VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Latest on the Vatican nuclear conference (all times local): 7:00 p.m. A top NATO official is defending the alliance’s opposition to a new U.N. treaty calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons. NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller told a Vatican disarmament conference Friday that the treaty could undermine years … Continue reading
VATICAN CITY (AP) — President Donald Trump and Pope Francis, two leaders with contrasting styles and differing worldviews, met at the Vatican on Wednesday, setting aside their previous clashes to broadcast a tone of peace for an audience around the globe. Trump, midway through a grueling nine-day, maiden international journey, called upon the pontiff in … Continue reading
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump’s first trip abroad (all times local): 4:12 p.m. President Donald Trump arrived in Brussels Wednesday afternoon ahead of meetings with NATO leaders. Trump was harshly critical of NATO as a candidate, declaring the military alliance “obsolete.” He’s also criticized member countries for not following NATO … Continue reading
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis embraced weeping mothers, fathers and children with Huntington’s Disease on Thursday as he sought to remove the stigma of an incurable genetic disorder that causes such devastating physical and psychiatric effects that its sufferers are often shunned and abandoned. One by one, Francis blessed and greeted each of the … Continue reading
VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican monsignor said Tuesday he never felt threatened by two journalists to whom he passed confidential documents — but did fear the colleague who introduced them. Monsignor Angelo Lucio Vallejo Balda, a former high-ranking official in the Vatican’s finance office, made the concession during cross-examination Tuesday in the Vatican’s leaks … Continue reading
ROME (AP) — One of Pope Francis’ top advisers acknowledged he had heard that an Australian Catholic school teacher who serially abused students might be involved in “pedophilia activity” in the 1970s, but said he had no idea how rampant clergy abuse was at the time, during an extraordinary public hearing of an Australian … Continue reading
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 inmates and a baby at Rome’s main prison Thursday in a pre-Easter ritual meant to show his willingness to serve. He asked them to pray that he, too, might be cleansed of his “filth.” As the inmates wept, Francis knelt down, poured water from a … Continue reading
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican sought Wednesday to defuse a diplomatic tiff with Mexico after Pope Francis referred to the possible “Mexicanization” of his native Argentina from drug trafficking, the latest instance of Francis’ casual speaking style getting him into trouble. The Vatican said it had sent an official diplomatic note to Mexico’s … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 