During his visit to the Vatican in September 2014, retired Israeli President, Shimon Peres, proposed a UN style organization called “United Religions” to counter religious extremism. Peres said that the UN is ill suited to handle today’s conflicts, since most…

Pope Francis sent a message to the Waldensian-Methodist annual synod held 24-29 August 2014 in Torre Pellice, Italy. The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin signed the telegram on behalf of the pope. The letter offered the Waldenses the…

Militarized police are become more common in the United States. The most recent example is the “overwhelming militarized response of the local police forces to the protests over the shooting of an unarmed black teenager” in Ferguson, Missouri.  On August…

Tony Palmer, an evangelical friend of Pope Francis, died in a motorcycle accident. Francis sent a message to be read at his funeral by his wife, Emiliana. Ironically, he was buried in a Catholic cemetery in Bath, England after a…

On the plane from Korea back to Rome, Pope Francis said he wants to go to the United States in 2015 for the planned Catholic family meeting. He also said he would like to visit Washington to address Congress, the…

A recent USA Today opinion poll revealed that, increasingly, Americans believe the United States has a responsibility to respond to rising violence in Iraq, though they do not like the idea of being pulled back into a military conflict. Of…

The ecumenical movement marches forward as Pope Francis met with the heads of non-Catholic religious communities in Korea, just before his final mass in the country. The inter-faith meeting was held at the Catholic Myeong-dong Cathedral and included leaders of…

The Central Valley in California is drying up and drilling for water has become more important than drilling for oil as water resources are being drained at an alarming rate. But some private landowners that still have leftover water reserves…

The United States has launched an air strike against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) group in northern Iraq. Two F/A-18s dropped 500 pound laser guided bombs on mobile artillery that was being used to shell Kurdish forces defending the…

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck Southwest China on Sunday August 3, 2014. The death toll jumped to at least 615 as bodies have been found in debris in remote communities in the mountainous area. More than 2,400 people have been…

On behalf of Pope Francis, the Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin recently sent a note to all embassies of countries with which it has diplomatic relations urging ambassadors to work for peace. The nota verbale, as it is called…

England’s health authority has warned that the Ebola virus in West Africa is “out of control,” and its Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond says it poses a “very serious threat” to Britain. Travelers from West Africa could easily bring the disease…