Gloria.TV News on the 30th of May 2016

Blessing Soldiers: Pope Francis blessed Ukrainian soldiers at the general audience on May 25. He descended from the papa-mobile and approached the group of military which had participated in the military pilgrimage to Lourdes. According to the Religious Information Service of Ukraine among them were soldiers wounded during combat missions against their own people in Eastern Ukraine’s Donbas.

Diabolical Confusion: The Anglican Bishop of Oxford authorized the homosex pseudo-marriage of Mpho Tutu, a South African Anglican priestess and daughter of Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. Ms Tutu lost her licence as a South African Anglican priestess after attempting a homosex pseudo-marriage there. For her English pseudo-marriage she received the permission from the South African Anglicans who before had suspended her. Tutu remains a priestess of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

Unity: Syriac-Orthodox Archbishop Nicodemus Sharaf Daoud of Mosul, Iraq, said in an interview with Famille Chrétienne that the tragedy in Iraq has made Orthodox and Catholics walk towards unity. Quote: “ISIS's men chased the Christians indiscriminately. So why should we make differences?” In 1984, John Paul II and the then Syriac-Orthodox Archbishop declared that there was no fundamental difference between the two Churches.

Catholic Community: On May 25 and 26 the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox gathered to prepare the Pan-Orthodox synod in Crete. It decided that the term “Church” should not be applied to the Catholic Church, which will be called “confession” or “community”. The Orthodox of Bulgaria, Serbia and Georgia follow a similar policy.