St Ann Catholic Church Fayetteville, NC

A Methodist pastor spoke of shouts of “You Chinese, go home,” as well as a church member “chased after by a group of people asking them to return home.”

The Pope’s “dialectical approach to reality is a criterion of action for Francis, a fundamental element for pastoral discernment: not to annul one dialectical pole in favor of the other, but to find a superior solution that does not lose the energy and strength of the elements that are in opposition,” Father Antonio Spadaro, SJ, said in his commentary on Querida Amazonia, the Pope’s post-synodal apostolic exhortation on the Amazon.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Balkan nation of 3.8 million (map), is 48% Muslim, 37% Orthodox, and 12% Catholic. Pope Francis made an apostolic journey to Sarajevo, the nation’s capital, in 2015.

The book, I bambini sono speranza [Children are hope], includes texts selected by Father Antonio Spadaro, SJ, and illustrations by Sheree Boyd.

These seven men were born in Florence, Italy and led lives as hermits on Monte Senario. They had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.On Friday, April 13, 1240, the hermits received a vision of Our Lady. She held in her hand a black habit, and a nearby angel bore a scroll reading "Servants of Mary."Mary told them:"You will found a new order, and you will be my witnesses throughout the world. This is your name: Servants of Mary. This is your rule: that of Saint Augustine. And here is your distinctive sign: the black scapular, in memory of my sufferings.They accepted the wisdom of Our Lady, wrote a Rule based on Saint Augustine and the Dominican Constitutions, adopted the black habit of an Augustinian monk, and lived as mendicant friars. The men founded the Order of Servites which in 1304 received the approval of the Holy See. They are venerated on Feb. 17 because it is said to be the day on which Saint Alexis Falconieri, one of the seven, died in 1310.All seven were beatified December 1, 1717 by Pope Clement XI  and canonized in 1887 by Pope Leo XIII.

Sister Annie Demerjian is the superior of the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary in the Middle East, said that these are “very hard times for us. The sanctions, which are imposed on Syria, affect the ordinary people.”

The initiative, Domus 8.7, “fills a gap in providing readily available support from a formal perspective, emergency assistance and addressing other needs for people trapped in modern slavery or facing exploitation in the workforce,” said Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney.

“The Committee on International Justice and Peace is grateful to the Holy Father for this renewed effort to bring about a world of peace and justice that is not based upon fear or the threat of nuclear annihilation but justice and human solidarity,” said the eight bishops who serve on the committee. “As such, we also call upon our own government to be part of and indeed renew its primary responsibility in that effort.”

The 2006 charter, intended for local and regional governments, “seriously interferes with the constitutional right of parents to raise their children according to their beliefs,” the president of the Polish Episcopal Conference said after its adoption by the city council in Poznan.

“On 29th March, all are invited to make a personal Act of Dedication of our country to Our Blessed Lady,” Cardinal Vincent Nichols wrote in a pastoral letter. “In doing so we repeat the dedication made in 1381 by Richard II of England who promised this land and its people as the Dowry of Mary.” In an interview with Crux, the rector of Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham discussed the rededication.