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Photo: AFP In Syria, Islamists have again captured the Christian town of Maaloula. They took prisoner 12 nuns two weeks ago and have since held them in the neighbouring town of Yabroud. Meanwhile, Internet antique shops have featured offers to sell Maaloula relics. That's the way the Jabhat al-Nusra fighters are earning their daily bread. But clerics in the ancient Christian town of Maaloula continue ringing their church bells despite the ongoing fighting, blasts and the abduction of nuns.This is actually the only reminder of the once quiet life in the small town. The Islamists, - the Jabhat al-Nusra...

Moscow, December 20, Interfax - Moscow is home to 958 Orthodox churches, but regular religious services are conducted only in 473 of them, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said at an Eparchial Assembly session in the Russian capital on Friday. Of the overall number of Moscow's Orthodox churches, 144 are currently under construction, another 193 house secular institutions, and 24 have not yet been vacated by former tenants. As many as 1,515 priests work in Moscow, which also has 31 monasteries and convents. Twenty new dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church and 11 archdioceses were established in 2013,...

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill said that he has “great expectations” of Pope Francis, because the Pontiff’s pastoral plan “coincides with our vision.” Patriarch Kirill made this comment as he met on December 18 with Cardinal Kurt Koch, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, who is visiting Moscow this week. The Russian patriarch said that he was pleased to meet the Vatican official, remarking that he had “more and more opportunities to meet with Catholic prelates.” In November he had met with Cardinal Paul Poupard, Cardinal Angelo Scola, and Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, in a clear expansion of Vatican...

The conflict between Greek Catholics and Orthodox in Western Ukraine has to be resolved from both sides, said Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. “Only by recognizing this can we move together into the future,” he said December 17, responding to journalists' questions at a press conference in Moscow. A correspondent from Blahovest-info asked about the cardinal’s attitude toward the issue, which, the Russian Orthodox Church believes, complicates the preparation of a possible meeting between the Moscow Patriarch and the Pope. The journalist quoted statements recently made by Metropolitan Hilarion’s at a Russian-Polish conference:...

Prince Charles has said he is “deeply troubled” by the plight of Christians in the Middle East. In an address on Tuesday at London’s Clarence House, the Prince of Wales said that Christians in the Middle-East were being persecuted by “Islamist fundamentalist militants,” and he called upon the followers of Christianity, Judaism and Islam to unite to end the suffering. Prince Charles said: “I have for some time now been deeply troubled by the growing difficulties faced by the Christian communities in various parts of the Middle East. “It seems to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians...

Cardinal Kurt Koch. Rome, Italy, Dec 14, 2013 / 05:25 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The relationship between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches is very important to Pope Francis, said the president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. “I think the ecumenical issue and the ecumenical challenge is very close to his heart,” Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch told CNA on Dec. 13. From Dec.14-19, Cardinal Koch will travel to Russia to meet with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church. He will meet with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow as well Metropolitan Hilarion, who is president of the Department of...

Does Praying to Saints Equal Worshipping the Saints? For many of our Protestant friends, the idea of ”praying to saints” is tantamount to adoring them as God. In his book, Answers to Catholic Claims – A Discussion of Biblical Authority, James White writes:Prayer, it is asserted [in Scripture], is an act of worship, and we are to worship God alone.”If this is true then Catholics are committing the sin of idolatry every time they pray to a saint. But is this true?The Catholic ResponseWhen Catholics say they are “praying” to God and “praying” to saints they are talking about qualitatively different things...

A Greek Orthodox bishop’s exhortation to Syrian Christians to take up arms is “insane” and “reckless,” a Syrian Catholic prelate told the Fides news agency. Bishop Lukas El Khoury, an auxiliary bishop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, had said that “every young Christian in a position to do so should take up arms to protect Syria, churches, and convents,” Fides reported. “We cannot remain with arms folded.” “As men of the Church, we cannot incite Christians to take up arms and to take part in the conflict,” Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo, the Syrian Catholic archbishop of Hassaké-Nisibi, said...

Vladimir Putin sought to cast Russia as the moral arbiter of the world on Thursday, as he hit out at America’s “non-traditional values” and its influence across the world. In an annual state of the nation address, the 61-year-old Russian president said his country did not aspire to be “some kind of superpower”. “We do not infringe on anyone’s interests, we do not force our patronage on anyone, or try to teach anyone how to live,” he said. His comments amounted to an oblique rebuttal to the growing international movement against Russia’s restrictive laws on homosexuality. ... Mr Putin defended...

Expressing gratitude to Pope Francis for his support for Syrian Christians, the head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church told the Pope that “despite the woes and the quite tragic situation that we have been experiencing for nearly three years now, we want to stay and help our faithful to stay.” “You called upon us not to allow the flame of hope to be extinguished in our hearts,” said Patriarch Grégoire III (Loutfi) Laham in a recent address to Pope Francis in Rome. “We are resolved to be martyrs in this land, blood martyrs, like some of our faithful, including...

Although, in the Roman liturgy, St. Barbara is merely commemorated in the Office of St. Peter Chrysologus, yet the Church has approved an entire Office for the use of those Churches which honour the memory of this illustrious virgin in a special manner. The legend which follows, although of considerable weight, has not, consequently, the authority of those which are promulgated for the use of the whole Church, in the Roman breviary. Let us not, on this account, be less fervent in honouring this glorious marytr, so celebrated in the east, and whose feast has been for so many ages...

The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has denied rumors that Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor in Eastern Orthodoxy, is a Freemason. “The Ecumenical Patriarchate hereby assertively denounces that His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has any relation whatsoever with Freemasonry,” the Patriarchate said in a brief statement. Announcement by the Holy and Sacred Synod (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople)

Vatican City, Nov 30, 2013 / 03:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis sent special greetings to the Archbishop of Constantinople today, expressing his desire for continued dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. “You Holiness, beloved brother in Christ, this is the first time that I address you on the occasion of the feast of the Apostle Andrew, the first-called. I take this opportunity to assure you of my intention to pursue fraternal relations between the Church of Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarchate,” he wrote on Nov. 30 in the message delivered by Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical...

Pope Francis has sent a Message to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His Holiness, Bartholomew I, to mark the feast of the Patron of the Church at Constantinople, St. Andrew the Apostle. Common concern for the plight of Christians in many parts of the world, and especially in the Middle East, was a central focus of the Holy Father's reflections. Below, please find the official English text of the Message. ****************************************** To His Holiness Bartholomaios IArchbishop of ConstantinopleEcumenical Patriarch “Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eph 6:23) After...

Istanbul - The ancient monastery of San Giovanni in Studion, currently classified as the museum complex, will be transformed into a mosque in 2014, once the restoration work in progress are completed. The news was given by Turkish sources. This building, built as a place of Christian worship, seems destined to follow the fate of the ancient churches of Hagia Sophia in Trabzon and in Iznik. The Christian Greek - Orthodox entrepreneur Lakis Vingas, a member of the General Directory of Foundations, commented on the news by pointing out that "cultural heritage is universal", and turning it into the soil...

MARY, MOTHER OF EVANGELIZATIONexcerpted from EVANGELII GAUDIUM II. MARY, MOTHER OF EVANGELIZATION284. With the Holy Spirit, Mary is always present in the midst of the people. She joined the disciples in praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14) and thus made possible the missionary outburst which took place at Pentecost. She is the Mother of the Church which evangelizes, and without her we could never truly understand the spirit of the new evangelization. Jesus’ gift to his people285. On the cross, when Jesus endured in his own flesh the dramatic encounter of the sin of the world...

Moscow, November 27, Interfax - There is a need for an open and broad public debate on the proposal to reflect in the Constitution the special role of Orthodox faith, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations, said. "Such initiatives, like any public, ideological, and legislative initiatives, can and should be discussed freely. It is strange that people who expressed so much support for the draft religious Code proposed by Mr. Prokhorov, which in my opinion is debatable, literally begged the authors of this initiative to be silent," Father Vsevolod told Interfax-Religion. "Any...

ROME — Pope Francis and Russian President Vladimir Putin met Monday amid high expectations that their visit could mark the beginning of the end of the centuries-old rift between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Since becoming pontiff in March, Francis has met with more than a dozen heads of state, and Putin met with both of his predecessors Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II. But this meeting comes at a unique time. “What's making (this visit) different this time is who he will meet: a pope, Francis, who for the first time is not from Europe,”...

Discuss Current Situation in Syria, Promoting Peaceful Solution to ConflictRussian President Vladimir Putin was received in the Vatican Apostolic Palace by Pope Francis this evening. The meeting is the first between the Russian head of state and the Holy Father. During the meeting, which was said to have lasted roughly 35 minutes, President Putin and the Holy Father discussed several topics of interest, including the fundamental contribution of Christianity in Russia. A communique released by the Holy See stated that particular attention was placed on current situation in the Middle East, especially in Syria. President Putin, the communique cotinued, expressed...

Smolensk, November 25, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church will advocate its independence, its head Patriarch Kirill has said. "The Church is defending its freedom because it is sure that only its independence gives it the possibility of being a full-scale spiritual authority. Any form of convergence of the Church and state is dangerous for the cause of God. Only the word of a free Church sounds loud and convincingly," he said in an interview with Smolenskiye Novosti newspaper. Once again he refuted the opinion about the state becoming more clerical and the Church increasingly becoming part of the state...