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The 79-year-old pope, who hails from Argentina, was quickly helped to his feet by other religious figures. He subsequently took to his seat, continued the Mass and read his homily normally.
Francis suffers from a medical condition called sciatica, in which pain sometimes severely affects his leg and lower back.
Pope Francis is undertaking a five-day visit to Poland and was visiting the country’s holiest shrine in the city of Czestochowa, which is in the south of the country.
The shrine is home the Black Madonna, which is a Byzantine icon from sometime between the sixth and ninth centuries. It was brought to Poland around 600 years ago. The icon is painted on wood and covered with silver and jewels.
RT
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A Nigerian pastor has been arrested after chaining his nine-year-old son in a room for several weeks with a padlock and denying him food, police said on Monday.
"We acted on a tip-off that a boy had been locked up in a room near a church at Atan in Ogun state. We forced the door open and rescued him," state police spokesperson Muyiwa Adejobi told AFP.
He said the boy was found chained to the ground with a padlock in a room on Friday.
"He was in a very bad shape, greatly emaciated because of poor feeding. The boy told us his father was not giving him food regularly and that he had been locked up in the room for over one month," Adejobi said.
"It is shocking and baffling that a man who claims to be a man of God could be involved in a such a barbaric and inhuman act," he added.
He said the pastor, 40, told investigators that he locked up his son to perform a ritual intended to stop him stealing.
"The man said his son was always stealing his things and to stop the habit, he needed to chain him with [a] lock so that he would not run away," he said.
News24
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he Reverend Amin Sandewa says his faith has been repeatedly tested.
It was pushed to the limit when his wife and two daughters died, one after another, the youngest daughter at just a month old.
Sandewa looked to his Lutheran faith for solace and answers.
The harshest challenge came from his very church, when he told leaders in 1999 that he was HIV positive.
"I know what it is like to be stigmatized," he said on the sidelines of the International AIDS Conference in Durban.
His status may have prevented him from getting a parish, Sandewa says. But when he was shunned, he looked to his faith and turned the other cheek.
"The teaching of Jesus Christ is about love," he said. "So when I see others stigmatizing me, I know they are not walking the talk, because they are preaching the love, but then they are not implementing the love. So that's how I gathered confidence and said, I have to teach them, I decided to teach them about that. When they stigmatized me, I said no, I have to help them."
Pressing for tolerance, compassion
Sandewa is one of several dozen religious leaders who took an unlikely spot here at the 21st annual conference, saying there is room for faith in the fight against the virus. Clergy held regular interfaith sessions.
The journey to reconcile faith and HIV hasn't been easy. For example, critics say the Roman Catholic Church has marginalized millions of people who need help and acceptance. In doing so, critics argue, the Church has denied vulnerable people the social and material support they need to fight HIV.
Caroline Jaff, a medical doctor and Catholic nun in Cameroon, summed up the Church's position on two controversial topics in the fight against AIDS.
"We preach fidelity, which is 100 percent HIV prevention," she said. "About homosexuality, you know, actually, it's not a matter of judgement, but since the Church goes along with what the Scripture says, let me just say, it has created man and woman."
Other Christian leaders say such attitudes are not helpful. The Reverend J.P. Mokgethi-Heath, who toted around a bag full of condoms and spoke lovingly about his husband, said religious institutions need to be more accepting of people and of sex.
A policy adviser on HIV and theology for the Church of Sweden, he said houses of worship need to be involved in the fight against HIV.
"Faith is integral to all our lives, and what faith gives each of us is the knowledge that we are beautifully and divinely created, that each of us is not only a creation, but a celebration of God," he said. "And so our main role, I would say, is not only to link people to God in relationship, but to give people the self-esteem they need to believe themselves worthy of protection, believe themselves worthy of treatment, believe themselves worthy of care."
Faith and science compatible
Other fighters in the AIDS battle say there is room for faith and science to coexist.
Ally Ahmed Ramadhan, a South Sudanese doctor, made a point to duck into the conference’s Muslim prayer room Thursday afternoon. He considers himself socially liberal and says he tries not to judge others.
"I think, as a Muslim, one of the central tenets of Islam is based on the fact that God gave us a very important attribute, which is the attribute of choice," he said. "You will be judged on what choices you make. So I feel the people who discriminate against people because they choose this option over the other option, I would say, probably they are not doing it the right way."
Sandewa says he believes that attitudes have changed and that he and other HIV-positive believers will gain acceptance. One of the hurdles, he says, is that his colleagues are often reluctant to share their HIV status.
"Most of them have not yet disclosed, because of stigma," he said.
Mokgethi-Heath added that his congregation benefits from welcoming everyone, regardless of HIV status.
"Fundamentally," he said, "they are the ones who will bring us healing. Fundamentally, they are the ones who will show us our brokenness in not being able to fully respond to the love of God. And so they will be our wounded healers."
A new report from UNAIDS, a United Nations program focused on HIV/AIDS, found that the rate of infection among adults no longer is declining, though it notes "significant progress" in halting new infections among children. Over the last 35 years, an estimated 78 million people have been infected with HIV and 35 million have died from AIDS-related illness.
VOA
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The Cameroonian delegation of Moslem pilgrims to Mecca for the "Hajj 2016" have dropped to 3,500, against 4,500 from last year, according to sources from the the Ministry of Territorial Administration (MINATD) in Yaounde.
The decrease in the number of worshipers has been attributed to the tragic events from the holy site last year .During last year's prayer ceremony,a stampede occurred that resulted in the deaths of hundreds and perhaps thousands of Hajj pilgrims of which 102 where Cameroonians, making the 2015 disaster the deadliest on record for the world’s largest Islamic gathering.
At the 29th session of the National Commission of Hajj, held on Tuesday in Yaounde, members of this organizing committee worked to reassure that all arrangements on security planning, health, accommodation, the catering and transportation on site had been put in place. Occasionally MINATD said the national airline Camair-Co and Flynas Airlines from Saudi Arabia, have been chartered for the transportation of pilgrims.
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It is possibly the greatest question never to be answered: What happens to us after we die?
For those who believe in an afterlife, this image might just hold to confirm their suspicions.
Taken by a truck driver Saul Vazquez in Powell County, Kentucky,USA on Tuesday evening, it appears to show the moment a man's soul left his body.
Since the truck driver posted the image to Facebook it has gone viral, being shared tens of thousands of times by people who believe it shows the existence of an immortal soul.
Posting the image online, he wrote: 'Zoom in and pay attention to the shadow just off the top of the state trooper hat. All I say is I hope everyone involved is okay.'
In fact a motorcyclist, who has not been named, was severely injured after crashing along the road.
He was taken to hospital where he later passed away from his injuries, emergency workers said. The biker is believed to have been the only person involved in the crash.
Daily Mail
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The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has said the church does not want justice for its slain member, Mrs. Eunice Olawale.
Adeboye said the church was only interested in the salvation of the souls of the killers.
Eunice, a mother of seven, was murdered while preaching the gospel in Kubwa, a satellite town in Abuja around 5am on Saturday.
Adeboye, who was on his way to Lagos after a crusade in Abuja, paid a condolence visit to the family at their Gbazango Estate, Kubwa residence around 6am on Tuesday.
While praying for the family of the deceased, he said, “Lord, we just want to say thank you. We pray that you will keep this family in your hand, and that you will be with them. We pray you will comfort and defend them. They too will finish well. We are praying that all the perpetrators of this crime will be found. We are not asking for justice, we are only praying that you will save their souls. It will be glorious if they can come and testify that ‘before we were murderers, but now, we are pastors.’
“As for these little children, give them wisdom; let them succeed and excel. As for the church, you will comfort us. As a result of what had happened, instead of decrease, increase your church. Stand by them and keep away evil from them.”
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has called for a “thorough” investigation into the killing of Olawale by unknown persons.
In a resolution the House passed in Abuja on Tuesday, lawmakers asked the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to investigate the attack and to ensure that the killers were brought to justice.
The motion on the killing was moved by a lawmaker from Ondo State, Mr. Babatunde Kolawole, under matters of urgent public importance.
Lawmakers also asked the IG to deploy more policemen in Kubwa and environs.
The resolution added, “We urge the FCT administration to demolish all shanties across FCT in which miscreants are said to be hiding and from which they attack innocent citizens.”
The session was presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara.
Members passed the motion in a unanimous voice vote and observed a minute’s silence in honour of the late evangelist.
Also, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria has condemned the gruesome murder of Olawale.
The PFN in a statement signed by its National President, Dr. Felix Omobude, on Tuesday described the murder as a wicked and barbaric act perpetrated by intolerant persons.
While sympathising with the family of the deceased pastor and the RCCG, Omobude called on law enforcement agents to ensure that the perpetrators of the dastardly act face the full wrath of the law.
The PFN president, however, urged all Christians to remain calm and continue to have faith in the Nigerian project.He further called on all Christians to continue to be fervent in their prayers for religious harmony and a better nation.
The Punch
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