ROME (AP) — Pope Francis ushered in the New Year with a renewed appeal for the faithful to reject abortion, calling for a “firm commitment” to protect and respect life from conception to natural death. Francis, 88, celebrated a New Year’s Day Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on ...
My idea of a good start to the new year is a good night’s sleep. I sympathize, however, with the woman who posted that she wasn’t going to stay up to welcome in the new year, but she was going to stay up to make sure the old year left! 2024, with its strange Presidential election, excessive food and fuel costs, storms, floods, and shootings won’t be missed by many people. But what will 2025 bring? No one really has a clue; It could make 2024 look like a cakewalk. That’s the thing about change: There’s always an element of uncertainty, and uncertainty creates fear. Joshua 1 ...
DARDGHAYA, Lebanon (AP) — A Christmas tree stands among the fallen stones of what remains of St. George Melkite Catholic Church in southern Lebanon. Once a vibrant community center, the 18th-century church is in ruins after an Israeli airstrike in October. Georges Elia, a 40-year-old municipal worker and churchgoer, took it upon himself to bring some normalcy as the holiday season approached, weeks after a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants. “This year, Christmas is arriving with sadness for us, but we didn’t want it to be a sad one for the ...
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis inaugurated his Holy Year at Rome’s main prison on Thursday, bringing a message of hope to inmates and involving them in the Catholic Church’s once every quarter-century celebration that is expected to bring about 32 million pilgrims to Rome. Francis stood up ...
NEW YORK (AP) — The oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments sold for more than $5 million at an auction on Wednesday. Sotheby’s said the 155-pound (52-kilogram) marble slab was acquired by an anonymous buyer who plans to donate it to an Israeli institution. The ...
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Millions of faithful gathered to mark Mexico’s Virgin of Guadalupe Day, honoring the country’s patron saint. But calls by the Roman Catholic Church for a truce in Mexico’s ongoing cartel violence apparently went unheeded as more dead bodies were found in the country ...
