WASHINGTON — Pope Leo XIV spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call Wednesday afternoon. “The pope made an appeal for Russia to take a gesture that would favor peace, emphasizing the importance of dialogue to create positive contacts between the parties and seek solutions to the conflict,” Holy See Press Office Director […]
Five months ago, I wrote a column titled “Dangerously close to nuclear war – please pay attention!” Now some will no doubt say that since nuclear war did not occur this column was a false alarm. Not so. Rather, nuclear war was postponed by the loving intervention of the God of creation, the God of […]
The nine nuclear-armed states – United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel – “continued to modernize their nuclear arsenals 2023.” This alarming statement from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s recently released “SIPRI Yearbook 2024,” should serve as a wake-up call that nuclear-armed powers have no intention to dismantle […]
During the recent World Youth Day in Portugal, one of the 10 young people who had the unique opportunity to enjoy lunch with Pope Francis, Peruvian Clara Yacolca Farfan, 24, told Catholic News Service, “Some of us asked for his advice on how young people today can face some issues that are difficult, that are […]
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has invited Catholics to annually renew an act of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25. The solemnity of the Annunciation on Saturday marks one year since Pope Francis consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Blessed Virgin Mary in St. Peter’s Basilica with a prayer asking for […]
Sixty years ago, in October 1962, for 13 highly frightful days, the Soviet Union and the United States militarily stood toe-to-toe over the Soviet Union’s installation of nuclear missiles in Cuba – just 103 miles from Florida – and the United States’ subsequent naval blockade around that nation island. This confrontation, which came to be […]
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The only reasonable way to address the suffering of Ukrainians is to stop fighting and negotiate, Pope Francis said. Even during his busy six-day journey to Canada, “I did not cease praying for the suffering and battered Ukrainian people, asking God to free them from the scourge of war,” the pope […]
“The current food crisis may rapidly turn into a food catastrophe of global proportions in 2023,” said U.N. trade chief Rebeca Grynspan. Approximately 60 percent of workers worldwide have lower real incomes today than they had before the pandemic. Grynspan added that “families are having to choose whether to skip meals, keep children in school, […]
War is deadly. While this is an obvious fact regarding those who fight, it is less obvious regarding the life and death plight of many noncombatants trapped within battle zones. And even less obvious are war’s deadly effects on countless poor people far removed from the fighting. The Russian-Ukrainian war is a case in point. […]
The world is awash with weapons! Handguns, semi-automatic assault weapons, grenade launchers, tanks, anti-tank missiles, artillery, attack helicopters, drones, fighter jets, bombers, cruise missiles, anti-personnel mines and cluster bombs (https://bit.ly/3tUjqve) are just a sampling of the myriad of instruments human beings have designed to kill each other. So much of the world is obsessed with […]
