EU links up with Twitter, tech firms to combat hate speech

free-speech-voltaireThe European Union reached an agreement Tuesday with some of the world’s biggest social media firms, including Facebook and Twitter, on ways to combat the spread of hate speech online. Under the terms of a code of conduct, the firms, which also include YouTube and Microsoft, have committed to “quickly and efficiently” tackle illegal hate speech directed against anyone over issues of race, color, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin. The sites have often been used by terrorist organizations to relay messages and entice hatred against certain individuals or groups.” Source

And how will they define the hate speech? If it speaks against any viable foundational structure regarding Rome’s long prophesied agenda to place a mark on every person on earth, they will make the biblical truths that the remnant people preach illegal. The fact using the Bible to share truth with people in danger of hellfire is already considered a hate crime in Canada as well as in America confirms any mention of biblical truth will soon become illegal worldwide. Continue reading…

A Vatican conspiracy persists, and a bigger mystery unfolds

Pope Francis embraces Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI before opening the Holy Door to mark opening of the Catholic Holy Year, or Jubilee, in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican(RNS) The Vatican has always been a hothouse for conspiracy theories, and a new controversy over the so-called Third Secret of Fatima is showing just how persistent such fixations can be — to the extent that the latest episode even forced Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI out of seclusion to refute claims that he once shaded the truth about the mysterious prophecy.

At the same time, however, the new Fatima saga has overshadowed what could be a much more problematic bit of Vatican intrigue: how Benedict’s presence as the first ex-pope in more than six centuries is continuing to raise questions about the nature of the papacy, and the authority of Francis, the current pope.

So far, most of the media attention has been focused on the three Fatima “secrets” that the Catholic Church believes were vouchsafed by the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in Portuguese town of Fatima in 1917.  Continue reading…

Did Pope Francis Really Take Another Step Toward a One World Religion?

reuters-pope-sheikh-2Despite Pope Francis’ literal embracing of a top Islamic cleric and declaration that their “Meeting is the message,” his top aid said Christians must apply Matthew 28 to everyone, including Muslims.

“We have a mission to convert all non-Christian religions’ people [except] Judaism,” Cardinal Kurt Koch said. “And what is very important for us is that we can make mission only with a credible witness and without any proselytism.”   Continue reading…

Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy: Two devotions, one message

sacred-heart-717x360Historically in Catholic devotional life, the month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the First Friday of June observed as the proper feast day of the Sacred Heart. This year, the feast falls on June 3.

The Sacred Heart devotion was formalized in the seventeenth century, through apparitions of Jesus Christ to St. Margaret Mary Alocoque, a simple Visitation nun in Paray-le-Monial, France.

As the Church enters the month of June during this Jubilee Year of Mercy, influenced by the Divine Mercy devotion from Poland, some questions come to mind: Is there a shared message between the Sacred Heart devotion given to St. Margaret Mary Alocoque in the seventeenth century, and the Divine Mercy devotion given to St. Faustina in the twentieth century?  Continue reading…

Vatican tries to snuff out Fatima conspiracy theories

FATIMA ANNIVERSARY PORTUGALVATICAN CITY — When then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger met the press in 2000 for the formal release of the so-called Third Secret of Fatima, he said he knew many people would be disappointed.

Almost 16 years later, at the beginning of a yearlong preparation for the 100th anniversary of the apparition of our Lady of Fatima in 2017, now-retired Pope Benedict XVI is still dealing with people not convinced the secret is really out.  Continue reading…

Pope shares stage with movie stars Clooney, Gere and Hayek

Vatican PopeROME— Pope Francis has become an undisputed media icon over his first three years in office, and on Sunday he rubbed shoulders with some of his fellow global celebrities, including George Clooney, Richard Gere and Salma Hayek, who received an award in the Vatican for their work fighting global warming, war and terrorism.

“When peoples, families, friends separate, only animosity and even hatred can come out of that division. But when they come together in a ‘social friendship,’ we find a defense against every kind of throwaway culture,” Francis said.  Continue reading…

Revealed: UK cancer research pensions investing millions in British American Tobacco

574c21eac461886b058b45b2Pension plans for scientists working at Cancer Research UK are among those to have invested in British American Tobacco to the tune of £211 million (US$308 million).

The fund, which caters for university lecturers and staff, is worth just shy of £50 billion. Its biggest investment is in the equally-controversial Royal Dutch Shell company, with £344 million going to the latter, reported The Guardian.

News that Cancer Research UK money has essentially been used to both fight the effects of smoking and fund the tobacco industry comes as a shock to many.  Continue reading…

World ecumenical and evangelical leaders meet to explore areas of future cooperation

olav-fykse-tveit-bishop-efraim-tenderoThe leadership of the World Evangelical Alliance and the World Council of Churches have met in the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland to explore and discuss possible areas of future cooperation.

Why Catholics And Muslims Alike Come To Pray At This Shrine To Mary

LEBANON-RELIGION-CHRISTIANITY-ISLAMDuring the month of May, Catholics around the world honor the Virgin Mary in a practice dating back to the 13th century. But at one shrine to Mary in Harissa, Lebanon, it isn’t just Catholics coming to pray.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon has drawn Muslim visitors since it opened in 1908, said the shrine’s rector, Father Younen Obeid, in a recent video produced by Catholic News Service. They come as tourists, but also to pray and participate in Christian ceremonies at the site.

“All of [the Muslim visitors] have big respect for Mary,” Obeid said.

This respect stems directly from the Quran, the holy book of Islam, which references Mary 37 times — even more occasions than the Bible. The 19th chapter of the Quran is in fact named after Mary and tells the story of her life and how she came to give birth to Jesus, though Islam does not hold the belief of Jesus’s divinity.  Continue reading…

In historic visit to Hiroshima, Obama calls on the world to morally evolve

obamaPresident Obama came face to face with the horror of nuclear war Friday in a somber visit to Hiroshima, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to tour the site of the atomic bombing 71 years ago that killed tens of thousands in an instant and ushered in the nuclear age.

In a sweeping address that reflected on the obligations of humankind, Obama wrestled with the inherent contradiction that centuries of technical advancement have both made it easier to bind people together and given them the capacity for the carnage seen in this city. And he confronted the cold reality that his own goal of a world without nuclear firepower remains frustratingly out of reach.  Continue reading…