In his Angelus address on August 12, Pope Francis said: “When you do not cling to the word of the Lord, but have more security in consulting horoscopes and fortune tellers, you sink. Faith in the Lord and in his word does not open a path where everything is easy and quiet for us; it does not take away the storms of life. Faith, in short, is not a loophole from the problems of life, but it sustains our journey and gives it meaning.” (88)

Colombia ceasefire for Pope’s visit

Pope Francis’ visit to Colombia could bring the added benefit of a ceasefire between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the country’s government. This emerged after the ELN said it hoped to reach a ceasefire agreement with the government, and that if the latter did not agree it would probably announce a unilateral ceasefire to honour the Pope.

Patriarchs call to protect Christians in Middle East

The patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches released a warning against a “plan of genocide” that threatens to eliminate the Christian presence in the Middle East. In a statement at the end of a meeting in Dimane, Lebanon, the patriarchs said the elimination of Christians from the region would be “a human catastrophe, a defeat for civilisation and an affront to all humanity”.

They encouraged Pope Francis to bring world leaders together to plan action to protect the Christians in the Middle East and appealed to Catholics of the Middle East to “remain rooted in the land of our fathers and ancestors”.

UN troops aided massacre – bishop

Bishop Juan-José Aguirre Muñoz, a Spanish missionary bishop in the Central African Republic, told the Fides news agency that militants of the Muslim-dominated Séléka rebel group massacred 50 civilians in the village of Gambo because UN troops had not disarmed them.

The bishop said that while peacekeeping troops from the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission opened fire against the largely Christian and animist militants of the Anti-balaka movement they did not disarm Séléka, who subsequently massacred 50 men, women and children. The bishop said that “here is a sense of complicity which we fail to understand”.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)

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