BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Pope Francis headed to Colombia on Wednesday to try to help heal the wounds of Latin America’s longest-running armed conflict, bolstered by a new cease-fire with a holdout rebel group but fully aware of the fragility of the country’s peace process. During a deeply symbolic five-day visit starting Wednesday, Francis is … Continue reading
ROME (AP) — When in Rome, don’t take a dip in the monumental fountains. Or sit or climb on them. Best not to eat or drink on them either. And don’t wash yourself, or your clothes or pet and avoid throwing any objects into them — except coins in the traditional gesture to “ensure” you’ll … Continue reading
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis urged young people to lead the church’s future Saturday, April 8, even as he voiced doubts that he’d be around much longer to see it. The 80-year-old pope referred to his own mortality twice in the span of a few minutes during a vigil service to rally enthusiasm for the … Continue reading
ROME (AP) — An anti-establishment party founded by a comic has triumphed in Italian mayoral runoff elections, trouncing Premier Matteo Renzi’s candidates in Rome and another key city and turning its sights Monday, June 20,2016 toward its next goal — national power. The 5-Star Movement candidate in Rome, Virginia Raggi, a lawyer with a three-year … Continue reading
ROME (AP) — One of Pope Francis’ top advisers acknowledged he had heard that an Australian Catholic school teacher who serially abused students might be involved in “pedophilia activity” in the 1970s, but said he had no idea how rampant clergy abuse was at the time, during an extraordinary public hearing of an Australian … Continue reading
ROME (AP) — European law enforcement authorities announced Thursday they had broken up a Norway-based Iraqi Kurdish recruitment ring that radicalized prospects via the Internet and sent them to fight in Iraq and Syria alongside the Islamic State group. Thirteen people were arrested in Italy, Britain and Norway. Italian Carabinieri Gen. Giuseppe Governale called it … Continue reading
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 inmates and a baby at Rome’s main prison Thursday in a pre-Easter ritual meant to show his willingness to serve. He asked them to pray that he, too, might be cleansed of his “filth.” As the inmates wept, Francis knelt down, poured water from a … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 