Gloria.TV News - September 4, 2013

Fasting for Peace: The appeal of pope Francis to fast and pray on Saturday, September 7 for peace in Syria has received support beyond the Church among Moslems and non-believers in the Italian government. The Sunni grand mufti in Syria wants to be personally in Saint Peter’s square. The Italian foreign minister Emma Bonino, an atheist and an active proponent for abortion and divorce announced that she also wants to fast for peace.

A Father for the Whole Church? On the eve of the first anniversary of the death of former Milan Cardinal, Carlo Maria Martini, Pope Francis called the late-fellow Jesuit and biblical scholar, a "prophetic" figure and a "man of discernment and peace." According to Francis, Martini was – quote - "a father for the whole church". Francis made his statements during a meeting with Italian Jesuits on August 30. Shortly before his death, Martini set forth his disagreement with the Catholic teaching against homosexual civil unions – quote: “I disagree with the positions of those in the Church, that take issue with civil unions”, he wrote. “It is not bad, instead of casual sex between men that two people have a certain stability” and that the “state could recognize them.” He also said that he could understand gay pride parades when they support the need for self-affirmation.

A Film About the Pope: Argentinian film maker Alejandro Agresti will direct the film entitled "Historia de un cura" (A Priest's Tale), about Pope Francis. Fellow Argentine Rodrigo de la Serna, known internationally for his interpretation of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara's travel companion in "The Motorcycle Diaries," will play Pope Francis. "Pope Francis is attempting to change things," one of the film's producers, Pablo Bossi, told Variety. "He can be seen as revolutionary and interests non-Catholics as well."

Northern Ireland Accent: The Irish poet and Nobel price winner Seamus Heaney who died on Friday in Dublin after a short illness was put to rest on Monday. His funeral service took place at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Donnybrook. The chief celebrant was Heaney family friend Monsignor Brendan Devlin from Derry, while the co-celebrants were Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Eamonn Walsh, retired moral theologian Enda MacDonagh, Jesuit Fr Conor Harpur and the Abbot of Glenstal Abbey, Mark Patrick Hederman. Fr Devlin quipped : “I think he might have liked his funeral Mass to be celebrated in a Northern Ireland accent.” The Mass ended with a reading of one of Heaney’s poems.