'He had 6 billion names to choose from and he chose the Pope who is the religious head of the Catholic community in the whole world.'
Mother Teresa is expected to be officially canonised in Rome on 4 September as part the pope's Jubilee year of mercy.
Despite a year seemingly filled with gloom and near constant reminders of humanity's failings, the Nobel Peace prize will reward a person, or organisation, who's worked tirelessly for peace despite the world's many hurdles.
While churches burn in the capital and lawmakers spew rubbish, Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not think it important to utter a word against these atrocities.
A 47-year-old Indian priest has been arrested in the United States state of Florida on charges of possessing child pornography, with authorities saying he asked a 14-year old boy to help him delete about 40 pornographic images of young boys from his phone.
Sopena came to India in 1947 as a 22-year-old on a mission to serve mankind through the Society of Jesus, a male religious congregation of the Catholic Church founded by Spanish spearhead of counter-reformation, Ignatius Loyola in 1541.
Out of 67 fishermen, 49 are from Tamil Nadu, 13 from Kerala, four from Assam and one from Andhra Pradesh, they said.
A little over a year after it retained power in Kerala with a massive victory, the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front suffered a huge setback on Friday in a bypoll held to Thrikkakara assembly constituency, with Congress candidate Uma Thomas winning with a historic margin of 25,016 votes, giving a boost to the morale of the party-led United Democratic Front in the southern state.
Active citizenship through peaceful protest is a powerful tool, says Merril Diniz, who was part of a peaceful march that was struck down by police and CRPF personnel, while protesting against church attacks in Delhi.
In a chilling new development, Habeeb Al Sadr, Iraq's ambassador to the Vatican, warned that Pope Francis could be on IS' list of targets, ahead of his visit to Albania this weekend and Turkey in November.
'What happened last Sunday is a great tragedy, an insult to humanity'
A season of prayer and penance in the Christian church, and a period of preparation for the Easter season, here is all that you need to know about Lent.
Driven from its self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State is down but not out. Where once they confronted armies, the extremist Islamist group's adherents have now staged hit-and-run raids and suicide attacks. In some cases, the group has claimed responsibility for atrocities, including the bombings of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka that killed at least 253 people. Its involvement is not always proven, but even if the link is ideological rather than operational, Islamic State still poses a security threat in many countries.
'One senior Congress leader told me: "As long as Rahul is seen arriving there is no harm done, but when he opens his mouth, oh God...",' reveals T V R Shenoy.
Duterte, the longtime mayor of the southern city of Davao, hypnotised millions with his vows of brutal but quick solutions to the nation's twin plagues of crime and poverty.
Forty suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide bombers, have been arrested in connection with the attacks which shook Sri Lanka.
'I truly believe that I have to do everything in my power to make sure that kids are protected and safe,' Megan Peterson, who has filed a case against the Ottacamund diocese and Bishop A Amalraj, tells Ritu Jha/Rediff.com
The nun had accused the clergyman of sexually assaulting her repeatedly between 2014 and 2016.
On this joyous occasion, rediff.com wishes all its readers 'Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,' as we a take a look at pictures of Christmas festivities from across the globe.
Assembly elections to five crucial states will take place in a few months and the results will be decisive for the BJP, which is eyeing a third successive term at the Centre, in the forthcoming the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
'When my father travelled 5,000 miles to build a new home in Ireland, I doubt he ever dreamed that his son would one day grow up to become its leader.' Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com profiles Dr Leo Varadkar who will step down as Ireland's taoiseach (prime minister) next week.
"My heart goes out to the families of the victims and the injured," Modi said.
'The othering of religious groups inevitably leads to violence.' 'It is sadly a narrative that has echoed through the centuries since man first discovered God.'
Hindu and Sikh leaders will share stage with Pope Francis during a prayer service in New York
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack, adding: "The target was Christians."
'People should realise that what we are fighting for today is actually for tomorrow, for future generations.'
For the thousands of destitute that Mother Teresa treated, she was 'god incarnate' and her hand was the miracle of love the poor needed. Attributing scientifically-unproven remedies as miracles does not help the followers of Missionaries of Charity and humanity in general, says Pallava Bagla.
The Bishop's move came ahead of his appearance before the Kerala Police team on September 19 in connection with the case.
The Kerala Police on Monday registered a case against Catholic Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt on the basis of a complaint that the priest through his "love and narcotic jihad" remarks, committed the offence of promoting feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion.
Be it consumer products, lifestyle or entertainment, spiritual gurus are stepping into business and are finding success
Europeans believe that what is under attack is their way of life, their secular faith, the long-fought right to keep religion out of the public sphere, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The 72-year-old attacker told Tomy Kalathoor Mathew that because he was Indian, he must be a Hindu or a Muslim and therefore unqualified to say mass.
"I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya, the poor Uyghurs, the Yazidi -- what ISIS did to them was truly cruel -- or Christians in Egypt and Pakistan killed by bombs that went off while they prayed in the church," Francis says in a new book, Let Us Dream: The Path to A Better Future, published on Monday.
Roman Catholic bishop Franco Mulakkal was arrested on September 21 after being accused of repeatedly raping and sexually abusing a nun between 2014 and 2016.
Over 3,000 persons have been booked in connection with violent clashes during an ongoing protest against the Adani port project in Kerala's Vizhinjam area on Sunday night.
'Whether I die in Calcutta or in Paris, on a Wednesday or a Saturday, it does not matter, but you would not want me to come to India's door and then return to France without having visited India.' 'Either I will die or I will visit India!' Claude Arpi hails Georges Clemenceau, French prime minister during the Great War, a great man who loved India.
'There is no one who will be able to have a dignified life, when your brother and sister of another community are not being treated as human.'
Amid a raging debate on the country's strict abortion laws, Ireland's Catholic bishops have said that the church 'has never taught that the life of a child in the womb should be preferred to that of a mother'.
Ahead of Bollywood's big fat Punjabi wedding, Namrata Thakker looks at other Bollywood celebrities who hosted their nuptials in Mumbai.
Though the bride and groom were Roman Catholics, Engels made it clear that it would not be a church wedding for him.
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