Istanbul’s grandiose Sultan Ahmet Mosque, or the Blue Mosque, was only one of the places former Pope Benedict XVI visited while in Turkey nearly seven years ago, but it is the stop that many practicing Muslims remember most, said Etyemez, who was living and studying in Los Angeles at the time.
A mob of thousands attacked a Christian area in Lahore, Pakistan, last week citing alleged blasphemy against Muhammed. Others say ‘blasphemy’ was only a pretense to the religion-based attack.
Hugo Chavez, a socialist president who transformed Venezuela while acting as chief protagonist in what was one of the worst Catholic Church-government relationships in Latin America, died March 5. He was 58.
Like the rest of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, including the 5,100 bishops and 412,000 priests, the pope exercises what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls his “baptismal priesthood” by participating in “Christ’s mission as priest, prophet and king.”
An African or Asian pope would send an important message to the world and help promote the Gospel to those outside the church, said the national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI took those who were interested more deeply into the Gospel of Life, writes Anna Krohn
If Jesus had wanted a church free of scandal or problems, he would have put it in the hands of angels, not a humanity he loved, said Nigeria’s newest cardinal elector.
When 115 cardinal electors gather in the Sistine Chapel for the conclave to elect a new pope, they will be praying and voting four times a day.
Cardinal electors assembled in Rome will begin voting for the next pope March 12. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, announced the date for the start of the election, known as a conclave, in a message to reporters March 8.
Citing unauthorized press reports on their preparatory meetings for the upcoming papal election, the College of Cardinals agreed to a media blackout similar to one observed before the previous conclave in 2005.