Monthly Archives: February 2016

Pope: maybe not wrong to use contraceptives to prevent Zika

Posted on February 18, 2016 by

[Austen Ivereigh in Ciudad Juárez] While abortion is always evil because it involves the deliberate destruction of human life, the use of contraceptives by women who have the Zika virus may be morally acceptable, Pope Francis told journalists on the … Continue reading →

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In Mexico, Francis seeks a Church worthy of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Posted on February 15, 2016 by

[Austen Ivereigh in Ciudad Juárez] As Pope Francis reaches Chiapas, on Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, it is clear that this apostolic voyage is as much about bolstering the Latin-American Church as it is about evangelizing the nation. His messages over … Continue reading →

Posted in Mexico, Pope Francis address | 2 Comments

Pope and Patriarch embrace in Havana, pledge to ‘journey together’

Posted on February 13, 2016 by

Casting aside close to 1,000 years of separation, Pope Francis today embraced the Russian Patriarch in Havana airport, uttering “finally”. “We are brothers,” Pope Francis told Kirill. The patriarch told him, in Russian: “Now things are easier.” Francis replied: “It is more … Continue reading →

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Why abortion is not the response to Zika that Colombia’s poor need

Posted on February 11, 2016 by

[Danelia Cardona in Bogotá] The ‘Zika’ virus, which has exploded recently in western news outlets, has barely been off the headlines here in Colombia over the past three months. Initially seen as yet another “vector-transmitted” disease common to this latitude … Continue reading →

Posted in abortion

Saunders’s departure from abuse commission helps resolve body’s identity crisis

Posted on February 7, 2016 by

[Austen Ivereigh in Bogotá] The Vatican’s announcement yesterday that a British abuse survivor and activist will be leaving Pope Francis’s child protection commission is, of course, sad news. But it was also inevitable, the fruit of tensions over the commission’s identity that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Historic announcement: Pope to meet Russian patriarch in Cuba

Posted on February 5, 2016 by

[From Austen Ivereigh in Bogotá] In one of the biggest ecumenical breakthroughs in centuries, it was announced today that Pope Francis will meet the Russian Orthodox Patriarch next week in Cuba, en route to Mexico. The two-hour meeting at Havana … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian unity