Worldcrunch
EU LEADERS TO DISCUSS REFUGEE SOLUTIONS EU leaders are set to meet in Brussels today to discuss measures that could help stem the flow of refugees, with a focus on countries outside of Europe such as Turkey, Euronews reports. In a speech to German parliament this morning, Chancellor Angela Merkel said providing more support to […]
Paris Match, Oct. 15, 2015 In an exclusive interview with glossy French magazine Paris Match conducted at his modest apartment in the Vatican, Pope Francis bemoaned greed and the “idolatry of money” that’s driving the world to ruin. The magazine, whose covers more commonly feature celebrities and royals, was invited to the Casa Santa Marta, […]
VATICAN CITY — A letter delivered to Pope Francis, reportedly signed by 13 Roman Catholic cardinals, questions whether the pontiff has organized the ongoing Synod on the Family in such a way that ensures “predetermined results on important controversial issues,” Italian weekly magazine L’Espresso has reported. The magazine’s longtime Vatican correspondent Sandro Magister reported the […]
NEW MOVES ON SYRIAN WAR CHESSBOARD The diplomatic deadlock over how to end the bloody civil war in Syria is growing deeper by the hour. The upper house of the Russian Parliament has voted unanimously in favor of allowing the use of Russian troops in Syria, paving the way for the Russian air force to […]
With the United Nations General Assembly meeting this week, heads of state and all the many faces of the world are filling the streets of New York. Take a tour!
SAUDI ARABIA ORDERS STAMPEDE PROBE Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ordered a swift investigation and safety review after yesterday’s stampede during the annual Hajj Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca left at least 717 people dead and 863 hurt, Al Arabiya reports. VERBATIM Photo: Ron Sachs/CNP/ZUMA “Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict […]
This Argentine family decided a 13,000-mile trip in a VW van was the perfect way to see Pope Francis, their former archbishop. There were bumps along the way.
EU PUSHES THROUGH REFUGEE QUOTA DEAL The European Union has approved a controversial plan to relocate 120,000 migrants from Italy and Greece over two years. EU governments forced the deal through despite the opposition of four Eastern European states, using a rule that bypasses the usually required unanimity. Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia all […]
POPE FRANCIS ARRIVES IN U.S. TODAY Photo: Ricky Fitchett/ZUMA After a four-day visit to Cuba, Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive in Washington, D.C., this afternoon for his first U.S. visit since becoming pontiff. He will meet with President Barack Obama tomorrow morning and address a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday. He and the […]
Depending on his audience, the pontiff’s messages vary. On a historic visit to the U.S., President Obama and the whole world will be listening carefully.
TSIPRAS BACK AT THE HELM A “vindicated” Alexis Tsipras will return as prime minister of Greece after his Syriza party’s victory in yesterday’s election, Kathimerini reports. The liberal party won just over 35% of the vote, leaving the center-right New Democracy party behind with 28%. But Tsipras’ victory is less resounding than it was in […]
On the eve of the pontiff’s visit to the United States, confidential Obama administration documents reveal a remarkable harmony with Francis’ objectives.
THE LATEST ON EUROPE’S REFUGEE CRISIS Photo: Ray Tang/Rex Shutterstock/ZUMA The Austrian government has warned it could close its border to undocumented refugees after some 15,000 crossed the border from Hungary to Austria this weekend alone, Wiener Zeitung reports. But in neighboring Germany, the government has dedicated an extra 6 billion euros ($6.7 billion) to […]
Ordinary citizens, the media and politicians make so much noise about ideology and petty politics, but quietly carry on in the face of massive mining pollution.
MIGRANT PROTEST IN BUDAPEST As many as 2,000 migrants are stranded outside Budapest’s Eastern railway station and are protesting against the Hungarian police after the government banned any access to the station to those who are neither Hungarian nor tourists, Die Welt reports. Describing the “squalid” conditions in which these migrants are waiting on the […]
After Colombian Energy Giant Mansarovar announced plans for oil exploration around one of Colombia’s natural reserves, local farmers asked Pope Francis to intervene.
Corriere della Sera, Aug. 13, 2015 The Italian navy rescued 52 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea Tuesday after a rubber dinghy sank. Spotted by a navy helicopter, the vessel appeared to be deflating and a ship rushed to the scene, rescuing the migrants. The survivors, who were taken to Lampedusa island, said that there had […]
GREXIT AVERTED, TSIPRAS IN TROUBLE AT HOME After a 15-hour negotiation that represented the longest European summit meeting in history, Greece and its EU partners finally reached a unanimous agreement to avoid a “Grexit” and keep the euro in Greece. European Council President Donald Tusk announced the success of the marathon negotiations this morning in […]
“Pope Francis in Bolivia’s arms,” reads the front page of today’s edition of Bolivian newspaper La Prensa. After three days in Ecuador, the Pope arrives in Bolivia, where he will stay until Friday. In his homily in Quito on Tuesday, Francis called for an end to repression in the region — and La Prensa“s writes […]
Since ascending to the papacy two years ago, Pope Francis has been quietly and not-so-quietly leaving his mark on the world, pursuing a number of ambitious foreign policy goals. His nine-day trip to Latin America that begins Sunday will be mostly focused on pastoral issues. But from Cuba to Vietnam, the Middle East and environmental […]
With the backing of Pope Francis, himself a lifelong fan, supporters of San Lorenzo are fighting to rebuild in the neighborhood where their original stadium once stood.
BUENOS AIRES — José Ignacio Bergoglio, the nephew of Pope Francis, was attacked Wednesday night by a band of armed thieves as he and his girlfriend were about to enter their home in the Argentine capital, Clarín reports. The thieves forced the couple inside at gunpoint at around 10 p.m. local time in the apartment […]
To the chagrin of climate change deniers, the pontiff’s environmental encyclical says there are no reasonable doubts that global warming is caused by human activity.
Corriere della Sera, June 10, 2015 Hot on the heels of the recent — and Russia-less — G7 meeting in Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Italy on Wednesday, highlighting the way that business ties could be a way out of Moscow’s standoff with the West. In an interview published Wednesday in Corriere della […]
HILLARY’S IN, AND THE WORLD REACTS Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Sunday announcement that she’s running in the 2016 presidential race, her second bid to become the first female U.S. president, drew news coverage from around the world, with one German newspaper even using the English headline, “The Very First Lady.” Via a short video on her […]
El Mercurio April 6, 2015 Chilean daily El Mercurio featured Pope Francis’ Easter address on its front page Monday. The Argentine-born pontiff made his plea for peace Sunday in St. Peter’s Square after last week’s shocking massacre of Christian students by Islamic militants at Garissa University in Kenya. “We ask Jesus, the victor over death, […]
Leonardo Boff, a Catholic theologian and key figure of Liberation theology, was condemned for decades by the Vatican. Now, he says, the pope himself is going beyond Liberation teachings.
AT LEAST 32 KILLED IN EASTERN UKRAINE MINE BLASTAn explosion believed to be gas-related at the Zasyadko coal mine in rebel-held Donetsk, Ukraine, has killed at least 32 people, local officials said Wednesday. Reuters reported some 70 miners were working in the mine at the time of the blast, and that dozens more people are […]
Pope Francis has been surprisingly progressive on such issues as gay rights. But so far he’s taken the hard line on denouncing drugs. That could change if he sees that legalization is the best chance for reducing violence.
An interview with the 43-year-old Latino singer reveals a more serene relationship with fame, fatherhood and a growing thirst for tango.
Not even the first Latin American Pope! Studies show fewer Catholics in Latin America, and more people identifying as atheist or secular. Now non-believers are fighting for a true separation of church of state.
ANTI-TERROR SWEEP ACROSS EUROPESuspected terrorists were arrested in France, Belgium and Germany in a series of dawn operations aimed at preventing future attacks. According to Le Figaro, 12 people were arrested in several outlying towns around the French capital, with some of the suspects believed to have provided weapons, hideouts and cars to to Said […]
The Vatican has revised its public restroom renovation to include showers for the homeless, as Pope Francis’ ambassador to the poor launches similar projects across Rome.
Exclusive: A historian has identified Pope Francis’ birthplace in Buenos Aires, after false reports of where he was born circulated following his election last year.
VATICAN CITY — To the priests who invited him to take a vacation with them, the late Cardinal Alberto Idelfonso Schuster of Milan replied, smiling, that there would be plenty of time for that in the afterlife. Pope Francis — the Jesuit whose agenda would wear out any 40-something — seems to be inspired by […]
BETHLEHEM — Venetian larches, Turkish oaks, German lead, and 1,500-year-old nails: These are the base materials that a group of 30 Tuscan engineers, architects and archeologists are using to restore the Church of the Nativity for the first time in 600 years. Originally built in the 6th century by Byzantine Emperor Justinian, the church is […]
The daughter of Lea Garofalo, who was brutally killed by her Italian mob husband in 2009, courageously speaks out against the dark underworld – and her own father and boyfriend.
What happened when the most powerful man in the world felt the aura of the Argentine pontiff.
Argentine politicians may not all have liked Jorge Bergoglio when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. But from President Kirchner to her potential successors, all want a piece of the pontiff.
Gay rights activists condemn the accusations from the man once responsible for the safety of the Pope as the “worst stereotypes” that homosexuals have long been subject to.