Wed 14 May 2025: France’s president expressed support Tuesday for a ban on headscarves in sports competitions. “I stand by the Olympic Charter, which prohibits the wearing of all religious symbols in competitions,” Emmanuel Macron said during an interview with broadcaster TF1. He distinguished between practicing sports in facilities and participating in competitions, saying it […]
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Sun 11 May 2025: The new pope used phrases favoured by his predecessor, Francis, to call for an end to wars around the world. Pope Leo XIV has called for genuine peace in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff. “No more war,” Leo said […]
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Sat 10 May 2025: The late Pope Francis sought to battle corruption, but his successor faces the even harder task of balancing the books. In the days leading up to the papal conclave, which concluded on Thursday with the election of Robert Francis Prevost, 69, as Pope Leo XIV, the editor of Catholic Church specialist news outlet […]
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Fri 09 May 2025: Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (BFV) report highlighted the far-right Alternative for Germany’s (AfD) strong xenophobic and anti-Islamic stance, according to local media on Thursday. The BfV report referred to “ongoing agitation” against migrants, refugees, and Muslims by party officials. The AfD portrays migrants as a “threatening collective.” According to Der Spiegel […]
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Thu 08 May 2025: Before his name was proclaimed from St. Peter’s Basilica’s balcony, the crowd below cheered “Viva il Papa” — Long live the Pope. Robert Prevost, aged 69, will be the 267th pope, reigning as Leo XIV. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, born September 14, 1955, in Chicago, is the first American pope, elected […]
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Thu 08 May 2025: The papal conclave on Thursday began the second day of voting to elect a new pope. The day started with 133 elector cardinals attending a mass in the Pauline Chapel around 8 a.m. local time (0600 GMT). The cardinals then proceeded to the Sistine Chapel, where they resumed the voting. Unlike […]
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Tue 06 May 2025: Filipino Catholic bishops are defending one of their own on the eve of elections to choose a new pope, with Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle in the running to fill the papal seat. In a rare statement over the weekend, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) outlined its stance […]
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Mon 05 May 2025: Cardinals from all over the world are poised to elect a successor to Pope Francis at the conclave that begins Wednesday. But what exactly is a cardinal? – HIGH DIGNITARY – A cardinal (from the Latin “cardinalis” or principal) is a high dignitary of the Catholic Church chosen by the pope to assist him […]
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Pope Francis with Archbishop of Kinshasa, Fridolin Ambongo Besungu. Mon 28 April 2025: Some Africans are hoping one of their own could maybe become the first Black pope in modern history and add onto Francis’s legacy of championing the developing world, although the chances of that happening appear to be thin. A continent where religion […]
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Sat 26 April 2025: The funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, has gotten under way at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican. Hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful have packed the site to bid farewell to the pontiff. World leaders began arriving in Rome on Friday before Pope Francis’s weekend burial, a ceremony that, although more low-key […]
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