Pope Francis - The African Mirror

Jan

2024

‘Indiscriminately striking’ civilians is war crime, pope says in major speech

POPE Francis, tackling conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine in his yearly address to diplomats, said that "indiscriminately striking" civilians is a war crime because it violates international humanitarian law. Francis, 87, made his comments in a 45-minute address to Vatican-accredited envoys from 184 countries that is sometimes called his "state of the world" speech. In it, he also talked about conflicts in Africa and Asia, migration crises in the United States and Latin America, climate change and the persecution of Christians. Expressing concern that the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip could spread…

Dec

2023

By ABRAHAM ACHIRGA

In Nigeria and much of Africa, Catholic same-sex couples see no blessings soon

NEWS

NIGERIAN Catholic couple Jane and Lucy have little hope their local parish church will bless their same-sex union anytime soon, as conservative priests across Africa choose to ignore a landmark Vatican ruling allowing such blessings. Conservative Catholics condemned the Vatican's declaration two weeks ago, which was approved by Pope Francis, that will allow blessings for same-sex couples, as long as they are not part of the regular Church rituals or liturgies. The pope has hit back against the criticism and what he called inflexible ideological positions that hinder the Church from moving forward. But in many African countries, such as the continent's most…

Dec

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza’s ‘appalling harvest’ of civilian deaths

WORLD

POPE Francis said in his Christmas message that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the "little Jesuses of today" and that Israeli strikes there were reaping an "appalling harvest" of innocent civilians. In his Christmas Day "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and world) address, Francis also called the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants "abominable" and again appealed for the release of around 100 hostages still being held in Gaza. Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to thousands of people in the square below, he took another swipe at the armaments industry,…

Dec

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

Vatican approves blessings for same-sex couples in landmark ruling

WORLD

THE Vatican said in a landmark ruling approved by Pope Francis that Roman Catholic priests can administer blessings to same-sex couples as long as they are not part of regular Church rituals or liturgies. A document from the Vatican's doctrinal office, which effectively reversed a declaration the same body had issued in 2021, said such blessings would not legitimise irregular situations but be a sign that God welcomes all. It should in no way be confused with the sacrament of heterosexual marriage, it added. It said priests should decide on a case-by-case basis and "should not prevent or prohibit the…

Nov

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

Jewish groups criticize Pope on ‘terrorism’ remark, seek clarification

WORLD

JEWISH groups have criticised Pope Francis and demanded clarifications over his comments that they saw as accusing both Hamas and Israel of "terrorism". Francis made the comments on Wednesday after meeting separately with Jewish relatives of hostages held by Hamas and with Palestinians with family in Gaza. Later that day at his general audience in St. Peter's Square, he spoke of the meetings, saying he felt the pain of both sides. "This is what wars do. But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism," he said. He asked for prayers so that both sides would…

Nov

2023

By ORIANA BOSELLI, ANTONIO DENTI and PHILIP PULLELLA

Italy’s transgender women thank pope for making them feel ‘more human’

WORLD

THE run-down beach town of Torvaianica is about 35 kms (20 miles) south of the Vatican. But for transgender women who live there it had seemed light years away until a rapprochement with the Catholic Church that began during the COVID-19 lockdown and led to an invitation to have lunch with Pope Francis on Sunday. Claudia Victoria Salas, 55, and Carla Segovia, 46, both Argentinian, were in a group of transgender people, among about 1,200 poor and homeless people, who attended the lunch on the Church's World Day of the poor. To her surprise, Salas, a former sex worker, found…

Nov

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

In very rare move, Pope dismisses conservative US bishop Strickland

WORLD

POPE Francis has dismissed Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, one of his fiercest critics among U.S. Roman Catholic conservatives, a Vatican statement said on Saturday. It is very rare for a bishop to be relieved of his duties outright. Usually bishops in trouble with the Vatican are asked to resign before submitting a resignation, which the pope accepts. Popes make such moves, considered drastic, when a bishop refuses a request to resign. Strickland is 65, 10 years shy of the usual retirement age for bishops. Strickland had said earlier this year that he would refuse to resign if…

Oct

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

After conservative attack, pope calls on synod to set aside politics

WORLD

POPE Francis called on Catholic leaders to set aside politics and work to make the Church more welcoming for all, as he opened a global meeting that conservative critics say risks "poisoning" the faith. Delivering a homily in St Peter's Square at the start of the first global gathering of Church leaders, or synod, for four years, the pope said bishops should avoid "human strategies, political calculations or ideological battles". "We are not here to carry out a parliamentary meeting or a plan of reformation," he said in the homily of the Mass, which the Vatican said was attended by…

Oct

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

Pope Francis appoints three African cardinals, cements legacy

NEWS

POPE Francis further cemented his legacy, by elevating 21 prelates to the high rank of cardinal and significantly raising the percentage of electors chosen by him who will have the right to vote for his successor. At a ceremony in St. Peter's Square known as a consistory, Francis "created" 21 new cardinals, the red-hatted "princes of the Church" who are his closest advisers at the Vatican and around the world. There are now 137 cardinal electors, about 73 percent of them chosen by Francis. This increases - but does not guarantee - the possibility that the next pope will share…

Sep

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

Pope says impeding migrant rescues at sea is ‘gesture of hate’

NEWS

POPE Francis said that migrants who risk drowning at sea "must be rescued" because doing so was "a duty of humanity" and that those who impede rescues commit "a gesture of hate". Francis, 86, spoke at an inter-religious prayer service before a monument dedicated to those lost at sea. Earlier, the city's archbishop, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, an Algerian-born Frenchman, criticized politicians who block NGOs and their ships from saving drowning people. "We cannot be resigned to seeing human beings treated as bargaining chips, imprisoned and tortured in atrocious ways," Francis said. "We can no longer watch the drama of shipwrecks,…