On Jan. 22, Pope Francis “urged men and women of goodwill to promote and practice a culture of welcome especially towards vulnerable migrants in search of a better life.” Care of migrants has been a constant theme of his pontificate.
Pope Francis “has effectively given Xi Jinping a stamp of approval when the latter’s hostility to religious freedom couldn’t be clearer,” said Sophie Richardson, the China director of Human Rights Watch.
Pres. Donald J. Trump is more admired than Pope Francis in a worldwide poll.
Vatican police raided offices of the Secretariat of State and the Financial Information Authority, the Vatican’s financial “watchdog” agency, on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
The Vatican City State is an independent country. The head of state is addressed as “Holy Father” and his government is called the Holy See. There is no complete and accurate account of the Vatican’s investments, commercial real estate, bank accounts, currencies and gold because, with few exceptions, the Holy Father wants his wealth to remain hidden.
No other head of state has been granted a private meeting with the pope more often. And Putin kept the pope waiting each time - 50 minutes late for their first meeting, more than an hour late for their second and an hour late on Thursday.
On June 2, Pope Francis completed his visit to a third Balkan country this year and the sixth in that region during his pontificate, but not Croatia. Since his election, the pope has also traveled to ten Latin American nations but not Argentina, and three in Africa but not Rwanda.
Nevertheless, the millions who were tortured and killed must not be forgotten.
CROATIA
A four-day Vatican summit on child sex abuse ended yesterday. Pope Francis gave a half hour address.
"These are difficult times for the new team of pope's press agents,” Vatican expert, Sandro Magister wrote on Jan. 9.
In October, two sexual abuse survivors sued the Vatican in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco for failing to prevent and covering up the abuse of them and other children by priests.
