Former Concentration Camp for German Immigrants? Canada Bans Film Criticizing Gay Agenda, and More…

Vatican spokesman clarifies Pope’s remarks on blasphemy — Father Thomas Rosica of the Holy See Press Office has issued a statement clarifying Pope Francis’s remarks on freedom of speech and blasphemy 
CATHOLIC CULTURE

Pope Francis: "I quote the Gospel and they call me a Communist" — The Pontiff is legendary for his passion for the poor, but in a new interview he insists he’s not driven by a Communist-inspired ideology, but by the cornerstones of the Christian faith and the Gospel 
CRUX

"Paul VI was right to warn against contraception" — Pope Francis 
CNA

Pope Francis gives Sri Lanka its first saint — Pope Francis gave Sri Lanka its first saint at a waterfront Mass for more half a million people in Colombo on Wednesday, calling 17th century missionary Joseph Vaz a model of reconciliation after the country’s recent civil war 
CHRISTIAN TODAY

Pope makes surprise visit to Buddhist temple — According to Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope made a brief stop at the Mahabodhi temple in Sri Lanka’s capital city to meet Banagila Upatissa, one of the Buddhist leaders who had welcomed the Holy Father when he arrived in the country on Tuesday 
CHRISTIAN TODAY

Francis meets rescued street children in surprise visit — Pope Francis has made a surprise visit to a foundation for rescued street children in Manila after they sent him thousands of letters urging him to visit them 
CATHOLIC HERALD

"Poor have it easy"— say America’s wealthiest 
CNN

FBI expands surveillance — Declassified information reveals how the FBI’s role in warrantless surveillance is increasing 
SCM

Obama’s internet proposal is CISPA with a new name — Obama proposes dragnet for American’s private data 
IW

400 US Troops to Train Syrian Opposition — (Are we never going to learn?) 
TDB

"The world cannot be made safe from terrorists" — say experts 
RECORD

US criticized for absence at Paris unity march — The international community is criticizing the White House and the Obama administration for missing a march in France that was meant to show unity following the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack last week (Obama, walking alongside Netanyahu in a march decrying Islamic violence? I don’t think that is something we are likely to see) 
CHRISTIAN TIMES

Church discrimination case reaches US Supreme Court after town orders removal of religious signs — The US Supreme Court will take up a new religious rights case when it considers whether a town in Arizona discriminated against a local church by forcing it to remove signs notifying the public of its worship services 
CHRISTIAN TODAY

Gas tax would hit middle class right in the tank — (Look out for federal initiatives which have the effect of reducing "middle" America’s financial security to peanuts) 
CBN

Duke University reverses plan for campus-wide Muslim call to prayer from chapel bell tower — Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations at the University, said, "It was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect" (How can issuing the adhan from a historic chapel be "unifying," unless of course the Christians at Duke could care less about the integrity of their faith, and which I suppose is a real possibility) 
GOSPEL HERALDCHARISMA

Canada bans Russian film opposing homosexual agenda — A Russian-made documentary claiming to expose a homosexual campaign to undermine Western morals, has been banned by Canada’s Border Services Agency (Remember .. we mustn’t speak the truth .. especially if it offends. NOT!!) 
LIFE SITE

"Every single French Jew I know has left Paris:" Editor of Jewish Chronicle — Jews are fleeing terror-hit Paris because of growing anti-Semitism in France, one of Britain’s most influential Jewish journalists has said 
DAILY MAIL

I Was In Prison and You Visited Me — A first hand account of how prison ministry serves both inmates and volunteers

The New Britain: Petrol station manager smashed grandmother’s windshield after she complained about being short-changed 
DAILY MAIL

Church of England’s pre-Election publication warns of lose-lose situations for many towns and cities — Entire regions of the country are trapped in an apparently inescapable economic downward spiral. It is "a tale of two cities," and turning the tide will come only through a commitment to solidarity, the Archbishop of Canterbury says 
CHURCH TIMES

Indian faithful save church in England’s Catholic heartland — A historic church in Preston that was closed two months ago will re-open after the Bishop of Lancaster offered it to Syro-Malabar Catholics 
CATHOLIC HERALD

The New Britain: Teenage online predator who stabbed to death 14-year-old boy he met playing video games had been arrested three years before over claims he raped another boy 
DAILY MAIL

Anti-terror raid in Verviers, eastern Belgium — At least two people have been killed in an anti-terror raid, while a man suspected of selling guns used in last week’s terror attacks in France was being detained elsewhere 
FN

European monetary trade wars break out — The European Constitutional Court of Justice ruled the European Central Bank has unlimited authority to massively inflate the euro causing the Swiss National Bank to drop its fixed exchange rate for the nation’s “franc” currency 
BB

Radical Islamic jihadist army carries-out the second-deadliest terrorist attack in history as the world cares less .. because it’s in Africa! — As the world reeled from the deaths of 12 people in France last week, Nigeria’s Boko Haram murdered over 2,000 people, a massacre which has gone largely unnoticed 
CHARISMA

Nigerian Church leader tells international community: "Please don’t forget us"— The Catholic Archbishop of Jos in Nigeria has appealed to the world to lend the violence-torn country the same amount of support it has given France in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack (Good call by Ignatius, but sadly, unlikely to be responded to) 
CHRISTIAN TODAY

UN reveals 353 killed in South Sudan attacks — UN investigators determined civilians were deliberately targeted by ethnicity in the towns of Bentiu and Bor in some of the worst violence since the South Sudan conflict began over a year ago 
VOA

Like father like son: ISIS murderers training children in the techniques of execution 
DAILY MAIL

Al-Jazeera calls "I am Charlie" slogan "alienating" — (Remember that Al-Jazeera is Qatar’s mouthpiece and that Qatar remains a wholesale sponsor of violent Islamist groups) 
NATIONAL REVIEW

Islamic State affiliate in Libya captures 21 Coptic Christians — An Islamic State affiliate group known as the "State of Tripoli" in Libya have reportedly captured a group of 21 Coptic Christians 
CHRISTIAN DAILY

From Jihad to Jesus! — The testimony of jihadist fighter turned Christian 
CHARISMA

Islam is Peace: ISIS calls for radical step up in "City Wolf" attacks across the West — ISIS has taken to Twitter, calling on Muslims everywhere to honor and celebrate the men who massacred 12 people in Paris, by killing Westerners anywhere and everywhere to the glory of Allah 
CBN

8,000 Nepali girls trafficked to the Emirates — (For over a decade I have sought to raise awareness regarding the plight of vulnerable men and women who are sent to work in the Middle East, but as you can imagine, the subject is distasteful to the regimes of Arabia who appear to wield an extraordinary 
influence over the media and politics of many of their oil-consuming customers) 
TIMES OF INDIA

"You will never see $100 per barrel oil again" — Alwaleed bin Talal 
USA TODAY

Saudi Arabian cleric issues fatwa against making snowmen (Yes snowmen!) 
WASHINGTON TIMES

Indian churches vandalized in series of attacks — The most recent attack in New Delhi was on Our Lady of Graces Church. The perpetrator was caught on CCTV destroying windows and breaking a statue of Mary early yesterday morning (As is mentioned elsewhere in this week’s roundup, the church in the West largely chooses to ignore the persecution taking place globally, hoping that it will eventually go away) 
CHRISTIAN TODAY

"Hang the cartoonists!" — 
Pakistani Muslims demand death sentence for Charlie Hebdo staff for committing "worst act of terrorism" .. drawing the Prophet Mohammed 
DAILY MAIL

Indonesian teacher threatened over cultural visit to church — An Indonesian teacher who took a group of school children to visit a church has had her life threatened by Islamists 
ASIA NEWS

Rejoice! Because China continues to accept Christ despite diabolical government opposition — (Though much of the church growth in China is non-Catholic, we are obliged to support this development if we are to live Christ’s teaching. The day the Catholic Church stops defending all Trinitarian churches, is the day we cease to be the representatives of Christ. We need to be speaking-out against the persecution of ALL churches in China) 
GOSPEL HERALD

Government officials collaborating with NARAL in efforts to shut down pro-life center — Evidence reveals a seven-part plan developed by NARAL (National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League) to shut down pro-life pregnancy care centers that could indicate a nationwide strategy 
LIFE SITE

Kansas legislator introduces pro-life "dismemberment" bill — Senate Majority Whip Garrett Love is sponsoring the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, which he says is a first-in-the-nation bill. "We want to stop the gruesome practice of abortion, where baby’s arms and legs are torn off limb by limb, and end that practice in Kansas" 
ONE NEWS

Let’s blame Christianity for EVERYTHING, and Islam for nothing! — After Islamic terrorists invade a newspaper office and murder 12 people, the first reaction from impartial observers, most assuredly, should not be to condemn Catholics for the Spanish Inquisition. Yet this is the disgusting and ahistorical message many liberal advocates of moral equivalence shared on social media 
THE FEDERALIST

Ellen DeGeneres tells conservative pastor she does not have a gay agenda — Ellen DeGeneres resorted to using humour in addressing accusations that she is one of those in Hollywood advocating homosexuality 
CHRISTIAN TODAY

Meet the Catholic priest who doesn’t believe in celibacy — (There are thousands of Catholic priests who "struggle" to accept celibacy, not least of all because there is no Scriptural mandate insisting on this) 
CHRISTIAN TODAY