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Nur-Sultan, April 11, Interfax - Pope Francis in a conversation with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has confirmed his intention to pay an official visit to Nur-Sultan and take part in the Congress of Leaders of World Religions, the Kazakh presidential press service said. "The Pope expressed his gratitude to the president for the opportunity to meet, and confirmed his official visit to Kazakhstan, and that he will attend the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions as well. He said he had high expectations for his upcoming visit and participation in the forum," Tokayev said in a statement...

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, and Catholic Charities CEO Sally Blount will each offer remarks.Chicago - (April 5, 2022) – The Archdiocese of Chicago will join with the Muslim community to mark the end of the Ramadan fast at the 23rd Annual Muslim-Catholic Iftar dinner and program on Tues., April 5, 2022, from 6 – 8:15 p.m. at the Islamic Foundation North, 1751 O’Plaine Rd., in Libertyville. Sponsored by the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC), the annual interfaith Iftar commemorates breaking the Ramadan fast, observing maghrib prayer and sharing a festive dinner and program. The...

The Ethiopian and Coptic Orthodox Churches hold that Pontius Pilate, the governor who condemned Jesus Christ to death, later converted to Christianity himself. So they revere Pilate as a saint. Pontius Pilate is a curious character in the New Testament. He is the symbol of Rome’s authority in Judaea, and yet he declines to punish Jesus for insurrection against that authority. When the Sanhedrin present their prisoner to him, Pilate cross-examines him and then famously declares to the crowd: Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. John 19:4 Pilate...

Moscow, March 28, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church hopes that a new meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis will take place this year. "Preparations are being made for a meeting between the pope and the patriarch, which will take place this year. It will be an offline meeting," Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, said on the program Church and the World on Rossiya-24 TV. According to earlier reports, the patriarch and the pope conducted a videoconference on the situation in Ukraine on March 16. Metropolitan Hilarion said the online meeting had to...

SIX “safeguarding principles” have been published by the Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives, designed to protect people who are rejected by their religious communities because of their sexuality or gender identity. The principles were published on Tuesday evening, at the end of a two-day conference in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, hosted by the commission, which was launched in late 2020 (News, 18 December 2020). The conference was attended by more than 150 religious leaders, academics, and lay leaders “from a range of faith backgrounds and 30 countries”, a statement said. These included the Primate of Canada, Dr...

The announcement came from Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Minister Quomas. Last week, Vatican sources confirmed a papal visit to Timor-Leste. For the Bishops’ Conference, “interreligious dialogue is fundamental”.Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas plans to invite Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb to Indonesia. He made the announcement during the national conference of the Interfaith Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Indonesia, held in Bali from 6 to 9 March. The Commission’s president, Archbishop Yohanes Harun Yuwono of Palembang, and its secretary, Father Agustinus Heri Wibowo, were present at the meeting. Minister...

ROME – In new comments to Italian media, the Vatican’s Secretary of State has said recent remarks by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill will only make tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war worse, and said a second meeting with the pope is unlikely. Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin also spoke of his recent phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, saying the conversation proved to be unhelpful. Speaking to Italian media at the close of an event called Sui Tetti, or “On the Rooftops,” March 9, Parolin said “Kirill’s words do not favor and do not promote an understanding.” “On the contrary,...

The cathedral’s last Mass in 1535 ended in turmoil as priests were chased out and statues and other “idolatrous” items thrown after them. The Protestant St Peter’s Cathedral in Geneva, where John Calvin preached the Reformation, has hosted its first Catholic Mass in almost five centuries, with clerics from the once-opposed denominations sharing Lenten ashes in a sign of ecumenical harmony. The ceremony in the Swiss city’s cathedral, Catholic in the 12th century when it was founded and Protestant since 1535, was planned for 2020 but could not be held because of the pandemic. About 1,500 people filled the cathedral...

Converts blast blasphemy linking Islamic 'Maryam' with Catholic 'Mary' PARIS (ChurchMilitant.com) - A respected Islamic scholar and Parisian Catholic priest is condemning the recitation of the Koran and Muslim prayer in Paris' largest church as the "abandonment of evangelization" and the "introduction of the Antichrist." Father Guy Pagès' censure is being echoed by Parisian Muslim converts, who face the death penalty for apostasy from Islam — including a former high-ranking Islamic jurist who confessed to engaging in interfaith events "only to sanitize the true face of Islam in preparation for jihad." Catholics were shocked by the Muslim–Catholic celebration hosted by...

Goodwin was one of the co-founders of the influential Christian rap group The Cross Movement,..“I sent a letter to my church withdrawing my membership and saying that I am denouncing the Christian faith that I have believed, professed, proclaimed, and defended for the last 30 years,”...“I literally told God, ‘If I find one more thing in the scriptures that doesn’t have a good explanation without resorting to having to bend over backwards and hop over barrels to explain it—I might lose my faith,”...“It got to the point where the liberal dudes were the ones bringing the most comfort because they...

More prophesy being fulfilled with one world religion.

Access to the Eucharist is one of the motivating factors for keeping churches open.PORTLAND, Maine — The Diocese of Portland will continue to permit attendance at Mass, even as the state’s Council of Churches has urged all services to move online in light of a recent surge in coronavirus cases. “This isn’t about sending care packages or Hallmark cards (though those are certainly nice),” said Maine Council of Churches Executive Director Jane Field in a statement published Jan. 4. “For starters, it’s about making the difficult and necessary decision to return to virtual online worship services only and refrain from...

Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyeb and Religious Endowments (Awqaf) Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa on Tuesday paid a visit to the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo to offer greetings to Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church on the occasion of Christmas. During the visit, Sheikh El-Tayyeb voiced hope that this new year could bring about more happiness and prosperity to the Egyptian people, asserting that all heavenly messages have several moral commons. He asserted that greetings in such occasions are part of the Islamic philosophy which places high the human values and calls for maintaining brotherly ties. Meanwhile, the...

On December 25th, 2021, on The Church and the World TV program shown on Saturdays and Sundays on “Rossiya-24”, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), answered questions fr om the anchor Ekaterina GrachevaE. Gracheva: Hello! This is the time of the program “The Church and the World” on the TV channel “Rossia 24”, where we talk weekly with the Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. Hello, Vladyka!Metropolitan Hilarion: Hello, Catherine! Hello dear brothers and sisters! E. Gracheva: Vladyka, the other day you were...

Here is what it says: “Can. 1373 A person who publicly incites among subjects animosities or hatred against the Apostolic See or an ordinary because of some act of power or ecclesiastical ministry or provokes subjects to disobey them is to be punished by an interdict or other just penalties.” This new canon was newly inserted into the code on December 8, 2021, just a few days before the responsa ad dubium in regard to the draconian, unprecedented and highly controversial Traditionis Custodes which makes clear that our Catholic tradition is no longer in favor in high places. I wonder...

ROME — A group of Catholic and Anglican theologians has publicly called on the Vatican to review and overturn a papal document from 1896 that declared Anglican ordinations “absolutely null and utterly void.” “Where we once walked apart, we now walk together in friendship and love,” wrote members of the Malines Conversations Group after tracing the history of ecumenical agreements between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion and, especially, reviewing examples of collaboration and gestures of recognition. The judgment made by Pope Leo XIII in his apostolic letter “Apostolicae Curae” in 1896 “does not accord with the reality into...

BOSTON — A group of Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish leaders is urging luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton to stop using animal fur in its clothing and other products. In a joint statement, Orthodox Christian priest Stephen Karcher, Hindu activist Rajan Zed, Jewish rabbi ElizaBeth Webb Beyer and Buddhist priest Matthew Fisher said selling items trimmed with fur is inconsistent with the ethics and values of parent company Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. “Louis Vuitton should explore new boundaries of fur-free creative design and discontinue selling all products made from animal fur,” the clerics said Thursday, calling the trend “cruel, outdated...

A heritage-listed church and community hall on prime waterfront land in one of Tasmania's most expensive suburbs has been sold for $4.6 million to car dealer and property developer Errol Stewart.The Sandy Bay property, which has been held by the Anglican Church for more than 150 years, has been sold as part of the redress scheme for victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy. Many speculated the prime real estate would be developed into apartments, but Mr Stewart plans to make the 1,556 square metre site a private home for himself and his wife. "This side of...

British author, commentator and curmudgeon Malcolm Muggeridge once opined that ecumenism is like two drunks walking down Oxford Circus each holding onto the other for dear life. If one falls, they both would go down together. Were Muggeridge alive today, he would note that not only is the Church of England in steep decline and heading into the sunset of its days, but the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church of Scotland, the established church, are in a race to obscurity. The two church's recent signing of a "Declaration" to work together, was little more than putting lipstick on a...

Moscow, December 6, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church is so far unaware of when and where Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might meet with Pope Francis, Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, said on Monday. "My meeting with Pope Francis is planned between December 20 and December 30. I intend to wish him a happy 85th birthday on behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and discuss a broad range of issues concerning the bilateral relations between our churches with him. Among these issues is a possible meeting between Pope Francis and...