Gerard O’Connell

In a wide-ranging press conference on the flight from Manila to Rome Pope Francis spoke about corruption in Governments and the Church the need for prudence with freedom of expression why he didn rsquo t meet the Dalai Lama recently and the Church rsquo s position on birth control nbsp He talke

Before a record crowd of between six and seven million people Pope Francis entrusted a double mission to the Philippine Church at his last public mass in this country on Sunday January 18 that included both a domestic and an Asian component At the domestic level he encouraged them to work for jus

Pope Francis didn rsquo t mince his words when he addressed the state authorities and church leaders of the Philippines He called on them to combat and eliminate ldquo the scandalous rdquo social inequalities and injustices as well as the corruption that is widespread in this land where more th

Manila came to a standstill Thursday evening Jan 15 as some two million people young and old ran out onto the streets and malls of this metropolis of 10 million inhabitants singing and dancing to welcome ldquo Papa Francisco rdquo It was but the beginning of a four-day lsquo fiesta rsquo

Pope Francis touched on some major issues during a fifty minute press conference on the six hour flight from Colombo the capital of Sri Lanka to Manila the capital of the Philippines on January 15 Among the most significant issues that he touched on was the limits of freedom of expression and th

In an act of powerful symbolism Pope Francis visited the revered Shrine of Our Lady at Madhu in northern Sri Lanka where he recalled ldquo the terrible violence and bloodshed rdquo that ldquo tore open the heart of Sri Lanka rdquo and prayed that through Our Lady rsquo s intercession Jesus w

More than half a million Sri Lankans applauded enthusiastically many were moved to tears when Pope Francis declared Joseph Vaz the 17th nbsp century missionary priest the first saint of this beautiful island in the Indian Ocean And then the bells pealed out with joy drowning the applause but n

Addressing the leaders and some 1 000 followers of Sri Lanka rsquo s four main religions ndash Buddhism Hinduism Islam and Christianity ndash at the end of his first day in the country Pope Francis urged them to ldquo put reconciliation among all Sri Lankans at the heart of every effort to r

Immediately on arrival in Sri Lanka on January 13 Pope Francis called for a process of reconciliation and healing ldquo and the pursuit of truth not for the sake of opening old wounds but rather as a necessary means of promoting justice healing and unity rdquo Known as a pope who does not duck