Pope to Visit Sweden, Apologizes for Catholic Wrongs

[bemildred]

Source: ABC/AP

Pope Francis has concluded an annual weeklong prayer for Christian unity by making a sweeping apology for Catholic wrongs committed against other Christians and by announcing he will visit Sweden to mark the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation.

The one-day trip Oct. 31 to the southern city of Lund, where the Lutheran World Federation was founded in 1947, will be the first papal visit to Sweden since Pope John Paul II toured five Scandinavian nations in 1989.

Francis has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors by encouraging efforts to heal the rifts with Anglicans, Lutherans, Orthodox, evangelicals and other Christian denominations. But Francis has also used personal friendships to forge ahead where official dialogue has stalled.

On Monday, Francis celebrated an annual vespers service to mark the end of a weeklong prayer for Christian unity which this year also falls during Francis' Holy Year of Mercy.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/pope-visit-sweden-commemorate-500-years-reformation-36497462

[bemildred]

1. Iranian leader asks pope to pray for him after Vatican talks

By Frances D'Emilio | AP January 26 at 8:06 AM

VATICAN CITY — Iran’s president asked Pope Francis to pray for him Tuesday after the two men held private talks at the Vatican, part of an Iranian effort to take a more prominent place on the world stage after a nuclear deal with Western powers.

Hassan Rouhani’s visit to the Holy See saw the first meeting between a pope and an Iranian president since 1999. Iran, which agreed to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for an end to economic sanctions, is eager to carve out a bigger role in mediating Middle East conflicts. Francis’ papacy has been marked by mediation and conflict resolution.

The Iranian leader is on a four-day European swing to boost Iran’s image abroad as well as to rehabilitate economic ties with a continent that had been a big trade partner before sanctions.

“I ask you to pray for me,” Rouhani told Francis after their 40-minute meeting. He called the visit by the leader of a Muslim country to the head of the Roman Catholic church “a real pleasure.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/iran-leader-in-rome-boasts-nation-now-most-stable-in-region/2016/01/26/6b92a4b6-c414-11e5-b933-31c93021392a_story.html

[Bluenorthwest]

2. An in depth look at Francis' outreach to other demoninations...not so pretty as you think

Vatican Strengthens Ties with Evangelicals and Mormons Against Gay Marriage
The presence of American evangelicals and the LDS Church was particularly notable. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, and Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, each gave speeches, and representatives from the Heritage Foundation and the Family Research Council in Washington attended. President Henry Eyring of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ first presidency spoke and Elder Tom Perry of the LDS’s Quorum of the Twelve also joined. In the United States, this trio of faiths has worked together to stand against the government’s Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, but it was the first time they were coming together at the Vatican to talk about marriage........

Adds Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council: “The atmosphere was almost euphoric as the attendees from six of the world’s seven continents broke from the historic gathering to return to their respective nations renewed in their stand for marriage,” he says. “The courts may declare otherwise, and Hollywood may depict its demise, but the union of a man and a woman as the natural and enduring definition of marriage will endure until the end.”
http://time.com/3597245/vatican-evangelicals-mormons-gay-marriage/


Much more at the link

[niyad]

4. so when is pope photo op going to apologize to women for what the church has done to them

throughout the millenia?