Egyptian authorities on May 19 arrested Mina Thabet, a well-known advocate for the rights of Egypt’s Coptic Christians, the latest move in the government’s crackdown on rights activists and dissidents. • Francesco Patton, an Italian Franciscan priest named on May 20 Custos of the Holy Land, says he is committed to building bridges, dialogue and peace. • Veronika Terezia Rackova, a Holy Spirit Missionary from Slovakia, director of St. Bakhita Medical Center in Yei, South Sudan, died on May 20, three days after being shot by government soldiers. • Israel’s defense minister Moshe Yaalon, considered a voice of moderation, announced his resignation on May 20, saying the governing party had been taken over by “extremist and dangerous elements.” • The Catholic archdiocese of the central city of Hue reported on May 20 that Vietnamese officials had released the imprisoned dissident priest Nguyen Van Ly in what was perceived as a goodwill gesture before President Obama’s visit to Vietnam.
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Pope Francis prayed that the Jubilee Year may become “a season of hope” and reconciliation in a world at war and suffering humanitarian crises as he opened the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve.
‘If God can visit us, even when our hearts seem like a lowly manger, we can truly say: Hope is not dead; hope is alive and it embraces our lives forever!’
Inspired by his friend and mentor Henri Nouwen, Metropolitan Borys Gudziak, leader of Ukrainian Catholics in the U.S., invites listeners in his Christmas Eve homily to approach the manger with renewed awe and openness.
A Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, by Father Terrance Klein