Pope announces Holy Land visit amid new push for peace

Pope Francis has announced that he will make a pilgrimage to Israel, The West Bank and Jordan in May, underscoring a fresh U.S. push for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

“As of now I ask you to pray for this pilgrimage,” he told worshipers in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, according to Vatican Radio.

Pope Francis said he would be visiting Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem May 24-26. While there, he planned to meet with the representatives of the Christian Churches of Jerusalem, together with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

They will celebrate Mass together at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where the faithful believe Jesus was crucified and buried.

The announcement was made just as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up three days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a new bid for peace.

Comments

Religious freedom in Canada

The Government of Canada, led by a conservative parliament majority, announced February 19, 2013 the official opening of the Office of freedom of religion. With a budget of five million dollars, the Bureau is responsible for "protecting religious minorities threatened and defend their rights, to fight against the spread of hatred and intolerance based on religion and to promote Canadian values of pluralism and tolerance. »The creation of this Bureau also fits in a broader attempt Harper government's make coexist conservatism and multiculturalism. Surfing ambiguity According to the principles of classical liberalism on which is founded the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the state can not Read full post here...

Sikhs deserve the dignity of being a statistic

In the aftermath of the mass shooting in a Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wis., a sea of reporters have asked many Sikh leaders and activists to quantify how many Sikhs had been targeted in hate crimes and murders since Sept. 11, 2001. Although I have helped chronicle hate crimes against the Sikh American community for more than a decade, I could not tell them. Even as the White House, U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation express their commitment to protecting Sikh Americans in response to the massacre, there is one glaring problem with how the federal government monitors hate crimes against Sikhs in America: It doesn’t. The FBI tracks all hate crimes on Form 1-699, the Hate Crime Incident Report . Statistics collected on this form allow law enforcement officials to analyze trends in hate crimes and allocate resources appropriately. But under the FBI’s current tracking system, there is no category for anti-Sikh hate crimes. The religious identity of t

Forced to flee Pakistan

When Zakria Nasrullah Khan heard the third gunshot, he realized it wasn’t a tire bursting or a car backfiring. It was two men shooting at him and his mosque, the one that his father and 6-year-old son had just entered. The one he and other security volunteers were guarding, unarmed. The one the terrorists barricaded from the inside as they shot worshippers. “I haven’t felt more desperate than that point in time,” he said. The May 28, 2010 attack in Lahore, Pakistan lasted for hours, complete with grenade and suicide bomb explosions. More than 60 people were killed, including Khan’s father and several friends. His son, now 8, survived with no injuries. A month later, Khan received death threats: one text message was two mock headlines announcing his death and his acceptance of mainstream Islam. The message ended with: “Now you choose which headline you want to become.” Another time, a gunman chased him and shot at his car. He barely readmore...

Zafar views

Search This Blog