EU commissioner briefed on mine clearance efforts in liberated areas
European Union Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, visited the recently liberated village of Sarijali in Aghdam today. During her visit, she insp...
Before becoming Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost shared rare insights on faith, unity, and modern challenges in a few candid interviews.
U.S. Cardinal Robert Prevost, who on Thursday was elected as the new leader of the Catholic Church taking up the name of Leo XIV, is a soft-spoken figure who has shunned the limelight during his priestly career.
The 69-year-old from Chicago has served as a missionary in Peru and has given few media interviews. However, he spoke to Vatican News in May 2023, upon his appointment as head of the Vatican department that oversees bishops' appointments, and to RAI Italian public television before the conclave.
Here are some extracts from those interviews:
ON HIS FAMILY BACKGROUND:
"I was born in the United States ... But my grandparents were all immigrants, French, Spanish ... I was raised in a very Catholic family, both of my parents were very engaged in the parish." (RAI)
ON CONSIDERING DROPPING PLANS FOR PRIESTHOOD:
He talked with his father about "very concrete things, doubts that a young man may have (such as) 'perhaps it is better (that) I leave this life and I get married, I have children, a normal life". (RAI)
ON BEING PROMOTED TO A TOP VATICAN JOB IN 2023:
"I still consider myself a missionary. My vocation, like that of every Christian, is to be a missionary, to proclaim the Gospel wherever one is." (Vatican News)
ON HOW TO BE A BISHOP:
"We are often preoccupied with teaching doctrine, the way of living our faith, but we risk forgetting that our first task is to teach what it means to know Jesus Christ and to bear witness to our closeness to the Lord." (Vatican News)
ON CHURCH DIVISIONS:
"Divisions and polemics in the Church do not help anything. We bishops especially must accelerate this movement towards unity, towards communion in the Church." (Vatican News)
ON THE CHURCH AS AN INSTITUTION:
"Too many times we have allowed the Church to become an institution in part or in its entirety... One thinks of the Vatican, the Holy See, there are institutional dimensions, but that is not the heart of what the Church is and must be." (RAI)
ON THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
"Social media can be an important tool to communicate the Gospel message reaching millions of people. We must prepare ourselves to use social media well."
"(There are) situations where we really have to think several times before speaking or before writing a message on Twitter, in order to answer or even just to ask questions in a public form, in full view of everyone. Sometimes there is a risk of fuelling divisions and controversy." (Vatican News)
AnewZ has learned that India has once again blocked Azerbaijan’s application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Pakistan’s recent decision to consider diplomatic relations with Armenia has been coordinated with Baku as part of Azerbaijan’s peace agenda.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
A Polish Air Force pilot was killed on Thursday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed during a training flight ahead of the 2025 Radom International Air Show.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
Japanese conservative politician Sanae Takaichi on Thursday announced her candidacy for the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a move that could make her the country’s first female prime minister, Kyodo News reported.
The world’s two largest economies, the United States and China, remain mired in a trade war, with experts suggesting that a call scheduled for Friday between the two leaders is likely to address issues including the social media app TikTok, tariffs, and technology.
Germany will decide whether to support sanctions against Israel ahead of the European Union (EU) meeting in Copenhagen in October, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday during a visit to Madrid.
World leaders are set to gather next week in New York for the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. Key issues on the agenda include a speech by US President Donald Trump, the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, increasing Western recognition of a Palestinian state, and nuclear tensions with I
Fifty-two Members of the European Parliament from 15 countries on Thursday called on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to bar Israel from the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, citing the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
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