Brazil

• Monday, July 29th 2013 - 06:12 UTC

  Rousseff brushes aside a ‘Lula option for 2014’ and ratifies minister Mantega

  

  Responding to claims that former president Lula da Silva ‘is returning to politics’ and thus conditioning her re-election bid next year, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said the former trade union leader ‘never left politics’ and their relation ‘can’t be dissociated’. She also ratified Finance minister Guido Mantega.

• Monday, July 29th 2013 - 05:29 UTC

  Francis congratulates Cristina Fernandez on her first grandson with a pair of shoes and socks

  

  Pope Francis met with President Cristina Fernandez and other South American leaders following the closing ceremony of the XXVIII World Youth Day in Rio do Janeiro and presented the Argentine head of state with a gift of socks and shoes for her recently born first grandson Nestor Ivan Kirchner.

• Monday, July 29th 2013 - 03:29 UTC

  Francis urges bishops to drop ‘princely attitudes’ and go out to the people (and save the Church)

  

  Pope Francis chided the Catholic hierarchy Sunday, telling regional bishops not to behave like authoritarian “princes” and urging them to move closer to the people.

• Monday, July 29th 2013 - 03:10 UTC

  ”Shake the church, go spread the word of God”, Francis tells 3 million at closing mass

  

  Pope Francis on the last day of his week long pilgrimage to Brazil urged Catholics to reject selfishness, hatred and intolerance to help build a new world.

• Saturday, July 27th 2013 - 20:21 UTC

  Cartes declines invitation from Rousseff to attend Pope Francis Sunday mass in Rio

  

  Paraguayan president-elect Horacio Cartes declined a personal invitation from his peer Dilma Rousseff to attend Francis mass on Sunday in Rio do Janeiro, the closing event of the pope’s visit to Brazil, according to one of his top foreign policy advisors.

• Saturday, July 27th 2013 - 05:29 UTC

  Pope admits Church’s sins and calls on youth to change the world

  

  Pope Francis in yet another strong message said on Friday he understands the young people who lose faith in the church because of bad ministers, and confidence in political institutions because of corruption, but also urged them to change the world.

• Friday, July 26th 2013 - 06:38 UTC

  Francis urges young Catholics to rebel: shake up the church and spread the faith in the streets

  

  Pope Francis urged young Catholics to shake up the church and make a “mess” in their dioceses by going out into the streets to spread the faith. It’s a message he put into practice on Thursday by visiting one of Rio’s most violent slums and opening the church’s World Youth Day on a rain-soaked Copacabana Beach.

• Friday, July 26th 2013 - 04:39 UTC

  Polar blast covers 80 towns of southern sunny Brazil with snow

  

  A severe cold front dumped snow on more than 80 towns in southern Brazil and leaving one dead, local weather forecast reported. In Argentina, six people were reported dead.

• Friday, July 26th 2013 - 04:14 UTC

  Defying the weather, 1.5 million turn out to greet Francis as Copacabana beach

  

  A huge crowd estimated in 1.5 million people defied rain and chilly weather to greet Pope Francis on Rio do Janeiro’s Copacabana beach on Thursday. With his captivating charisma Francis repeated a theme of his visit to Brazil urging young Catholics to shun the trappings of materialism and put Jesus Christ at the center of their lives.

• Thursday, July 25th 2013 - 06:09 UTC

  Pope Francis warns Latam leaders against legalizing narcotics: attack roots of the problem

  

  Pope Francis on Wednesday warned Latin America against legalizing narcotics and urged courage in the face of deadly drug violence as he met addicts in a Brazilian hospital.