By Carl Bunderson
Denver, Colo., Apr 29, 2013 / 06:01 pm (EWTN News/CNA)

In his newly translated book, Pope Francis proposes a Christ-centered understanding of human dignity that yields a comprehensive respect for life reaching from the unborn to the impoverished.

“He clearly makes the case that Jesus brings about a completely new vision of humanity, that human life is provided with a dignity that goes beyond our capacity to understand,” Alejandro Bermudez, the book’s translator, told EWTN News April 23.

“Therefore the most crucial approach to human life is reverence.”

The new book, “On Heaven and Earth,” is a conversation between Pope Francis and Abraham Skorka, a rabbi and scholar from Buenos Aires. It was originally published in Spanish in 2010, when Francis was still Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires.

The book depicts a firm reverence for human life that connects the Pope’s committed opposition to abortion and euthanasia with his passionate concern for the poor and elderly.

Catholic World News
A Bangladeshi Islamist group is threatening a massive May 5 march on Dhaka, the nation’s capital, unless the government agrees to 13 demands, including the death penalty for blasphemy and the outlawing of women working with men.

Calling Bangladesh a secular democracy, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she would not to accede to the demands.

So Pope Francis roots for Inter now? The captain Javier Zanetti of the Nerazzuri hesitated for a moment but then answered the question elegantly and diplomatically. “No, the Pope”, he said, “roots for a better world. And he believes that each one of us, even in sports, can lend a hand in building it”. What is certain is that Bergoglio is a passionate football fan. He supported San Lorenzo de Almagro, the football team of the Boedo neighborhood in Buenos Aires, when his father used to bring him to the stadium. The glorious year of 1946 remains in his memory. The club upset River Plate and the Boca Juniors, who had won ten titles in 12 years, when René Pontoni scored to win the championship.“Not by chance”, Zanetti said, after his long and cordial meeting with the Pope on Thursday afternoon, 25 April, “I also greeted him on behalf of my teammate Iván Córdoba who, before wearing the Nerazzura jersey, played for San Lorenzo from 1998 to 2000.

(Vatican Radio) An estimated 70 thousand young boys and girls are descending on St Peter’s Square this weekend for the first in a series of ‘great events’ with the Holy Father organized for the Year of Faith by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. On Saturday and Sunday those young boys and girls who have been confirmed in their faith or are about to be confirmed will gather in St Peter’s from all over the world together with Pope Francis, while next weekend it will be the turn of confraternities. New Jersey native Fr. Eugene Sylva is the English language official at the Pontifical Council for New Evangelization.
Speaking to Emer McCarthy he outlined some of the other ‘great events’ in store for the rest of the Year of Faith and the Council’s work in promoting the New Evangelization:

The Irish Catholic

These famous words are usually attributed to British statesman Edmund Burke, but they were also found in Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and the ancient Greek philosopher Plato said something very similar. There’s a very good reason why this quote keeps recurring: it’s one of the truest things that has ever been said.

And events happening right here, right now, are proof of that.

On Saturday, 4th May at Our Lady’s Shrine, Knock, people from every parish in Ireland are invited to come and focus on prayer for the intention of protecting Unborn Life.

The Catholicism Course concludes on Thursday, 2nd May at 7.00pm in St Joseph’s Hall. Congratulations to all who participated in the course and helped to make it a great success.

Due to some concerns, a tree assessment report was carried out on the Monkey Puzzle (Araucaria Araucana) in the grounds of St Comgall’s Church. The recommendation was that the tree is showing signs of severe dieback and loss of vigour and will not recover from its current state and that it should be felled as soon as possible. It is very sad but there are no options and the recommendation will be followed through as soon as possible.

Vatican City, 25 April 2013 (VIS) – The Pontifical Council for the Family, in a note issued today, declares that “there is no basis to the news, circulated by some press agencies, that a document on distributing communion to remarried divorced persons is being prepared.”

2013-04-25 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Brazil will be the only international destination for Pope Francis in 2013. This was stated Wednesday afternoon by Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, in a meeting at the headquarters of the Foreign Press Association in Rome. “I invite you to not expect others to trips abroad this year,” Father Lombardi said.

Pope Francis will travel to Rio de Janeiro for the 28th World Youth Day, to be held July 23 to 28, with the motto “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28, 19).