Tag - church

 
 

CHURCH

Pope Francis gives the Easter Urbi et Orbi message from St. Peter's basilica in the Vatican on Sunday.
WORLD
Mar 31, 2024
Pope Francis pleads for peace in Easter message
In his Easter speech, Francis condemned war as "always an absurdity and a defeat," raising conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar and beyond.
The head of the Unification Church's Japan branch has been fined for the group's refusal to answer some questions sent by the culture ministry.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 26, 2024
Unification Church fined for not answering government questions
The Tokyo District Court ordered the group to pay a fine of ¥100,000 for its refusal to answer some questions put to it by the culture ministry.
Ukrainian servicemen fire an anti aircraft cannon near the town of Bakhmut, Ukraine, on March 6.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 11, 2024
Kyiv slams Pope's 'white flag' call, vows no surrender to Russia
Vatican officials said the pontiff's call was simply intended to end fierce fighting in the war that has entered its third year.
Pope Francis presides over a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2024
Pope says Ukraine should have the ‘courage of the white flag’
Pope Francis has reiterated in a new interview that Ukraine should negotiate to end the war with Russia, but this time he used language — adopting his interviewer’s expression, "white flag” — that has drawn attention and raised questions about whether the pope was suggesting that Ukraine surrender....
Tokyo headquarters of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, more commonly known as the Unification Church
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2024
Japan panel OKs putting Unification Church under increased scrutiny
Once an organization is designated, it will be obliged to notify authorities of any disposal of its real estate assets at least one month in advance.
Education Minister Masahito Moriyama bows to parliament after a motion of no confidence against him was voted down in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2024
Japan opposition fails with censure motion against education minister
The CDP's move against a Unification Church-linked minister came as the party also called for questioning over a slush funds scandal.
Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan friar and a professor at the Gregorian, the Harvard of Rome's pontifical universities, in his office at the university in Rome on Jan. 29. Benanti advises the Vatican and the Italian government on navigating the tricky questions — moral and otherwise — raised by artificial intelligence.
WORLD / Society
Feb 14, 2024
The friar who became the Vatican’s go-to guy on AI
Father Paolo Benanti, an ethics professor and self-proclaimed geek, spends his days thinking about the Holy Ghost and the ghosts in the machines.
Stella Belia (right), a member of the Rainbow Families of Greece, an organization which focuses on LGBTQ parents, poses for a portrait with her son, Yannis, in Athens, on Jan. 30. Greek lawmakers are set approve a historic bill legalizing same-sex marriage and adoption this week, having previously been condemned for anti-gay discrimination by the European Court of Human Rights in 2013, after gay couples were excluded from a prior civil unions law in 2008.
WORLD / Society
Feb 14, 2024
No longer invisible, Greek same-sex couples await landmark law
The issue is a strong taboo for a large part of Greek society — and for the powerful Orthodox Church of Greece.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2024
Hayashi denies agreeing to Unification Church policies
The chief cabinet secretary said he had not agreed to the policies of the church during a meeting with people linked to the religious group in 2021.
Education minister Masahito Moriyama (right) responds to questions from Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Chinami Nishimura in the Lower House on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2024
Education minister under fire for unreported ties to Unification Church
Masahito Moriyama said he could not remember 2021 meeting with the group or the agreement he signed with it for electoral support.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a Lower House budget committee session in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2024
Kishida insists corporate donations have no effect on LDP policy
The responses came during Lower House budget committee questions from Akira Nagatsuma, policy chief of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.
People troubled by their parents' involvement with religions such as the Unification Church hold a news conference in Tokyo in December 2022 to announce the establishment of a support organization.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2024
Japan to use ex-believers' help for Unification Church victim aid
Some will participate as instructors in the training of consultation staff, to help them understand the feelings of victims.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visit the cenotaph for atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima on May 21 during the Group of Seven summit. Zelenskyy’s visit to one of the two cities attacked with a nuclear weapon came amid Russia’s veiled threats to use its nuclear arsenal in its war against Ukraine.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2023
Images of 2023: Japan
Outside of the successful G7 summit, the year was not kind to PM Fumio Kishida's unpopular administration. A kickback scandal provided one final headache.
The Tokyo headquarters of the Unification Church in Shibuya Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 13, 2023
Japan enacts law to monitor Unification Church assets
The special legislation is designed to ensure that victims of the organization's malpractices have a source of relief.
The Lower House plenary session approves the relief bill in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 5, 2023
Bill for victims' relief in Unification Church case clears Lower House
The bill aims to prevent a religious organization's assets from being transferred overseas so that it can be set aside to provide relief.
Police inspect the site of a bomb attack inside a gymnasium at Mindanao State University in Marawi, the Philippines, on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 4, 2023
Philippines IDs suspects after IS-claimed bombing at Sunday Mass
Authorities have vowed to hunt down those behind the blast, which was claimed by Islamic State militants.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 4, 2023
Kishida denies media report of ties to Unification Church
The prime minister reportedly had an exchange with Masayoshi Kajikuri, the head of the Universal Peace Federation Japan, in 2019.
Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. visits wounded victims of an explosion that happened during a Catholic Mass in a gymnasium at Mindanao State University, in Marawi, the Philippines, on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 3, 2023
Philippine military on high alert after bombing called terrorism
The blast happened during a regular service at Mindanao State University's gymnasium in Marawi, the country's largest Muslim city.
Argentina's President-elect Javier Milei has frequently referred to both his study of the Torah — the Jewish scripture that is also the first part of the Christian Bible — and his identity as a Catholic.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2023
Javier Milei's spirituality: Catholicism, Torah and a 'libertarian' God
Argentine President-elect has offered glimpses into how his seemingly contradictory spiritual practices influence his idiosyncratic worldview.
Pope Francis had planned to attend the COP28 conference in Dubai this week, but canceled on Tuesday due to health concerns.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 29, 2023
U.S. bishops cling to fossil fuels, despite Pope's 2015 appeal
Not a single diocese has announced it has let go of its fossil fuel assets since the pope's landmark encyclical on environmental stewardship.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?