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During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Vatican Media welcomes students from the Institute, headquartered in Geneva and founded in 1946, which Pope Francis visited during the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches.

Baku, January 14, AZERTAC
Secretary of State of the Holy See Cardinal Pietro Parolin has said he will visit Azerbaijan as he met with Azerbaijani Ambassador to the Holy See Ilgar Mukhtarov.

Prior to the religious ceremony, Patriarch Pizzaballa said during the press conference held by the Catholic Center for Studies and Media (CCSM): "We pay prime attention to this holy place and affirm our support for the project designed to develop the Baptism Site which was announced by His Majesty King Abdullah II and His Royal Highness Prince GhaziI Ibn Mohammad."

The annual Holy Land Coordination begins on Saturday 14 January, when Bishops from 11 countries will gather in Jordan to meet with the Christian community. There are more than 200,000 Christians in the country. Its Catholic parishes, schools and social projects form an important part of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

It would be hard to name an Australian more polarising than George Pell.
The sudden death of the cardinal, once a right-hand man of the Pope, led to an outpouring of sadness and gratitude for his service by many devout Catholics across the nation and the globe. The bells at St Patrick’s Cathedral in East Melbourne rang for 30 minutes to mark his death and flags outside were flown at half-mast.

As the Church in Cuba celebrates the 25th anniversary of Pope St. John Paul II’s historic visit to the island nation on 21-25 January 1998, Pope Francis sends a letter encouraging Cubans to continue walking together in faithful hope to build a better future.

Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - Homosexual behavior does not conform to the Bible and to the creative will of God, who «created Adam and Eve». This was reiterated by Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II, in an Egyptian television interview, Pope Tawadros also referred to specific programs introduced in kindergartens and primary schools that belong to the Coptic Church to raise boys and girls and protect them from theories and theses considered ambiguous and not compliant with the Bible regarding issues related to the relationship between the sexes and sexual orientation.

Yangon (Agenzia Fides) - "We urgently ask the parties for a ceasefire. We ask that they lay down their arms and seek a peaceful solution. We see many people suffering and it is necessary to create humanitarian corridors in areas of extreme humanitarian crisis, which allow all organizations, local and foreign, to assist displaced people", says to Agenzia Fides Joseph Kung, a lay Catholic from Yangon, head of a private university institute, interpreting the feelings and desires of Catholics and many other citizens of other confessions, in the country tormented by an internal conflict between the army and the Popular Defense Forces (PDF), born in the aftermath of the coup.
Currently, he notes, there is an urgent need "to alleviate the suffering of the millions of people who, in many areas of the country, have been forced to flee their homes and seek precarious shelters".

Ishtiaq Saleem is accused of posting pictures of the Prophet Mohammad’s name in Arabic tattooed on his body. Upon his arrest, he was beaten. His wife proclaims his innocence, saying that he is illiterate and the victim of a "conspiracy" based on religion. Pakistan’s electronic crimes law as well as blasphemy legislation are used to target religious minorities.

by Martha Zhao Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - Exactly one hundred years after his arrival in Beijing, the figure of Cardinal Celso Costantini, the first Apostolic Delegate in China, is being rediscovered and his topicality is reinforced also in the Chinese academic world. On the morning of today, Friday, December 23, a Seminar dedicated to the theme of Sino-Vatican relations during the Republic of China, centered precisely on the figure of Constantine, was organized at the History Department of the East China Normal University, (ECNU), founded in 1951 in Shanghai.

The Chaldean patriarchs spoke to AsiaNews about the pope emeritus who died this morning. A "man of God” with a "luminous" face, one day he will be proclaimed "doctor for what he has left". He had a bond of "deep closeness" with the Muslim world. He supported the synod on the Middle East in 2010.