Tag - church

 
 

CHURCH

Pope Francis blesses a child during his visit to Dili, East Timor, on Tuesday. The pontiff's Asia-Pacific tour is a strategic step toward a larger goal: a visit to China, a country that could soon have the largest Christian population in the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2024
Pope Francis’ Asia trip is all about China
The Vatican is among 12 diplomatic allies Taiwan still has left. There are concerns these loyalties could shift as the Holy See attempts to improve ties with Beijing.
Nuns walk past a banner on Saturday erected to welcome Pope Francis ahead of his visit in Dili, East Timor.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 8, 2024
Child abuse scandals hang over pope's East Timor visit
There are calls for the 87-year-old pontiff to speak out on child abuse when he lands in the former Portuguese colony Monday as part of his Asia-Pacific tour.
Flags of the Vatican and East Timor wave at the Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport ahead of Pope Francis' visit in Dili on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 8, 2024
Pope Francis visit keenly awaited in deeply Catholic East Timor
When Pope Francis touches down in the East Timorese capital of Dili this week he will be landing in a totally different nation to the one visited by his predecessor.
A welcome message for Pope Francis is displayed on an electric billboard at a roundabout in Jakarta on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 3, 2024
Pope heads to Indonesia as the first stop of his four-nation tour
The tour — the longest and farthest of his 11 years leading the worldwide Catholic Church — will test Pope Francis' increasingly fragile health.
Pope Francis arrives at the weekly general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 29, 2024
Pope Francis takes climate message to Southeast Asia on 12-day trip
It will be the longest trip yet by Pope Francis, who now regularly uses a wheelchair due to knee and back pain.
A plaintiff in a damages lawsuit regarding the Unification Church's alleged illegal solicitation of donations holds a news conference in Tokyo following a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 12, 2024
Ruling in favor of Unification Church overturned by Japan's top court
A case related to the group’s controversial donation collection activities has been sent back to the high court.
The date for Tetsuya Yamagami's first hearing of a trial for his murder case against former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has not yet been set.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 9, 2024
Two years on: Trial date for Abe's accused shooter still not set
Pretrial proceedings are still underway at Nara District Court.
A sign for Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, more commonly known as the Unification Church, at its Tokyo headquarters
JAPAN / Society
Jul 7, 2024
Unification Church in tough position two years after Abe shooting
As Monday marks the second anniversary of the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Unification Church finds itself in a difficult position.
A chaplain blesses traditional cakes and eggs for servicemen of the 24th brigade of Ukrainian Army during the Easter service in an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region on Sunday.
WORLD
May 6, 2024
Ukraine's soldiers mark Easter on the front line
The soldiers were celebrating Easter at a time when Russian forces have been making frontline gains because of the lack of arms on the Ukrainian side.
Members of a group of former second-generation Jenovah's Witnesses speak during a news conference in Tokyo in November.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 26, 2024
Japan finds 47 cases of abuse of 'second-generation followers'
Victims were temporarily taken into protective custody in 19 of the total cases.
Hundreds lined up at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, which came to Japan for a 50-day exhibition.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Apr 1, 2024
Japan Times 1974: Some troubles reported at Mona Lisa's opening
Fifty years ago, a woman made a statement on the rights of the physically disabled by splashing paint on the Mona Lisa in Tokyo.
Pope Francis gives the Easter Urbi et Orbi message from St. Peter's basilica in the Vatican on Sunday.
WORLD
Mar 31, 2024
Pope Francis pleads for peace in Easter message
In his Easter speech, Francis condemned war as "always an absurdity and a defeat," raising conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar and beyond.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 26, 2024
Unification Church fined for not answering government questions
The Tokyo District Court ordered the group to pay a fine of ¥100,000 for its refusal to answer some questions put to it by the culture ministry.
Ukrainian servicemen fire an anti aircraft cannon near the town of Bakhmut, Ukraine, on March 6.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 11, 2024
Kyiv slams Pope's 'white flag' call, vows no surrender to Russia
Vatican officials said the pontiff's call was simply intended to end fierce fighting in the war that has entered its third year.
Pope Francis presides over a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2024
Pope says Ukraine should have the ‘courage of the white flag’
Pope Francis has reiterated in a new interview that Ukraine should negotiate to end the war with Russia, but this time he used language — adopting his interviewer’s expression, "white flag” — that has drawn attention and raised questions about whether the pope was suggesting that Ukraine surrender....
Tokyo headquarters of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, more commonly known as the Unification Church
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2024
Japan panel OKs putting Unification Church under increased scrutiny
Once an organization is designated, it will be obliged to notify authorities of any disposal of its real estate assets at least one month in advance.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2024
Japan opposition fails with censure motion against education minister
The CDP's move against a Unification Church-linked minister came as the party also called for questioning over a slush funds scandal.
Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan friar and a professor at the Gregorian, the Harvard of Rome's pontifical universities, in his office at the university in Rome on Jan. 29. Benanti advises the Vatican and the Italian government on navigating the tricky questions — moral and otherwise — raised by artificial intelligence.
WORLD / Society
Feb 14, 2024
The friar who became the Vatican’s go-to guy on AI
Father Paolo Benanti, an ethics professor and self-proclaimed geek, spends his days thinking about the Holy Ghost and the ghosts in the machines.
Stella Belia (right), a member of the Rainbow Families of Greece, an organization which focuses on LGBTQ parents, poses for a portrait with her son, Yannis, in Athens, on Jan. 30. Greek lawmakers are set approve a historic bill legalizing same-sex marriage and adoption this week, having previously been condemned for anti-gay discrimination by the European Court of Human Rights in 2013, after gay couples were excluded from a prior civil unions law in 2008.
WORLD / Society
Feb 14, 2024
No longer invisible, Greek same-sex couples await landmark law
The issue is a strong taboo for a large part of Greek society — and for the powerful Orthodox Church of Greece.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2024
Hayashi denies agreeing to Unification Church policies
The chief cabinet secretary said he had not agreed to the policies of the church during a meeting with people linked to the religious group in 2021.

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Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.