Update 4/4/16
At least 71 people have died in landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy rains in parts of Pakistan, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, officials said on Monday.
Scores more were injured in rain-related incidents across northern Pakistan.
Most of the casualties were reported in the northern part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which has been hit by the downpour since Friday.
State-run Radio Pakistan put the death toll in rain-related incidents at 71. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa alone recorded 47 deaths, it reported.

Rumors and whispers from inside the Vatican has it that Pope Francis is going to resign in May of 2016

Vol 9 Issue 14 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
April 2, 2016 ~ Easter Saturday

1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (62)
2. Low Sunday
3. St. Agape, Chionia and Irene
4. Christ in the Home (37)
5. Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

This Sunday Catholics look at the divine mercy offered to the sinner. Continue reading →

ROME (RNS) Italy may be the spiritual home of 1.2 billion members of the Catholic Church around the world, but a new poll shows only 50 percent of Italians consider themselves Catholic.

The poll, published in the liberal daily L’Unita on Tuesday (March 29), challenges long-held perceptions that Italy is a ”Catholic” country, despite the popularity of Pope Francis and the historic role of the Vatican City State in the heart of Rome.

In addition to the 50 percent who consider themselves Catholic, the poll, conducted in Italy by research firm SWG, found that 13 percent defined themselves as “Christian.” MORE

Responding to international boycott pressures and other constraints, a growing number of Israeli companies operating in the West Bank are moving their facilities to locations within the country’s internationally recognized borders, according to a report prepared by Gush Shalom, an anti-occupation organization that monitors such activities.
The report, obtained by Haaretz, shows that aside from the recent high-profile cases of Ahava, the Dead Sea skin care product company, and SodaStream, the seltzer-machine manufacturer, other prominent Israeli companies have also been part of this trend, even if they have managed to evade publicity. MORE

The modern homeschooling movement is one of revolt. From its humble beginnings in the ’70s, led by graduates of the hippie generation who saw public schools as too constrained and religious, to its pop-cultural peak in the ’80s and ’90s under conservative Christians who wanted more God and less evolution in the classroom, homeschoolers and their parents have pushed aggressively against mainstream education. MORE