VATICAN CITY -- Three days after the preacher of the papal household called on Catholics to repent for the ways they are dividing the church, the Vatican secretary of state said the divisions are real and they are harmful.

Jesus prays for the unity of Christians, but within the Church there are those who sow weeds (It: zizzanieri), those who divide and destroy the community with their tongues. That was the message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta.

In recent decades Fort McMurray and the oil industry it symbolizes has divided Canadians. The Alberta oil hub was regarded as either a badge of national prosperity or symbol of ecological disgrace. The arguments were fierce.

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says sowing divisions and discord is a sickness within the Church and described a person who indulges in gossip as like a terrorist who throws bombs. His comments came during his homily at his Friday (4th September) Mass in the Santa Marta residence. 

VATICAN CITY - Although divided by ancient disputes and new developments, Christians in Europe still have an obligation to work together to help confused men and women find the answers to their spiritual thirst and their search for life's ultimate meaning, Pope Francis said.

Toronto - Legal scholar Iain Benson rejects New Atheism’s teaching that religion leads to division and violence. Benson, a lawyer and lecturer, spoke to an audience from the legal and Catholic community on how difference, including a difference in religion, can be a social good.