Pope Benedict XVI’s “in the beginning” started off a weeklong Bible-reading marathon on Italian television on Sunday.
RAI state TV began its proTurks protest in Istanbul on Sunday against Kurdish rebels who killed 15 Turkish soldiers on Friday on the Turkey-Iraq border. Tens of thousands of people in cities across Turkey attended the funerals of the soldiers. PHOTO: APith Benedict reciting the first chapter of the book of Genesis — the holy text’s opening verses about the creation of the world.
The marathon will feature more than 1,200 people reading the Old and New Testament over seven days and six nights.
While the pope recited his segment from the Vatican, most of the reading will be done live in Rome’s Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, a basilica built in the fourth century.
In addition to Roman Catholics, members of other religions, including Jews, Protestants and Orthodox Christians will participate.
Benedict, who appeared on a giant screen mounted in the church to start the marathon, was followed by Bishop Ilarion, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Oscar-winning director Roberto Benigni was also among those reading on Sunday.
Outside the packed basilica a crowd gathered in front of the torch-lit facade.
Every few chapters the reading was being interrupted for Christian or Jewish religious music and opera star Andrea Bocelli led the first interlude on Sunday by singing Bach’s Praise the Lord.
“The word of God will enter the homes and accompany the lives of families and individual people,” Benedict said of the program following his traditional noontime blessing on Sunday. “If welcomed, this seed will not fail to bring abundant fruits.”
Addressing faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Benedict noted the televised marathon would run parallel to a worldwide meeting of bishops on the relevance of the Bible for contemporary Catholics. The meeting of 253 bishops, known as a synod of bishops, will run from Monday to Oct. 26.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS