Pope Francis Leads Prayer from Rome Hospital

Pope Francis greeted the faithful from a balcony at Gemelli hospital in Rome on Sunday, his first public appearance since undergoing colon surgery last week.

Pope Francis Undergoing Colon Surgery

THE NEW YORK TIMES: It is the first time that Francis has been admitted to a hospital since becoming pope in 2013.

ROME — The Vatican announced on Sunday that Pope Francis had been admitted to a hospital in Rome for colon surgery, the first significant health challenge in a pontificate that has lasted more than eight years and shifted the priorities and direction of the Roman Catholic Church.

Matteo Bruni, a Vatican spokesman, said in a statement that Francis, 84, had been taken to the Gemelli hospital in the Italian capital. Mr. Bruni said that the “scheduled surgery” would take place later on Sunday, and that a medical bulletin would be issued afterward.

He said the pope had symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon. » | Elisabetta Povoledo and Jason Horowitz | Sunday, July 4, 2021

Pope Francis Backs Same-sex Civil Unions

THE GUARDIAN: Pontiff’s endorsement likely to further enrage his conservative opponents in Catholic church

Pope Francis has given his most explicit support to same-sex civil unions in a move that is likely to further enrage his conservative opponents in the Catholic church.

His comments came in an interview in a documentary film, Francesco, which premiered at the Rome film festival on Wednesday.

He said: “Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it. What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered. I stood up for that.” » | Harriet Sherwood \ Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Steve Bannon Is Going After Pope Francis | Morning Joe | MSNBC

Former adviser to President Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, along with other conservatives are taking aim at Pope Francis. NBC News' Richard Engel explains what's driving Bannon.

Steve Bannon ‘Told Italy’s Populist Leader: Pope Francis Is the Enemy’

THE GUARDIAN: Trump’s ex-strategist advised Matteo Salvini ‘to target pontiff’s stance on plight of refugees’

Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon advised Italy’s interior minister Matteo Salvini to attack the pope over the issue of migration, according to sources close to the Italian far right.

During a meeting in Washington in April 2016, Bannon – who would within a few months take up his role as head of Trump’s presidential campaign – suggested the leader of Italy’s anti-immigration League party should start openly targeting Pope Francis, who has made the plight of refugees a cornerstone of his papacy.

“Bannon advised Salvini himself that the actual pope is a sort of enemy. He suggested for sure to attack, frontally,” said a senior League insider with knowledge of the meeting in an interview with the website SourceMaterial. » | Mark Townsend, Home affairs editor | Saturday, April 13, 2019

Pope Francis Holds Arabian Peninsula's Largest Mass | DW News

It was billed as the largest show of Christian worship ever seen on the Arabian Peninsula. Pope Francis celebrated mass in the Muslim-majority United Arab Emirates. More than 130,000 people attended the event in the capital Abu Dhabi. The mass wrapped up a three day trip to the country, the first ever by a pontiff. Pope Francis condemned war and said his main aim was to promote harmony and tolerance between Christians and Muslims.

Pope Francis Pays Historic Visit to the United Arab Emirates | DW News

Pope Francis has paid the first ever papal visit to the United Arab Emirates. During his two day visit, the pope is due to meet leading Muslim clerics and hold an open air mass in the Muslim-majority kingdom. The historic papal trip is aimed at turning a page in Christian-Muslim relations in the region.

Pope Francis Uses Christmas Homily to Decry Modern Consumerism

THE GUARDIAN: Pontiff told pilgrims in the Vatican City that mankind has become ‘greedy and voracious’
/>
Pope Francis has assailed the “insatiable greed” of today’s consumerism, calling on people in his Christmas homily to make “sharing and giving” more a part of their lives.

“Mankind became greedy and voracious,” the leader of the world’s 1.3bn Catholics said in an address to thousands of followers in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City.

“In our day, for many people, life’s meaning is found in possessing, in having an excess of material objects.”

“An insatiable greed marks all human history, even today, when, paradoxically, a few dine luxuriantly while all too many go without the daily bread needed to survive.” » | Agencies | Monday, December 24, 2018

Koch Brothers Backed Conservative Archbishop Attacks Pope and "Homosexuals in the Church"

On the heels of the sexual abuse disclosures conservative Archbishop accuses Pope of hiding sexual abuse and attacks "homosexual underground" in the Church. He is backed by the Koch brothers and other right wing Catholics

Trump in Turmoil, Italy Migrant Crisis and the Pope's Visit to Ireland

#F24Debate: The Migration Crisis: An Unholy Rift

Robert Spencer: Pope Francis, the Pope of Islam

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer discusses the praise Pope Francis has received from Muslim leaders for his false claims that Islam is a religion of peace that has nothing to do with terrorism, and his ignoring of the plight of persecuted Middle Eastern Christians.

The World This Week - Storm of the Century, Pope Francis in Colombia, Rohingyas, Syria

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s Visit with the Pope

Donald Trump went to the Vatican to meet the Pope so Jimmy breaks down how that went.

Donald Trump Meets Pope Francis in Rome - BBC News

US President Donald Trump has met Pope Francis at the Vatican, on the third leg of US President's maiden overseas trip.

What Can Pope Francis Achieve in Egypt? - Inside Story

The visit by Pope Francis to Egypt is being seen as an opportunity to promote better relations between Christians and Muslims.

Martin Scorsese Interview on Trump and the Pope

Full Martin Scorsese interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy, where the film director talks about America's future under Donald Trump, meeting the Pope in Rome and his new film Silence which is out on January 1st.

Georgia: Orthodox Priests Snub Pope Visit

Pope Francis is in Georgia to mend relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, who have been divided for almost 1,000 years.

Pope Francis Prays for Peace alongside Syro-Chaldean Catholics in Georgia

Pope Francis Talks of Peaceful Co-existence in Caucasus Region

Pope Francis starts his visit in Georgia for what has been billed as a mission of peace in the volatile Caucasus region that will also take him to Azerbaijan just months after he visited arch-foe Armenia. In a speech, Pope Francis stresses the importance of the "peaceful coexistence among all peoples and states in the region."