Missionaries of the World

Benedict XVI will return to the Vatican on May 02 by helicopter, coming back the same way he left just two months ago when he resigned as Pope. The return of a former Pope is something that has no historical precedent, making everything a new one for the Vatican’s staff. Father Federico Lombardi, the Director of the Vatican’s press office, told April 30 that “there will be someone there to welcome Benedict XVI” but he is not yet sure who that will be.

Israeli President Shimon Peres invited Pope Francis to visit the Holy Land during an April 30 meeting with him at the Vatican. Pope Francis received in audience at the Vatican, the Israeli President Shimon Peres and held talks on a variety of issues concerning the Middle East. President Peres also met the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertoni and Archbishop Dominque Mamberti, Secretary of Relations with States.

At a mass, Pope Francis confirmed 44 young people from all over the world during Sunday Mass on 28.04.13 in St. Peter’s Square where over 70,000 young people gathered. Two of them, who are taking the Confirmation, are teenagers from the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. Brigid Miniter and Anthony Merejo from Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Ridgewood, New Jersey, United States, chose “Francis” and “Ignatius,” respectively, as their confirmation names weeks before Pope Francis who of course, belongs to the order founded by St. Ignatius was elected Supreme Pontiff.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams is to become Chairman of the board of trustees at Christian Aid. He succeeds Dame Anne Owers as Chair of the Christian Aid board. He is stepping down as Archbishop of Canterbury at the end of December to take up a new position as Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He said he had become more aware of the priority of development and aid issues around the world during his 10 years as Archbishop. He takes up his position as Christian Aid chair on May 01, in time for the start of this year's Christian Aid Week, which kicks off on May 12. He said he was delighted to be a part of the development agency's work.

The Colombian Senate on Wednesday has rejected a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in the country, by a vote of 51-17. The bill was proposed by Senator Armando Benedetti in August 2011. It received only a fraction of the 50 ‘yes’ votes that would have been needed from the nation’s 98 senators in order to pass. The Senate thus derailed the effort seeking to legalize same-sex marriage in the second of four debate sessions. For the bill to continue being debated, the votes of 52 of the country's 102 senators would have been required.

Christians in India urges a probe by the Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI) into murder of Rev Fr KJ Thomas, rector of St Peter's Pontifical Seminary, Malleshwaram in Bangalore. Rev.Thomas was murdered in intervening night of March 31 and April 1 and there has been no progress in the case registered in Yeshwanthpur police station. It has been 23 days since the murder of Father KJ Thomas. With no word from the Police on who perpetrated the killing, a prayer meeting was held by the Christian voice forum at the St Francis Xavier Cathedral ground here on Tuesday, to appeal for speedy investigation by the city crime branch.

Christians should not be frightened of the final judgment but should let it affect how they live, Pope Francis told the 100,000 pilgrims who filled St. Peter’s Square. "Human history begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with the final judgment of Christ. We often forget these two poles of history, and above all faith in the return of Christ and the final judgment is sometimes not so clear and strong in the hearts of Christians,” Pope Francis said April 24.

An association of Middle Eastern Christians on Tuesday said that two bishops Greek Orthodox archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim reportedly kidnapped by rebels in Northern Syria have been released. Two Syrian archbishops from Aleppo were abducted on Monday while traveling outside that besieged northern city, the official news media.

Sudan’s Minister of Guidance and Social Endowments, Al-Fatih Taj El-sir has announced that no new licenses for building churches will be issued. The Ministry of Guidance and Social Endowments oversees religious affairs in the country. During his speech to the parliament on April 17, he said that since South Sudan's independence in 2011 no new churches have been built in the country. He also claiming the existing ones are enough to accommodate congregations.

The well-known Christian Manmin Central Church located in Seoul, South Korea, believes that the Bible is the Word of the Living God, as is published in the Manmin Church Creed on church’s official website. Manmin Central Church is accomplishing national evangelization and world mission with more than 120,000 officially registered members, 13 branch sanctuaries in the Seoul metropolitan area, 43 branch churches throughout Korea and approximately 10,000 branch churches and mission centers abroad. Under the leadership of Senior Pastor, Rev.Dr.Jaerock Lee, there are more than 850 people serving the church.

Just a month after becoming the leader of Roman Catholics around the world, Pope Francis has taken a giant step towards dismantling the huge Vatican bureaucracy that has been the cause of so many of the church’s problems. The pope’s appointment of an advisory board of cardinals from around the world must have sent shock waves through the Holy See, where the bureaucracy is so deeply entrenched that the governance has resembled some Third World dictatorship.

Neville Kyrke-Smith, National Director of Aid to the Church in Need (UK), an international Catholic Charity has attacked a Government report on human rights violations, saying it "glosses over" the growing problem of persecution against Christians. He also said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2012 Report on Human Rights and Democracy published this week "downplays the scale of Christian persecution". Although he praised the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for considering religious freedom issues in its report, he criticised the coverage of intolerance towards Christians.

President Barack Obama delivered a heartfelt address at an interfaith prayer service for the Boston bomb victims at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Thursday, focusing his speech on the redeeming power of grace in the face of tragedy. Citing a poet who said Boston "is the perfect state of grace," Obama remarked: "And so we come together to pray and mourn and measure our loss. But we also come together today to reclaim that state of grace. To reaffirm that the spirit of this city is undaunted and the spirit of the country shall remain undimmed." "The grace this tragedy exposed is the best of who we are," he added.

Pope Francis appealed for solidarity with those affected by the earthquake that struck Iran and Pakistan on Tuesday afternoon. In his appeal, which came during the course of the weekly General Audience on Wednesday in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Pope Francis said that he had “[L]earned with sadness of the violent earthquake that has struck the peoples of Iran and Pakistan, bringing death, suffering and destruction.”

Christians are praying after two explosions at the Boston Marathon yesterday where three killed and more than 170 wounded. President Barack Obama made a televised address in which he vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. "We will find out who did this. We'll find out why they did this," he said. "Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice." Christian leaders expressed their sympathies and ask for prayers for the victims.

Pope Francis asked the faithful on Sunday to pray for their brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering persecution. "Let us pray especially for Christians who suffer persecution," he said, adding, "[and] in these times, there are many Christians who suffer persecution, a great many, in many countries: let us pray for them from our heart, with love, that they might feel the living and comforting presence of the Risen Lord."

Pipalwada, a nondescript tribal village in Vyarataluka bordering the Dang, a district in the state of Gujarat in India, was the centre of attraction on Sunday April 7 when tens of thousands of Christian community members from across the state and neighbouring Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh converged at 'EktaMohatsav' organized jointly by the Church of North India's (CNI) Gujarat Diocese and the Friends Missionary Prayer Band (FMPB). This was the first village in South Gujarat that had witnessed communal tension in 1996, two years before attacks on Christians in 1998.

Pope Francis has directed the Vatican to act resolutely on ecclesiastic sex abuse cases and take measures against paedophile priests, saying the Catholic Church's credibility was on the line. The announcement was quickly dismissed by victims' advocates as just more talk. "Once again … a top Catholic official says he's asking another top Catholic official to take action about paedophile priests and complicit bishops," said Barbara Dorris.

Christian persecution continued in the Middle East, Asia and Africa through church attacks, blasphemy accusations and murders, states a summary by the Gatestone Institute of such incidents during the year 2013. Four Coptic Christian-owned stores were torched in January in Egypt and Egyptian authorities also neutralized a car filled with explosives before it could detonate near a Coptic church in which worshippers were celebrating Christmas. In Egypt, a court sentenced a woman, Nadia Mohamed Ali and her seven children to 15 years in prison for converting to Christianity.