Catholic Fire

The Holy Father's universal prayer intention for October is: “That human trafficking, the modern form of slavery, may be eradicated”. His intention for evangelization is: “That with a missionary spirit the Christian communities of Asia may announce the Gospel to those who are still awaiting it”.

(Vatican Radio) Representatives of the Catholic, Anglican and Muslim worlds gathered for the first time ever in the Vatican press office on Monday for the launch of a Global Freedom Network aimed at eradicating human trafficking by the end of the decade. Philippa Hitchen went along to witness this historic event. The groundbreaking agreement to work closely together across the different faith communities was signed by Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo on behalf of Pope Francis. The Argentinian bishop is chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Science and Social Sciences which brought together a broad coalition of anti-trafficking experts for a workshop last November. He was joined by New Zealand Archbishop David Moxon, director of the Anglican Centre here in Rome and representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Holy See. Also on hand to sign the founding declaration was Dr Mahmoud Azab, representing the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, one of the most important centers of Sunni Is...

In Pope Francis first ‘State of the World’ address, given annually to the ambassadors to the Vatican, the pope said “it is frightful even to think there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day.” Speaking Sunday to some 180 foreign diplomats, Pope Francis began by saying that peace is “threatened by every denial of human dignity, firstly the lack of access to adequate nutrition.”  In the midst of great hunger, food is often wasted in “the throwaway culture,” he said. “Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as ‘unnecessary’,” said the Holy Father. “Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as ‘unnecessary’,” added the Holy Father. “For example, it is frightful even to think there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day; children being us...

The Pope welcomed 16 non-resident ambassadors to the Vatican's Clementine Hall and one by one, they presented their credentials before Pope Francis. Different cultures and even languages, came together to represent their country before the Holy See. The Pope, even got to practice his French. POPE FRANCIS "Thank you very much.  I hope you have a great visit. Please pray for me.” Then he spoke his native Spanish. POPE FRANCIS "It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope you feel at home.” Just months away from the Pope's trip to the Holy Land, Palestine's ambassador, Amad Rashid, also presented his credentials. AMAD RASHID Palestine's Ambassador to the Holy See "Your Holiness, I'm honored to give you my credentials on behalf of the Holy Land and the Palestinian people. It' a pleasure.” Among the diplomats were ambassadors from Jordan, Kuwait, Sweden, Pakistan, Malta, Sierra Leone, Norway and Denmark. The Pope called on all of them to ...

November 4, 2013. (Romereports.com) The Vatican ended the first of two seminars, leading to a four-day conference, on how to do away with human trafficking. The two day event addressed the state of 29 million people worldwide considered to be modern slaves.   PROF. JUAN JOSE LLACH Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences “This was an explicit petition from Pope Francis to the Vatican academies to analyze this topic and come up with solutions. We received 49 proposals from the participants, and we hope to draft a statement on behalf of our academies.” The Vatican will sort the proposals and complete a statement in the coming weeks. However, it probably wont include concrete steps like the creation of a DNA registry, because they said it would only address a small part of the problem. During the workshop, participants discussed challenges in fighting human trafficking. The biggest, is that, since it's an illegal activity, the extent of the problem is not well known, yet. Plu...

(Romereports.com) The Pope's Easter blessing is one of the most important of the year. Especially now, since with a new Pope, it gives some insight into what social issues are at the top of his list. The Pope called for peace in Korea, Iraq, Syria, Israel and Palestine. Also in regions that don't get too much attention like Mali, Congo and Central African Republic. He also denounced social issues like human trafficking.   POPE FRANCIS “Peace in the whole world, still divided by greed of those who look for an easy gain, wounded by the selfishness which threatens human life and the family, selfishness that continues in human trafficking, which is the most extensive form of slavery in this twenty-first century.” After celebrating Easter Sunday Mass, the Pope explained why Jesus' Resurrection is still relevant. POPE FRANCIS “What does it mean that Jesus is risen? It means that the love of God is stronger than evil and death itself; it means that the love of God can...