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Pope Francis has apologized after he appeared to lose his cool when a woman violently grabbed his hand while he greeted pilgrims at the Vatican on New Year’s Eve. A video that went viral on Twitter showed an unidentified woman abruptly grabbing Francis’ hand from behind a barrier and yanking him towards her just after he reached out to greet a child during a visit to the Vatican’s nativity scene on Tuesday night. It seemed like the woman would not release Francis’ hand, so the pontiff slapped her hand before pulling his free. Frowning in anger, he turned and strode...

Complete title: Pope Francis Criticises Proselytization "You Are Not A 'Disciple Of Jesus' If You Try To Convert Non-Believers" Pope Francis. Photo credits: Franco Origlia/Getty Images Advocating a new outreach strategy https://www.dailywire.com/news/pope-francis-tells-students-how-not-to-convert-unbelievers for the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has said that speech should never be used in order to convince a non-believer of the truths of the Catholic Faith. Francis made these remarks while addressing the students of Rome's Pilo Albertelli classical secondary school last Friday (Dec 20). "Never, never bring the gospel by proselytizing," Francis said. "If someone says they are a disciple of Jesus and comes to you...

DETROIT (AP) — Detroit is emerging as a national center for the rebirth of Orthodox Christian churches, which have deep ethnic roots in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Social scholars say the churches are growing in the United States through immigration and conversion. Next week, many of Detroit's Orthodox leaders will host the first in a series of conferences planned nationwide for non-Orthodox clergy who want to explore conversion. The Rev. John Fenton is betting his life on the growing popularity of Orthodox Christianity. He and his wife have packed up their six children from the rectory...

Research is moving forward to create cloned children out of left-over body parts from aborted babies and 'spare' IVF embryos according to a recent article from the National Post. To those who have been following the reproductive technologies, this is not news. Chimeras, human-animal hybrids, have been created in the lab for years. Human DNA has been injected into cow and monkey ova and allowed to grow into embryos before being destroyed. Ova have been harvested from the ovaries of aborted girls and artificially brought to maturity and inseminated. Some countries outlaw this, others permit it as part of what...

DO THEY BELONG TO THE SAME RELIGION? Ken Skuba Ken Skuba, who lives with his wife and three children in Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania, is the manager of a real estate company. A Tale of Two St. Mary's Churches It was Pentecost Sunday 1999, and we were headed to 8 a.m. Mass at St. Mary's Church in upstate New York. We — my wife, kids, and I — had traveled from Pennsylvania to visit my wife's family, and I decided to take my kids (my wife had other obligations) to St. Mary's where Grandma is a Eucharistic minister. At 7:45 a.m....

Code: ZE03120908 Date: 2003-12-09 Vocations Crisis Demands Solid Priestly Formation, Says Pope Sees a "Trial of Faith" for Pastors and the Flock VATICAN CITY, DEC. 9, 2003 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II says the vocations crisis must be answered by seminaries that form future priests solidly, including emotionally and morally. The Pope illustrated this concern in an address Friday to the second group of French bishops, from the ecclesiastical provinces of Rennes and Rouen, who are on their five-yearly visit to Rome. In his address, the Holy Father focused on the "serious crisis of vocations" that France is experiencing, as...