enormous arena was empty, save for the seesaws and the dozens of condemned criminals who sat naked upon them, hands tied behind their backs. Unfamiliar with the recently invented contraptions known as petaurua, the men tested the seesaws uneasily. One criminal would push off the ground and suddenly find himself 15 feet in the air while his partner on the other side of the seesaw descended swiftly to the ground. How strange. In the stands, tens of thousands of Roman citizens waited with half-bored curiosity to see what would happen next and whether it would be interesting enough to...

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, is to meet his Roman Catholic counterpart, Pope Francis, during a historic visit to Latin America. The groundbreaking meeting is to happen in mid-February in Cuba. The meeting between heads the two major Christian churches would be an unprecedented move to mend a millennium-long rift between the Western and Eastern branches of the religion, which started with the Great Schism of 1054. The upcoming meeting confirms Russia's status in the Christian world, according to Alexandr Avdeev Russia's ambassador to the Holy See. "In light of the Western sanctions, the meeting between...

A Spanish scientist working at the Salk Institute in California told Scientific American that Pope Francis personally blessed his cutting-edge research to mix human cells into animal bodies. Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a prominent stem-cell biologist, is engaged in efforts to grow human tissue inside of farm animals such as pigs, sheep, and cows. This type of research is sensitive because scientists have to inject human stem cells into early-stage animal embryos, then try to grow the mixtures inside surrogate animals. Much of Belmonte's work occurs in collaboration with a team in the province of Murcia in his native Spain,...

On the Friday broadcast of his HBO show Real Time, Bill Maher told liberals see the world the way they want it rather than the way it is when it comes to the threat of Islam and Islamic terror. Maher, a religious critic, told his fellow liberals he wishes they would have the same "intolerance" for Muslim-related terror around the world that they do for Christians and Christian fundamentalists at home. Maher brought up the decision by the Italians to cover up nude statues during a state visit by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. "This is the horribleness of what's going...

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to protest in Rome's Circus Maximus arena Saturday against a civil unions bill for same-sex couples, a hot-potato issue for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government. "As many people as possible must take part. Remember; this is the only weapon we have!" organizer Massimo Gandolfini said ahead of the "Family Day" rally, which begins in the capital's ancient Roman chariot racing stadium at 1100 GMT. Gandolfini said he expected to fill the arena, which can take 350,000 people without counting the surrounding streets, while authorities in Rome said they were preparing for up to...

The Romans have censored themselves to make visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani feel more comfortable during his historic stop in Italy. Rouhani -- the first Iranian leader to visit Europe in almost 20 years -- met Tuesday with Pope Francis at the Vatican, but another stop on his agenda was the famed Capitoline Museum, where classic Italian nude sculptures were covered with plain white boards to avoid offending the Muslim president.

ROME (RNS) Controversy over Italy's decision to cover nude statues during the visit of Iran's president continued to spark debate as the leader of the Syrian Catholic Church criticized the episode, saying it pains persecuted Christians in Syria who feel forgotten. "This is our culture. If you don't want to see it, close your eyes!" an exasperated Patriarch Youssef III Younan told journalists in Rome on Thursday (Jan. 28). The head of the Syriac Catholic Church was speaking two days after ancient nude statues were covered by staff at Rome's Capitoline Museums in a bid to avoid offending the Iranian...

A decision by Italian officials to cover up ancient nude statues to not offend Iran's visiting president is drawing ridicule in Rome. Ahead of a news conference Monday with Premier Matteo Renzi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, wooden panels were erected around some Roman statues in Rome's Capitoline Museums. When images of the cover-up made the Italian media Tuesday, politicians from across the spectrum decried and derided the decision. The museum said Tuesday that the premier's office wanted the statues along Rouhani's path to the news conference covered up. Renzi's office declined to comment. ...

Silty fen preserved burning houses and domestic objects inside them to reveal unprecedented view of life 3,000 years ago. Almost 3,000 years after being destroyed by fire, the astonishingly well preserved remains of two Bronze Age houses and their contents have been discovered at a quarry site in Peterborough. The artefacts include a collection of everyday domestic objects unprecedented from any site in Britain, including jewellery, spears, daggers, giant food storage jars and delicate drinking cups, glass beads, textiles and a copper spindle with thread still wound around it. The remains of the large wooden houses, built on stilts in...

A new video has just been released in which Pope Francis very clearly expresses his belief that all of the major religions are different paths to the same God. He says that while people from various global faiths may be "seeking God or meeting God in different ways" that it is important to keep in mind that "we are all children of God". This is the most recent example that shows that the Pope has completely abandoned any notion that a relationship with God is available only through Jesus Christ. As he has done throughout his papacy, he continues to...

The five marks of the Roman decaying culture: Concern with displaying affluence instead of building wealth; Obsession with sex and perversions of sex; Art becomes freakish and sensationalistic instead of creative and original; Widening disparity between very rich and very poor; Increased demand to live off the state.

Widespread corruption destroys empires. By way of example, corruption was one of the main causes of the collapse of the Roman Empire: The Praetorian Guard—the emperor’s personal bodyguards—assassinated and installed new sovereigns at will, and once even auctioned the spot off to the highest bidder [and see this]. The political rot also extended to the Roman Senate, which failed to temper the excesses of the emperors due to its own widespread corruption and incompetence. As the situation worsened, civic pride waned and many Roman citizens lost trust in their leadership. The Ottoman Empire started its decline when the sale of...

ROME -- The Islamic State has a plan to conquer Rome. Yes, it might sound crazy, but ISIS believes the conquest of Rome is central to its mission. They believe it is necessary to fulfill what Islam teaches was the prophecy of Muhammed and to prepare the return of the Muslim messiah: the Mahdi. "ISIS thinks that Rome is one of its primary goals and is in its timetable," Robert Spencer, author of The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS, said. "It has a timetable where in the 10 years, by the year 2025, it hopes to bring about Armageddon, the...

[Hussein] Obama went golfing in Hawaii...then made what ABC News describes as a 40-foot chip shot....The press rewarded Obama with cheers.

ROME, Ga. - The imam of a Georgia mosque who pleaded guilty to providing support to the militant group Hamas was sentenced Tuesday to more than seven years in prison. Mohamed Shorbagi, 42, could have faced up to 15 years in prison. Shorbagi pleaded guilty in August to providing material support to the militant group Hamas in a case in which the agreement, charges and even the plea hearing were handled in secret. U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy sentenced him Tuesday to seven years and eight months in prison. At the sentencing, Shorbagi said he realized that some of his...

Like a good politician, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) repeatedly proves adept at inserting itself into national debates. When presidential candidate Ben Carson said he could not support a Muslim president, CAIR gathered reporters to express outrage and call on Carson to drop out of the race. When a 14-year-old Texas boy was detained for bringing what he said was a homemade clock to school that a teacher feared might be a bomb, a CAIR official expressed outrage and sat by the boy's side during news conferences and interviews. And in the immediate aftermath of the December 2 mass...

Nigergate: the dangerous relations between Democrat Senators and ex spies Here follows an interesting article from the Italian newspaper Il Giornale. I make no comment at all other than ‘read it’. Very soon, under the title “The Rockefeller Connection”, I will post something revealing, something important that until now passed completely under the Radar Screen. Stay tuned .. Nigergate: the dangerous relations between Democrat Senators and ex spies Il GIORNALE 13 November 2005 By Gian Marco Chiocci and Mario Sechi October 9 2002, Rome. Elisabetta Burba, journalist with Panorama magazine, crosses Via Veneto. At the American Embassy someone is waiting...

SIS has released chilling new footage depicting its apocalyptic vision of the end of the world. It has titled the video 'Meeting at Dabiq' which refers to the location of a final battle between the 'Crusaders' and the 'Believers'. The video also shows an ISIS 'armoured unit' advancing towards the Colosseum in reference to the 'armies of Rome'. In the footage the terrorist organisation shows a dead fighter being kissed by his comrades, a Jihadi on horseback trying to look like a honourable soldier and groups of men with the majority too scared to show their faces to the camera....