Tag Archives: Vatican

Vatican calls on to everyone to ‘pause for peace’ at the World Cup final (and insists there is no rivalry between Argentinian pope and his German predecessor!)

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Pope Francis- Pope Benedict

 

The Vatican has called on spectators at Sunday’s World Cup final to ‘pause for peace’ before the game, while continuing to play down rivalries between Pope Francis and his predecessor.

A senior Vatican official asked football fans to take a moment before the final game at the Maracana stadium to remember those affected by war and poverty.

The official also sought to play down ‘amusing’ rumours of rivalry between Argentine Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict, a German, saying the two had not decided how to spend Sunday night.

Benedict, the source pointed out, is not a football fan, but added: “Let’s see. The current situation is unique”.

The Vatican’s spokesman said he did not believe Benedict, now 87 and living his retirement in seclusion in an ex-convent in the Vatican, would watch the match, because of the late hour.

Francis, on the other hand, is most definitely a football fan having been a keen supporter of San Lorenzo while archbishop of Buenos Aires.

A spokesman for the council said it would be up to each fan, each team and each organization, including soccer governing body FIFA, if, how and when they wanted to observe a moment of ‘silence or reflection or pause’ to remember those suffering.

 

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US Lobbies Vatican for Pope Visit in 2015

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U.S. officials have made their case to the Vatican for Pope Francis to visit the U.S. next year, saying his “message needs to be heard” during a massive church celebration of the family planned for Philadelphia.

The governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter made their pitch Tuesday to Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, whose Pontifical Council for the Family is helping organize the Sept. 22-27, 2015, meeting.

Popes have attended five of the seven World Meetings of the Family, and Francis has made family issues the top priority of his pontificate. But no confirmation of his participation is expected before next year.

 

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Let us spray: Graffiti depicting the Pope as a superhero gets official approval from the Vatican, who tweet it to their 84,000 followers

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Graffiti -Pope1

 

Graffiti depicting the Pope as a superhero has got the official seal of approval from the Vatican after they took a photo of the wall art and tweeted it to their 84,000 followers.

The image shows Pope Francis as Superman, flying through the air with his white cape billowing out behind him.

Pope Francis1

It was created by Italian street artist Maupal who spray-painted it onto a wall in Rome.

The colourful creation shows the 77-year-old Argentine pontiff with his fist pointing forward like Superman.

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He is wearing a crucifix and his carrying his trademark black bag, with the word ‘values’ written across it, in Spanish, in white letters.

 

The pope is a keen Twitter user himself, regularly posting tweets on his own feeds in nine languages, which boast more than 10 million followers in total.

He is proving to be a very modern leader of the Catholic Church and yesterday it emerged Pope Francis is set to grace the cover of Rolling Stone as he continues to capture the hearts and minds of worshippers across the world.

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Dogs Sniff for Late Pope’s Stolen Blood

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Հովհաննես Պողոս II

 

Dozens of police with sniffer dogs searched the area around the church of San Pietro della Ienca in the central mountainous Abbruzzo region of Italy for a stolen relic containing a fragment of cloth stained with the blood of the late Pope John Paul II.

The relic is believed to have been stolen Saturday night from the small stone church together with a small simple cross, according to police.

The small church is in the Gran Sasso mountains near the city of l’Aquila was dear to Pope John Paul II, who visited the area more than 100 times during his papacy, where he would walk and meditate and was even known to have skied down the slopes as a young pope. The area has become a place of pilgrimage for people in search of peace or wishing to pray.

The relic is a small piece of cloth soaked in blood the pope lost during the 1980 attempt on his life in St. Peter’s Square and is only one of three of its kind. This one was given to the people of L’Aquila in 2011, after the devastating earthquake that struck the area, by the pope’s personal secretary, now cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz.

Objects like this relic, with a special symbolic value, are particularly sought after by the flourishing trade in religious objects.

A criminal investigation has been opened by the local prosecutor’s office.

The Vatican has announced that Pope John Paul II will be made a saint on April 27, along with Pope John XXIII, and Rome is planning for millions of faithful to come for the ceremony.

 

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Pope celebrates his 77th birthday by going for breakfast with four homeless people often seen near the Vatican

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Since becoming leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, his trademark humble style has won him plaudits.

And even on his birthday Pope Francis has refused to make a splash – choosing instead to celebrate the day with four homeless people.

The pontiff kicked off his 77th birthday, with mass at the humble priests’ guesthouse where he has made his home, followed by breakfast with four homeless people often seen near the Vatican.

Francis has cultivated an image of a poor church since his inauguration in April. He has shunned the traditional robes, jewellery and even the luxurious papal apartment for a more spartan lifestyle.

But the Argentinian Pope is set to receive at least one priceless gift. His favourite football team Buenos Aires side San Lorenzo de Almagro are set to offer him the league title trophy they won earlier this week.

The club’s most famous fan is scheduled to receive a six-person delegation of players and managers from the club who boarded a private jet to Rome to visit him, after winning a title for the first time in six years.

The Vatican TV Centre released a short film entitled ‘Happy Birthday Papa Francesco’, to mark his first birthday in office.

The 1minute 45 second video shows the most significant images of the first nine months of his pontificate from the white smoke emerging from the Sistine Chapel to his historic mass on Copacabana beach in Rio di Janeiro.

 

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Putin arrives in Italy to meet the Pope as Italian media claim he will make Berlusconi Russian ambassador to Vatican, giving him diplomatic immunity

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վլադիմիր պուտին,սիլվիո բերլուսկոնիRussian president Vladimir Putin will meet the Pope today – amid claims he is planning to name scandal-mired Silvio Berlusconi as Russia’s ambassador to the Vatican.

Mr Putin will hold private talks with Pope Francis about the Syrian conflict, months after the Pope sent him an angry letter criticising the G20’s failure to provide more aid.

Now it has been claimed Mr Putin is set to grant Berlusconi diplomatic immunity – despite him being convicted of sex with an underage prostitute and facing another trial over bribery claims.

It would hand Berlusconi several privileges including a right to travel – something his numerous convictions have forced him to give up.

The former Italian premier and Putin, both highly controversial figures in world politics, are close friends and regularly defend each other against criticism.
In September the Pope wrote directly to Putin imploring him to co-operate with other international leaders to help the people of Syria.

 

Vatican forced to tighten security at the Sistine Chapel after pickpockets target huge crowds of tourists

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v2Tourists craning their necks to admire the artwork by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel are being targeted by thieves taking advantage of the crowds.

Holidaymakers have been leaving warnings on travel websites urging others not to get stung when they visit Vatican City.

It has prompted calls for the Vatican to improve security and restrict the number of visitors it lets in during the day.

Official guides have even threatened to go on strike if something is not done. A similar protest recently took place at the Louvre, in Paris.

Angela Bolton, a guide from Kent, told The Times: ‘The situation is getting out of hand.

‘The Vatican lets in as many people as they can. Up to 30,000 people have been going through the museum on a single day, which means crowds like those on the Tokyo Underground.’

The Sistine Chapel, or  Cappella Sistina in Italian, takes its name from the man who commissioned it, Pope Sixtus IV.

Some 25,000 people a day, or five million people a year, visit the chapel.

Entry to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel costs €16, earning the Vatican an annual revenue of around €80 million or £70 million a year.

The Sistine Chapel is most famous for Michelangelo’s frescoes, but long before Michelangelo, Sisto commissioned painters such as Botticelli to fresco the two long walls of the chapel.