UAE announces ministers for happiness, tolerance
(Vatican Radio) It sounds a bit New Age, but the United Arab Emirates has just appointed state ministers for happiness, tolerance and youth. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the UAE prime minister who is also the ruler of Dubai, announced the new lineup on Wednesday via his official Twitter account. The new institution was established in the context of the broader reorganization of governmental structures created since the Country was established, 44 years ago.
Biography of Pope emeritus Benedict XVI
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, was born at Marktl am Inn, Diocese of Passau (Germany) on 16 April 1927 (Holy Saturday) and was baptised on the same day.His faith and the education received at home prepared him for the harsh experience of those years during which the Nazi regime pursued a hostile attitude towards the Catholic Church. From 1946 to 1951 he studied philosophy and theology in the Higher School of Philosophy and Theology of Freising and at the University of Munich. He received his priestly ordination on 29 June 1951. In 1953 he obtained his doctorate in theology with a thesis entitled "People and House of God in St Augustine’s Doctrine of the Church". Four years later, under the direction of the renowned professor of fundamental theology Gottlieb Söhngen, he qualified for University teaching with a dissertation on: "The Theology of History in St Bonaventure". From 1962 to 1965 he made a notable contribution to Vatican II as an "expert"; being present at the Council as theological adv
Pope Francis in Ciudad Juarez within earshot of El Paso
(Vatican Radio) On Wednesday 17th of Feburay Pope Francis is going to celebrate Holy Mass in Ciudad Juarez on the border between Mexico and the United States right across from El Paso where Monsignor Arturo Bañuelas serves as parish priest at St Marks'. And where like many others on the Texan border he's involved in pastoral ministry to migrants. Veronica Scarisbrick asks him how he views this highly symbolic celebration in a place which has seen so much death and destruction.
Missionary of Mercy: called to be icons of Church's embrace
(Vatican Radio) Fr. John Paul Mary of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word is just one of the many hundreds of priests commissioned on Ash Wednesday evening as a Missionary of Mercy. He spoke with Ann Schneible for Vatican Radio about the significance of his new mission for himself and in the life of the Church and the world.
Pope Francis donates 500 rosaries to prisoners
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has donated 500 rosaries to the detainees in a prison in the Italian city of Padua. The priest entrusted with delivering the gift is Don Marco Sanavio, who had the idea “more directly” to involve prisoners in the “Moment of Peace” (Un’ attimo di pace) initiative launched four years ago on the web in Italy.
