“Thirty-five million Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed. Who was the instigator? Who was the troublemaker? It is all too clear.” LINK

It was a vast boat that saved two of each animal and a handful of humans from a catastrophic flood. But forget all those images of a long vessel with a pointy bow – the original Noah’s Ark, new research suggests, was round LINK

Never let it be said that Pope Francis doesn’t know how to bring the battle to the battleground. In an address to the CEOs and assorted financial hangers-on gathered this week in Davos, Switzerland, for the annual World Economic Forum, he admonished that “modern business activity,” for all its virtues, often has led to “a widespread social exclusion.”LINK

A Jesuit parish priest who marched in a homosexual parade is now citing Pope Francis to protest the dismissal of an Eastside Catholic High School vice principal following his same-sex marriage, according to the priest’s Facebook site. LINK

Father John Whitney, S.J., wrote in his piece entitled “The Acts of the Orange and Blue Apostles”

Pope Francis has declared war on those who aspire to provide a better life for themselves and their families, expressing the misguided snobbery of a man for whom money has never been an issue. In the first week of his papacy, when briefing the media, the pope exclaimed: “Oh how I long for a poor Church for the poor!” LINK

Sarah Silverman is a champion of abortion rights, but that hardly makes her a bigot. What makes her an anti-Christian bigot is her video that features her talking to a Jesus character about abortion. The language she uses is so vulgar—she ends with the “c” word about women—that it cannot be repeated on broadcast television, or republished in any respectable newspaper. LINK

Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered intricate mosaics on the floor of a 1,500-year-old Byzantine church, including one that bears a Christogram surrounded by birds. LINK

The pope called on his followers to “boldly become citizens of the digital world” in a statement released ahead of the 48th World Communications Day. He praised the internet’s power to encourage communication, writing that “those who communicate, in effect, become neighbours”. LINK

Have you ever wanted to see the world through your partner’s eyes?  That’s the concept behind BeAnotherLab’s Gender Swap experiment that uses Oculus Rift headsets to let wearers experience how other people see the world. LINK

Poland’s powerful Catholic Church has declared war on “gender theory”, saying it undermines the traditional family — but critics say that is a tactic to shift attention away from a paedophile priest scandal. LINK

President Barack Obama (Net Worth: $11.8 Million) will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican in March, the White House said on Tuesday, a visit that will allow the U.S. leader to highlight a shared interest in addressing the gap between rich and poor. LINK

An influential aide to Pope Francis criticized the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog on Monday and urged the conservative prelate to be more flexible about reforms being discussed in the Roman Catholic Church. LINK