Pope Francis prays for new Assyrian Christian leader amid Middle East tragedy

Displaced Assyrian families in the Assyrian cathedral of Al-Hasakah, Syria, March 2015. Photo courtesy of the Assyrian Church Beirut.

Amid the sufferings of Christians in the Middle East, Pope Francis on Monday sent his prayers to the new head of the Assyrian Church of the East, Catholicos-elect Gewargis III.

The Assyrian Church of the East is a Church historically centered in northern Mesopotamia. It was historically associated with Nestorianism, having been separated from the Catholic and Orthodox Churches by the Council of Ephesus in 431.

“I join your Holiness in prayer and solidarity with all who suffer because of the tragic situation in the Middle East, especially our Christian brothers and sisters and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria,” the Pope’s Sept. 21 message to the patriarch said. “With you, I ask the Lord to grant them strength so that they may persevere in their Christian witness.”

As synod approaches, Nigerian bishops speak up for the family

Christians in Nigeria. Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Maiduguri.

Nigeria’s bishops closed their latest assembly with a view toward the upcoming Synod on the Family, re-affirming the family while warning about LGBT activism.


The bishops said “we reaffirm the validity of the family as a divinely instituted community of persons made up of a man and a woman who are open to life in love, together with their children and relatives.”


They commended the Pope for his recent document Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus, which aimed at accelerating the process for investigating the nullity of a marriage.


“We pledge to use this new process for the pastoral and spiritual benefit of our people,” the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria said in a wide-ranging statement closing its second plenary meeting, held Sept. 10-18 in Port Harcourt, the capital of Nigeria's Rivers State.

Ugandans are eagerly preparing for papal visit with prayer, penance

Pope Francis greets pilgrims before the General Audience in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, Aug. 19,2015. Credit: L'Osservatore Romano.

In anticipation of Pope Francis’ first visit to their country, the head of the Ugandan bishops conference has called on Catholics to make themselves ready to welcome the Pope though prayer and charitable works.


“The Pope's visit and presence during the celebrations requires us to prepare in a special way. The nature of this visit is primarily pastoral and spiritual,” Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu said in his Oct. 7 pastoral letter on behalf of his fellow bishops.


Although Pope Francis will be the third Roman Pontiff to visit Uganda – the only African nation that can lay claim to such a privilege – the real excitement comes from his visit coinciding with the 50th anniversary celebration of the canonization of the Ugandan Martyrs

'It's truly a miracle' – kidnapped Syrian priest escapes from Islamic State

Father Jacques Mourad, who recently escaped from the Islamic State. Credit: Terre Sainte Mag.

A Syrian priest who was captured by Islamic State militants in May thought he would die for his faith. Now, he credits the Virgin Mary and the help of a Muslim friend for his escape.

“This is the miracle the Good Lord gave me: while I was a prisoner I was waiting for the day I would die, but with a great inner peace. I had no problem dying for the name of Our Lord; I wouldn't be the first or the last, just one of the thousands of the martyrs for Christ,” the Syriac Catholic priest, Father Jacques Mourad, told Italian TV 2000.

Ghana's bishops ask country to work for fair elections in 2016

Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu of Konongo-Mampong, president of Ghana's bishops' conference, walks to the Vatican's Synod Hall, Oct. 9, 2014. Credit: Bohumil Petrik/CNA.

The Catholic bishops of Ghana have asked the country’s election commission to register all eligible voters and to work to ensure confidence in the accuracy of the voter registry.

They also urged Ghana’s government to provide the necessary resources and logistics to the electoral commission to update the voter registry.

The Word Catholic

The word catholic is derived from the Greek word καθολικός (katholikos), which means "universal". Katholikos is associated with the adverb καθόλου (katholou), a contraction of the phrase καθ' ὅλου (kath' holou), which means "according to the whole".^[18]

Catholic was first used to describe the Christian church in the early 2nd century. The first known use of the phrase "the catholic church" (he katholike ekklesia) occurred in the letter from St Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, the name "Catholic Church" is used to distinguish it from other groups that also call themselves the Church.

WHY DO WE CALL PRIESTS 'FATHER'?

This question refers to Jesus' teaching found in the Gospel of St. Matthew, when He said, "Do not call anyone on earth your father. Only one is your father, the One in heaven" (23:9).

Taken literally, we would have to wonder why we do use the title "Father" when Jesus seems to forbid it. First, we must remember the context of the passage. Jesus is addressing the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees—the learned religious leaders of Judaism. Our Lord castigates them for not providing good example; for creating onerous spiritual burdens for others with their various rules and regulations; for being haughty in exercising their office and for promoting themselves by looking for places of honor, seeking marks of respect and wearing ostentatious symbols. Basically, the scribes and Pharisees had forgotten that they were called to serve the Lord and those entrusted to their care with humility and generous spirit.