Here is the schedule for the trip as released by the Vatican. Times listed are local, with Eastern Daylight Time in parentheses:
Inside a rustic chapel 4,000 miles away from his diocese, Bishop Martin J. Amos of Davenport, Iowa, presented a peace award to Jean Vanier for fostering total acceptance of people as they are — with and without disabilities.
Human-centered migration policy empowers individuals, promotes security and produces the best and most sustainable outcomes for all people involved, according to speakers at a U.N. event July 15.
Britain’s two leading archbishops said the new same-sex marriage law represented “a watershed in English law and heralds a profound social change.” “The new act breaks the existing legal links between the institution of marriage and sexual complementarity,” said a statement by Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, and Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark, vice president.
Many Catholics who identify themselves as either conservatives or progressives will be disappointed in Pope Francis, whose program of spiritual renewal, doctrinal continuity and emphasis on the poor fits none of the traditional molds, a top German cardinal said.
While Pope Francis’ July 22-28 visit to Brazil has been planned almost down to the minute, the papal spokesman is certain it will be “a bit of an adventure.”
Every evening, Suhad Shunnara, 32, reads the Bible to her three sons and kneels with them to say the rosary. On Friday, she and her husband, Fuad, 40, send the children to religion class, and on Saturday, after Mass, they all watch a Christian TV channel together. In this small village of 4,000, where the Christian community totals 135 people, these small acts of their faith are not only a statement of their own beliefs but also an important way to instill in their children a love and understanding of the importance of their religious traditions to their own identities.
As Great Britain and Ireland debate right-to-life issues in current health care policies and legislation, Pope Francis encouraged Catholics there to uphold “the inestimable value of all human life.”
The drama in Texas over abortion that drew national and international attention came to an end for the moment after the state House of Representatives then the state Senate voted to adopt tougher abortion regulations.
As hundreds of thousands of young Catholic pilgrims descend on Brazil, World Youth Day coordinators in Rio de Janeiro are putting the finishing touches on preparations for up to 2.5 million people.