Pope Francis beatifies 124 South Korean Catholic martyrs

Pope Francis has celebrated a large open-air Mass to beatify 124 of South Korea's first Catholics at a ceremony in the capital Seoul.

He paid tribute to the Koreans, who died for their faith in the 18th and 19th Centuries.
Saturday's Mass came on the third day of his visit - his first trip to Asia since becoming pope in March 2013.
Pope Francis met survivors of the Sewol ferry disaster and delivered his first public Mass in the region on Friday.
The beautification ceremony was held at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, with hundreds of thousands of people in attendance.
Beatification, or declaring a person "blessed", is the necessary prelude to full sainthood.

The open-air ceremony is seen as the centrepiece of Pope Francis's trip to South Korea

Analysis by Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, Seoul:
There is something in the manner of Pope Francis that seems to win people over, Catholics and non-Catholics, wherever he goes. And he has done it again here in South Korea.
His lack of formality has shone through. On Friday he stopped in the middle of a prepared speech to a gathering of young Catholics and said he wanted to "speak directly from his heart, without reading from a piece of paper," but that his English was not good enough". "No!" shouted the 6,000 teenagers in one voice.
There is also plenty of talk, in this status-conscious society, about the Pope's use of a tiny hatch-back as his official car, most of it approving. The Church is seen in South Korea as a supporter of the poor and the politically dispossessed, so much so that the Korean right has accused it of being 'socialist'.
In South Korea Pope Francis seems to have found a Catholic clergy and believers who share his vision of what the Church of Rome should be.

'Spiritual desert' The Pope is spending five days in South Korea, where the Catholic Church is growing. It currently has just over 5.4 million members, some 10.4% of the population.
Crowds of worshippers lined the streets leading up to Gwanghwamun Plaza for Saturday's ceremony. The square was the site where unrepentant Catholics were paraded before they were publicly executed.
"They were willing to make great sacrifices and let themselves be stripped of whatever kept them from Christ - possessions and land, prestige and honour - for they knew that Christ alone was their true treasure,'' Pope Francis told the crowd in his sermon.
"They challenge us to think about what, if anything, we ourselves would be willing to die for.''
This is a very significant and poignant moment for the Catholic Church in South Korea because the people who were beatified today were the founders of the church 200 years ago, says the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Seoul.
They were also unique because they were not converted by missionaries who came to Korea but they learnt about Catholicism themselves and brought the books back to Korea to spread the Catholic Church and were executed by the royal authorities for doing so, he adds.

Pope Francis said the martyrs "knew the cost of discipleship" during his sermon on Saturday

The Pope flew to a hilltop community which cares for the disabled

The pope posed for selfies with young people at a seminar in Daejeon on Friday

Before Saturday's Mass got under way, he met some of the survivors and relatives of the South Korean ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people in April this year.
He was later greeted by a rapturous crowd of some 10,000 youths in Dangjin, where he spoke briefly off-the-cuff in English, acknowledging his difficulties with the language.
The Pope also flew southeast of Seoul to the hilltop Kkottongnae community established by a priest in the 1970s to look after sick and disabled Koreans. He stopped to pray there at a monument to aborted babies.
Meanwhile, China's leadership failed to receive a telegram sent by the Pope as he flew over the country on his way to South Korea, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said on Friday.
It is traditional for the pontiff to send blessings to the leadership of a country he flies over, but this was the first time a pope had been permitted to use Chinese air space.
The gesture is seen as significant because the Vatican and China have had no formal ties since the Communist party took power in 1949.
A technical glitch was thought to have stopped the message from being received, which was later resent via the Italian embassy in Beijing, Mr Lombardi said.

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A round up of the transfer news, rumours a News from Saturday’s papers!

Here is a roundup of todays transfer rumors, Gossip and speculation from all todays papers…

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has promised to pursue a world-class striker right up until deadline day, with Radamel Falcao, 28, and Edinson Cavani, 27, in the frame. Daily Mirror
Manchester City striker Stevan Jovetic is a £20million target for Italian giants Roma. Daily Mirror
Midfielder Yaya Toure, 31, will not be offered a new contract by Manchester City despite settling his differences with the club. Daily Mirror
Harry Redknapp wants Lokomotiv Moscow’s Lassana Diarra, 29, at Loftus Road but the former Real Madrid midfielder will have to take a pay cut to join QPR. Daily Mirror
Monaco are determined to land highly-rated West Ham target Antonio Rudiger. Daily Mirror They have had a £12m bid for the Stuttgart and Germany defender rejected but intend to make another. Daily Mirror
Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher, 27, is the leading candidate to replace Shane Long at Hull City. The Sun
Boss Louis van Gaal has intensified his efforts to sign Inter Milan’s Colombian midfielder Fredy Guarin, 28, after Manchester United’s intended move for Juventus’ Arturo Vidal stalled yet again. Daily Star
PSG, Monaco and Real Madrid are all keen on signing Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, 32, who has lost the battle for the Chelsea number one jersey to 22-year-old Thibaut Courtois. Daily Mail
Manager Gus Poyet says Sunderland face a battle to keep hold of striker Connor Wickham, 21, with West Ham waiting to pounce. Daily Mail
Roma’s sporting director has travelled to London to discuss 27-year-old Mehdi Benatia’s potential £30m transfer to Chelsea. Daily Express
Paris St-Germain midfielder Adrien Rabiot, 19, has refused a new contract at the French club with Arsenal and Chelsea ready to step in. Daily Express

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Pope to Asia's Young People: 'Are You Ready to Say 'Yes' to Him?'

Pope to Asia's Young People: 'Are You Ready to Say 'Yes' to Him?'

In English and Italian, Gives Them Three Tools to Be Joyful Witnesses of the Gospel

Pope Francis has given young people three tools for how to be good witnesses to the Gospel and has called on them to say yes to the Lord.

Speaking in English to the young people of Asia gathered at the Shrine of Solmoe in the South Korean Diocese of Daejeon, he posed a question: “Are you ready to say “yes” to him? Are you ready?”
After creative expressions, skits, and testimonies given to the Pope leading up to his second English address of his apostolic visit to South Korea, the Holy Father repeatedly reminded them that the “Lord is counting on you!”
From the moment of Baptism, “he entered your hearts,” he said. “He gave you his Spirit on the day of your Confirmation,” and he strengthens you “constantly by his presence in the Eucharist, so that you can be his witnesses before the world.”
He then told them three ways they can do so: prayer, the Eucharist, and works.
Rather than elaborate on each of these, the Holy Father, after reading a fraction of his discourse scripted in English, said: "Are you tired?”. He added he had had a conversation with a "dear friend" yesterday who said that when you speak to young people, “you should be spontaneous” and “speak from the heart.” Given this, the Holy Father went on to improvise the majority of the rest of his words to the young people.
He stressed that in any vocation one can do good for others, whether it is in religious life or as a layperson. If you are thinking, "What should I choose?" the Pope responded, "You do not have to choose any path. The Lord must choose!"
You must ask Him: ‘Lord, what should I do?’ This is the question that I had done at your age. This is the prayer that a young man has to do. The Pope told the young people to ask “Lord what do you want from me?”, and to repeat it three times.
In response to one girl’s reflection on the divided Koreas, the Pope said the peninsular is divided, but are one “family,” and gave advice and a hope.
The advice, he said, is to pray for North Korea, and he asked them to join in pray for both Koreas. The hope is that one day they can be a family again.
"Who knows what awaits us in life?," he continued. "Things in life can be really terrible. But, please, do not despair. There is the Father who awaits us."
Speaking on the parable of the prodigal son, which the young people performed, he reminded them that no matter how great your sin is, “Come back,” and “your Father will have a great celebration.”
He stressed God never gets tired of forgiving his children.
Explaining how a young person can "understand whether they really love God," he said: "If you love your neighbor, if you do not have hate in your heart, that is a sure proof that you love God."
 ***

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Young Catholics Urged to Engage in Spiritual Warfare

Young Catholics Urged to Engage in Spiritual Warfare

Bishop Stresses Need to "Stand Our Ground" in a Europe in Danger of Losing Christian Foundations

Young Catholics should stand their ground “armed with spiritual weapons” ready to challenge the destructive ideologies of the 21st century, a bishop has told a summer gathering.

Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury, England, said Europe was in danger of losing its Christian foundation and that our times do not allow any Christian to be “mediocre”.
The bishop was addressing more than 200 people at the Faith movement’s 42nd annual Summer Session held last Aug. 11-15 at Woldingham School, Surrey.
He said: “In the seeming quiet of British society in the early 21st century, we are urged again, in the Apostle Paul’s words, to stand our ground armed with spiritual weapons.
“To many, history, the times in which we are living, can be at times as incomprehensible as the movements of the M25 [motorway].”
The bishop reiterated the call of Pope Saint John Paul II for the youth to take up the Cross of the Christ, to choose the path of hope, and to rise towards the goal of holiness.
“And in this gathering today I can glimpse how, along all the pathways of this new century, you will each be needed – as married people and parents, as priests and religious – in all the fields of medicine and science, education, finance, law and politics and every field of human endeavour,” Bishop Davies added.
He urged young people to pray for the people they dialogue with and engage in the spiritual warfare -- spoken of frequently by Pope Francis -- before engaging in an ideological struggle.
The Bishop of Shrewsbury was speaking just days after Britain remembered the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I and compared the generation of August 1914 to that of August 2014.
He reflected on the decree by Pope Pius X just a few years before the Great War which proposed frequent reception of Holy Communion for the faithful. The Pope of the time saw the impending tragedy and saw this Sacrament as the way of preparing people for the times ahead.
“It was due to this initiative that a countless number would be ready to received Holy Communion in the mud and dust of the wars which marred the century ahead – with a readiness and a disposition to receive Christ himself,” Bishop Davies said.
“It was not as a comforting ritual that Holy Communion was distributed in the trenches of the Great War – or even in the concentration camps of the Second - but as a means for each to reach the goal of holiness.”
Still today, Holy Communion received in the correct disposition is, in Pius X’s words, “the surest and shortest way to heaven”, reflected the bishop, who also echoed Pope Saint John Paul II’s plea to put the Eucharist at the centre of our lives.
Apart from the bishop’s talk, the conference reflected on the family in God’s plan and in the modern world.
Canon Luiz Ruscillo, a priest of the Lancaster Diocese, encouraged married couples and those wanting to start a family to seek to create “a cast iron bubble of security” in their love so that their children recognise the bond between their mother and father.
“The aim of your family life is to try to create and cultivate good soil so that when God’s call comes it has somewhere to take root,” Canon Ruscillo said.
“Be generous with God in the way you live your married love. Be open to God and in that way be open to create an atmosphere of generosity to God.
“Seek to create an environment in your family where God’s voice can be heard for your children, calling them as individuals to fulfil the meaning of their life.
“The faith will only grow if there is depth, stability and consistency in the way you live it.”
A young couple, Chris and Katie Wotherspoon, gave a witness to their married life and spoke about the need to rebuild the family with Jesus and Mary.
They described some of the threats to the family in society such as divorce, contraception and abortion.  The couple, who have two children, promoted praying at home, confession, Sunday and weekday Mass attendance, and defending the Church from attack, as ways of re-constructing the family.
Aside from the talks, Mass was celebrated each day and there was also a Reconciliation Service and a Eucharistic Procession. Students, young adults, priests and seminarians enjoyed a traditional Scottish Ceilidh dance, played football and performed in a talent show.
The Faith movement was established in 1972 and works to foster the Catholic faith and spiritual life, especially of young people, through events and publications. It promotes a new synthesis of science and religion to explain the Catholicism which remains loyal to the Church’s Magisteri.

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Passengers with HIV sue China's Spring Airlines

The low-cost carrier Spring Airlines was set up in 2005

Two passengers with HIV are suing a budget Chinese airline for refusing to let them board a plane.

Local media reports say the two men and a friend - who does not have HIV - were prevented from boarding a Spring Airlines plane at Shenyang airport.
The three of them are accusing the airline of discrimination. A court in Shenyang accepted their case on Friday.
Rights groups say that widespread stigmatisation of people with HIV and Aids still exists in China.
The airline's president Wang Zhenghua said on Tuesday that the company did not discriminate against HIV carriers, and blamed the incident on staff anxiety, according to the AFP news agency.
But he also blamed the passengers, and said the firm would allow HIV-positive travellers to board their planes as long as they did not make themselves "overly noticeable" to avoid scaring other customers.
Spring Airlines' website states that it has the right to refuse passage to those with "infectious diseases". An airline spokesman told Caixin that since the incident, the airline has not turned away any HIV-positive passengers.
According to a report in the Fazhi Evening Paper the three men were preparing to board a flight to Shijiazhuang, which is south of Beijing, on 28 July when they were stopped by officials.
One passenger told the paper: "After we got our boarding passes, we informed a Spring Airlines official that some of us had HIV."
"The official immediately rang up the Shanghai head office for instructions, and then told us the company has rules forbidding the transportation of passengers with HIV."
The passenger said they were unable to negotiate with airline officials, who terminated the three passengers' tickets. They eventually took a train to their destination.
The three plaintiffs are now demanding compensation of 48,999 yuan (£4,771, $7,967) and an apology from the airline, said The Global Times.
Last year a government proposal to ban HIV patients from using public bathhouses was met with strong criticism.
China only lifted a longstanding ban on foreigners with HIV entering the country in 2010.
That same year, a Chinese court ruled against a man who said he was denied a teaching job because he had HIV, in what was the country's first HIV job discrimination case.

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Boko Haram suspected of abducting more than 50 Nigerian villagers

Boko Haram militants have carried out a series of audacious attacks in recent years

Boko Haram

According to BBC reports Residents of a Nigerian village on the shore of Lake Chad say at least 50 residents are missing after a raid by suspected Boko Haram militants.

A witness told the BBC that 26 people were also killed during the raid on the village of Doron Baga on Sunday.
The remote region has poor communication links, meaning news of the raid took days to emerge.
Nigeria has been plagued by attacks by the Boko Haram Islamist group in recent years, particularly in the north-east.
In April, Boko Haram caused global outrage by abducting more than 200 girls from their boarding school in the remote down of Chibok in Borno state.
Houses burnt It is unclear exactly how many people were seized during the attack.
Some of the villagers tried to fight the attackers off, but they were unable to stop the raid, a villager elder told the BBC's Hausa service.
The militants then burnt down some houses and rounded up a group of 50 people, he said.
They were mainly women but also included some boys and girls, he added.
Other survivors say young men were also taken possibly to be turned into Boko Haram fighters.
Witnesses from the village told reporters about the attack after reaching the state capital of Maiduguri.
The Nigerian military has not commented on the attack.

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Per Mertesacker retires from international duty with Germany

• World Cup-winning Arsenal defender ends international career
• Earned 104 caps in 10-year spell in the German national team

Per Mertesacker, right, has decided to end his international career after winning the World Cup with Germany. Photograph: Jens Kalaene/EPA

The Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker has ended his international career at the age of 29. The centre-back, who won the World Cup in his final game with Germany in Brazil, won 104 caps and scored four goals.
Mertesacker made his international debut in October 2004, against Iran aged just 20, after making an impressive start to the season at the heart of Hannover’s defence.
The 6ft 6in defender follows Germany’s captain in Brazil, Philipp Lahm, and the World Cup’s all-time record goalscorer, Miroslav Klose, into retirement.

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PSG move forces Man Utd to up bid for Real Madrid's Angel Di Maria

MANCHESTER UNITED will have to raise their bid for Angel Di Maria after Paris St-Germain told Real Madrid they are willing to pay £63million for the Argentina international.

By: Anthony Chapman

Published: Fri, August 15, 2014

PSG are back in for Angel Di Maria[GETTY ]

The Red Devils were believed to be closing in on a £50million deal for the 26-year-old after PSG withdrew from negotiations earlier in the month.

The French club claimed they couldn't afford to match Real's asking price after splashing out £50million on Chelsea's David Luiz.

However, plans are in place to sell youngster Adrien Rabiot and Liverpool target Ezequiel Lavezzi to raise funds as Laurent Blanc looks to land Di Maria.

As reported by Express Sport earlier in the week, Real chiefs met with the PSG hierarchy over a potential transfer, and according to reports in France, the Ligue 1 champions have promised Carlo Ancelotti's side £63million in return for Di Maria's signature.

The news will come as a massive blow to Van Gaal, who now has no option but to match PSG's offer or move for a different target.

United are already struggling to land Arturo Vidal from Juventus, and the Dutchman will be hoping he can bring in at least one new face before the end of the transfer window.

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Squawka’s Predicted Premier League Team of the Season

By Jack Watson

Posted on August 15, 2014

With the Premier League season 2014/15 just one day away from kick-off, everyone’s fantasy teams and predictions are complete, with Squawka no exception. Last season was probably one of the best league seasons in living memory with Manchester City just pipping Liverpool to the title with both scoring a combined 203 goals between them.
The Team of the Season is a prestigious reward for a season of fantastic performances and we here at Squawka – on the eve of the new season – have predicted what we think will be the Premier League Team of the Season next May.

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Top 5 Premier League Opening Day Games

With Luis Suarez now in La Liga with Barcelona, it is safe to say that the Premier League has lost a superstar, but in Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas – who have both arrived from Spain – England now has two more world class stars.
Chelsea have strengthened well with Costa, Fabregas, Filipe Luis and Thibaut Courtois all arriving at Stamford Bridge this summer, while Liverpool – who finished second last season – have chosen to strengthen the entire squad in Suarez’s absence, rather than sign one standout star.
Here is Squawka’s predicted Team of the Season.

Topics: Aaron Ramsey, Cesc Fabregas, Daniel Sturridge, Dejan Lovren, Diego Costa, Filipe Luis, Laurent Koscielny, Pablo Zabaleta, Phillipe Coutinho, Thibaut Courtois, Wayne Rooney

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Doctors Without Borders say control of Ebola epidemic will take 6 months

The International President of Doctors Without Borders, Joanne Liu (pictured left), said today August 15th that it will take six months to bring the current Ebola epidemic sweeping through West Africa under control. She said this after a 10-day trip to some countries in West Africa where the outbreak has so far occurred. Liu, who met with Ebola patients & doctors, said the outbreak felt like 'wartime'

"The main thing I come back to is that it is deteriorating faster, moving faster than we can respond to. To put it in context with my time with DWB, I really feel that it is like wartime, in terms of fear and nobody knowing what is going on. We need a response in terms of international organizations and states, and it needs to happen now if we want to contain this epidemic. Over the next six months we should get the upper hand on the epidemic, this is my gut feeling. We need people with a hands-on operational mindset to combat the outbreak." she said

Chris Brown dating Kendall Jenner? + Karrueche confirms break up with Chris

Are they or are they not? That's the big question. But evidence suggests that Chris Brown, 25, may be dating Kim K's younger sister, Kendall Jenner, who is just 18. Some random person tweeted that her sister got in accident with Chris and Kendall at 3am in the morning. Interesting!

Meanwhile Karruche Tran has officially confirmed she and Chris are no longer together.

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