02/24/2015EGYPT - ISLAM What Tayeb and Sisi said is big step towards a revolution in Islam by Samir Khalil Samir The grand imam of Al-Azhar slammed literalist interpretations of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, as fundamentalists and Islamic terrorists do. He supports the urgent need for Islam's reform, especially in terms of teaching lay people and clerics. He also calls for an end to mutual excommunication (takfir) between Sunnis and Shias. Egyptian President al-Sisi chose to fight the Islamic state group after it beheaded 21 Coptic Christians, whom he called "Egyptian citizens" with full rights. Rome (AsiaNews) - What Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Cairo's
al-Azhar University, said at a conference in Makkah three days ago is one of
the most important things that could have happened in the Muslim world. In his speeches,
he spoke of...
02/24/2015UKRAINE - RUSSIA Ukraine, a land scorched by history by Vladimir Rozanskij The end of the Soviet Union led to idea that the West and democracy had won. However, the Ukrainian conflict proves otherwise. Although the pope's words on post-communist economic injustices are right, they have boosted Russians' belief that they are the "last bastion" against the ruin that Western capitalism will inevitably inflict. For them, their apocalyptic fate is inexorably tied to what will happen on the Ukrainian border.
02/23/2015SAUDI ARABIA - ISLAM For head of Al-Azhar, religious education reform is needed to stop Islamic extremism For Ahmed al-Tayeb, it is urgent to come up with new educational programmes to avoid "corrupt interpretations" of the Qur'an and Sunnah. Islamic terrorism undermines the unity of the Muslim world. He blames Mideast tensions on a "new global colonialism allied to world Zionism". a speech by the Saudi king is read at the conference.
02/23/2015UKRAINE - RUSSIA For Ukrainian Church, even the pope calls the conflict a civil war, something Kyiv does not acknowledge by Nina Achmatova The head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church press service appreciates the "shared position" with the Church of Rome on the conflict in eastern Ukraine. He attacks the government, wondering whether it will now accuse the pope of being a subversive and ban him from the country.
02/22/2015VATICAN Pope gifts "Guard your heart" booklet as an aid to conversion in Lent At today's Angelus Pope Francis gave away booklets containing "the wealth of our doctrine," the essentials of the faith: "the seven sacraments, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Ten Commandments, the virtues, works of mercy. .. ". The booklet was distributed by volunteers and homeless people. "Those who are in need are also the ones who give us this great wealth." Lent is a time "for spiritual battle against the spirit of evil", already won by Jesus in the desert. "We go into the desert without fear, because we are not alone, we are with Jesus." This afternoon, the Pope goes to Ariccia on retreat with the Curia: "Pray so that in this desert we can hear the voice of Jesus and correct our many defects".
02/20/2015VATICAN Pope: "a good Christian is just to the people who depend on him" "Love of God and love of neighbor are one in the same" and especially in Lent "fasting, is not just abstaining from meat” only to "fight with and exploit workers" and make offerings to the Church "on their backs". The point of Lent is "to think about them: what can I do for the children, for the elderly, who do not have the opportunity to be seen by a doctor?", who maybe wait "for eight hours and then they give an appointment for a week after ".
02/19/2015RUSSIA - UKRAINE Ukrainian Orthodox Church accuses Filaret of asking Kiev to continue the war by Nina Achmatova The charge was made by the spokesman of the UOC-MP, after a meeting of the Christian religious communities with President Petro Poroshenko. Filaret rejects the accusations: the war is the fault of the Moscow Patriarchate, which controls the Church to influence society.
02/18/2015VATICAN Pope: Lent, a time of conversion, a push to return into "the arms of God" "This work of conversion is not just a human endeavor. Reconciliation between us and God is possible thanks to the mercy of the Father. [. . .] We will do well to ask, at the beginning of this Lent, for the gift of tears, so as to make our prayer and our journey of conversion ever more authentic and without hypocrisy."
02/18/2015VATICAN Pope: "the international community must a find peaceful solutions to the difficult situation in Libya" Francis again asks for prayers at the general audience "for our Egyptian brothers," killed in Libya "for the mere fact of being Christian." Peace also for Ukraine. "Brother" and "sister" are "words that Christianity loves" and "history has shown enough, moreover, that the freedom and equality, without brotherhood, becomes filled with individualism and conformity, even personal interests".
02/18/2015RUSSIA First Islamic bank in Russia could open in 2015 The headquarters would be in Tatarstan, but the feasibility is still under study. Two possibilities: either a bank or a new 'section' in a bank that already exists.
02/17/2015VATICAN Pope calls on young people to be "revolutionaries" because the pure in heart "shall see God" "The Lord's invitation to encounter him is made to each of you, in whatever place or situation you find yourself. [. . .] God can be 'seen' also in the face of your brothers and sisters, especially those who are most forgotten: the poor, the hungry, those who thirst, strangers, the sick, those imprisoned." Be "revolutionary", and turn "against the widespread tendency to reduce love to something banal, reducing it to its sexual aspect alone."
02/17/2015VATICAN Pope celebrates Mass for the 21 Copts killed in Libya, "for sole reason of being Christian" We are all "capable of doing good, but also of destruction”. "In arms trafficking ... 'But, we are businessmen!' Yes, but of what? Of death? And there are countries that sell weapons, are at war with one side but also selling weapons to them, so that the war continues. A capacity for destruction".
02/16/2015ISLAM - EUROPE Attack on Europe: Islamic terrorism brings a new era by Samir Khalil Samir The Islamic State is a direct threat to Italy and Europe. The biggest risk is its power on "lone wolves" who can be induced to carry out attacks. As jihadism gives purpose to young European Muslims experiencing a crisis of identity and values, the new word "crusader" is disproportionately used in the war of words. Meanwhile, some kind of military operation has become necessary to curb Islamists' harmful and deadly power.
02/16/2015VATICAN - LIBYA - EGYPT For pope, Copts killed in Libya "simply for the fact that they were Christians" "The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ."
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