46 UAE ministries, media houses and influencers competing for Sharjah Government Communication Award 2021

Church when bishops have acted politically rather than as pastors, there have been problems.“What should the pastor do? Be a shepherd, do not go around condemning … but be a pastor. But is he also a pastor of the excommunicated? Yes, he is the pastor and … he must be a shepherd with God’s style. And God’s style is closeness, compassion, and tenderness,” the pope said.“For me, I don’t want to particularize the United States because I don’t know the details well, I give the principle … Be a pastor and the pastor knows what he has to do at all times, but as a shepherd. But if he comes out of this shepherding of the Church, immediately he becomes a politician,” Francis said.The pope cited the controversy over Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics that followed the publication of his 2016 apostolic exhortation

you remember the storm that was stirred by when that chapter on accompanying separated, divorced couples came out: ‘Heresy, heresy!’ Thank God there was Cardinal Schönborn, a great theologian who clarified things,” he said.“But always condemnation, condemnation, enough with excommunication. Please let us not place any more excommunications. Poor people. They are children of God. They are outside temporarily, but they are children of God and they want, and need, our pastoral closeness. Then the pastors work things out by the Spirit of God.”Pope Francis said that he had never personally refused the Eucharist to anyone, adding that he was not aware of ever having been in the situation that the journalist who posed the question described: that of a prochoice politician coming to him for Communion.The pope also told the story of a time when he inadvertently gave Communion to a Jewish woman at a retirement home who had approached the sacrament in ignorance.Pope Francis said: “Those who are not in the community cannot take communion - like this Jewish lady, but the Lord wanted to reward her and without my knowledge why?”“Because they are out of the community, excommunicated, they are ‘excommunicated’ it is called. It is a harsh term but what it means is that they are not in the community or because they do not belong or are baptized, but have drifted away from some of the things.”The pope’s comments during the in-flight press conference came at the end of his four-day visit to Hungary and Slovakia.It was the 84-year-old pope’s first international trip since undergoing colon surgery in July.Pope Francis began his journey on Sept. 12 with a visit to Budapest, where he offered the closing Mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress and met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.The pope told journalists on the flight that he had discussed ecology and his concerns about a “demographic winter” in Europe with Orbán, but nothing about immigration, a topic which the two have differing opinions.After spending just seven hours in Budapest, the pope departed for neighboring Slovakia the same day and spoke at an ecumenical gathering in the capital city of Bratislava on the evening of his arrival.In Bratislava, the pope addressed political leaders, offered encouragement to the Catholic community, and visited a homeless center run by Mother Teresa’s nuns on the capital’s outskirts on Sept. 13.Pope Francis then traveled to the eastern city of Prešov, where he presided at a Byzantine Divine Liturgy on Sept. 14. In the afternoon, he met with members of the minority Roma community in Košice and spoke to 25,000 young people about the importance of the sacrament of Confession.Before returning to Rome on Sept. 15, the pope offered Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Šaštín.The pope’s flight touched down in Rome’s Fiumicino airport at 3:30 p.m. local time. The 90-minute flight marked the last time that Pope Francis will fly Alitalia, Italy’s long-struggling national airline which is being replaced next month by a new airline called Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA).Out of the six questions that the pope was asked during the in-flight press conference, he spent the most time speaking about the topic of abortion and the reception of Communion by politicans who support abortion.Pope Francis said that many times before a mother realizes that she is pregnant, her child’s DNA and organs have formed. “It’s a human life, period. This human life must be respected. This principle is so clear,” he said.The pope said that to those who cannot understand this, he would pose two questions:“Is it right, is it fair, to kill a human life to solve a problem? Scientifically it is a human life. … Is it right to hire a hitman to solve a problem?”

SHRJAH, 15th September, 2021 - The International Government Communication Centre (IGCC), a subsidiary of the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), has unveiled the shortlist for the 8th edition of the Sharjah Government Communication Award (SGCA). Forty-six finalists are competing to win across the award’s 14 categories. Winners will be announced at the closing ceremony of the 10th International Government Communication Forum (IGCF), to be held on 26th and 27th September at Expo Centre Sharjah. In the 'Best Government Communication through New Media' category dedicated to the