The devil has two main weapons for damaging the Church, Pope Francis says, and his principle weapon is division.
The Pope said this today when he addressed a group of new bishops assigned to mission territories, who are in Rome for a course sponsored by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
After encouraging the bishops to experience God’s mercy as pilgrims so that they can transmit it to their flocks, and to remember to always be close to their priests, the Holy Father had a warning.
“Watch carefully,” he said, “so that all that is put into action for evangelization and the various pastoral activities you promote is not damaged or frustrated by existing divisions or those which can be created. Divisions are the weapon that the devil has most at hand to destroy the Church from within.” Continue reading
“That’s the weighty moral principle currently persuading many Americans they cannot in good conscience vote for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, and must therefore support a third-party spoiler candidate with no chance of winning, or write in the name of someone they really like (Mitt Romney says he might write in his wife), or else refrain from voting for president altogether. …Every time you swallow a medication that causes harmful side effects, you are embracing the lesser of two evils to prevent a greater one. If you attend Harvard or Yale, you choose to endure a nonstop gauntlet of far-left indoctrination, stifling political correctness and insane sexual anarchy, all to obtain an Ivy League education. If you’re a severe diabetic and your doctor says your foot has to be amputated to give you a better chance at survival, you choose the lesser of two evils. It’s tough, but you do it. The examples are endless and everywhere.” –
BARCELONA, Sept 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – U.N. officials have said they are confident the Paris climate change agreement will enter into force by the end of 2016, with at least 20 countries indicating they will join it at a U.N. event on Sept. 21, adding to the 27 that have already done so.
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has warned that Europe risks forfeiting its “Christian inheritance” and that an “Islamic conquest” could be in its future.
“A terminally ill minor has become the first child to be euthanized in Belgium since age restrictions were lifted in the country two years ago, according to several sources. A Belgian lawmaker told CNN affiliate VTM that the physician-assisted suicide happened within the past week. The child, who was suffering from an incurable disease, had asked for euthanasia, Sen. Jean-Jacques De Gucht told VTM. The identity of the child and age are unknown.” –
“The Obama administration long has been forcing Christians and others of faith to violate their beliefs to accommodate “nondiscrimination” laws that give special privileges to homosexuals and transgendered persons, and now a federal commission has proposed codifying the practice. …Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is on record insisting that to protect “gay” rights, “deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.” (
More than 500 000 Poles have supported the civic draft law on limitation of trade on Sundays.
Pope Francis met with a group of Italian Pentecostal pastors Sept. 8, telling them that unity is achieved by walking patiently together.
“A generously funded “online hate crime hub” has been set up to tackle online vitriol by identifying suspects and encouraging citizens to report them to police, but critics fear the newly-established unit might endanger freedom of speech. …
The Hungarian government has established a new office on the persecution of Christians to address both persecutions of Christians in the Middle East and the subtle forms of discrimination some Christians face in Europe.