By VISarchive 02 Vatican City, 22 February 2016 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Fr. Angel Antonio Recinos Lemus as bishop of Zacapa y Santo Cristo de Esquipulas (area 5,066. population 613,000, Catholics 528,000, priests 32, permanent deacons 1, religious 68), Guatemala. The bishop-elect was born in Azulco, Guatemala in 1963 and was ordained a priest in 1994. He holds a licentiate in biblical theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and has served in a number of academic, administrative and pastoral roles, including seminary professor, director of the Institute of Theology of the National Seminary, head of...

By VISarchive 02 Vatican City, 19 February 2016 (VIS) – As is customary in his apostolic trips, the Pope answered questions posed by journalists during the return flight to Rome, on his visit to Mexico and his encounter in Havana, Cuba with the Patriarch Kirill. The Holy Father addressed a series of themes that ranged from his Mexican experience to the problem of paedophilia, immigration to the European situation, as well as the repercussions of the document signed with the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the law on civil unions and the various problems linked to the family....

By VISarchive 02 Vatican City, 17 February 2016 (VIS) – Yesterday at 10 a.m. local time (6 p.m. in Rome) the Holy Father began the last leg of his apostolic trip in Mexico: Ciudad Juarez, for two centuries the only land passage to the United States. Indeed, Cuidad Juarez is situated on the Rio Grande, facing the Texan city of El Paso. The two form a metropolitan area with two million inhabitants. It is a very developed industrial centre and, according to various statistics, one of the most violent cities in the world, due principally to drug trafficking across...

By VISarchive 02 Vatican City, 17 February 2016 (VIS) – “I wanted to meet with you here in this land of Juarez, because of the special relationship this city has with the world of labour. I am grateful not only for your words of welcome and for your testimonies, which reveal the anxieties, joys and hopes of your lives, but also for this opportunity to share and reflect together. Anything we can do to foster dialogue, encounter, and the search for better alternatives and opportunities is already an accomplishment to be valued and highlighted. And there are two words...

By VISarchive 02 Vatican City, 17 February 2016 (VIS) – “In this Year of Mercy, with you here, I beg for God’s mercy; with you I wish to plead for the gift of tears, the gift of conversion”, exclaimed the Pope yesterday during the Mass celebrated in the fair ground of Ciudad Juarez, on the frontier between Mexico and the United States. The Holy Father toured the area several times in the popemobile to greet the faithful gathered on both sides of the border.Awareness of violence, injustice and oppression, the need for conversion and mercy, the “human tragedy” of...

By VISarchive 02 Vatican City, 17 February 2016 (VIS) – Pope Francis took leave of Mexico today, thanking God for granting him his visit to a country “that always surprises, for Mexico is a surprise!”. He departed from the airport of Ciudad Juarez at 7 p.m. local time (3 a.m. in Rome) today, 18 February, and is expected to arrive in Rome at 3.15 p.m.The Holy Father again gave thanks to all those who made his pilgrimage possible, including the state and local authorities and “all those anonymous helpers who quietly gave of their very best to make these...