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How many Americans can name the famous event in their history that occurred on August 24, 1814—or 200 years ago, as of last Sunday.  Can you name this major milestone, which involved the United States and another dominant world power?

Elephant ivory has been treasured for millennia, but “Researchers believe that since 2010 an average of nearly 35,000 elephants have been killed annually on the [African] continent. They warn that if the rate of poaching continues, the animals could be wiped out in 100 years” (BBC, August 18, 2014). Some areas in Africa are harder hit than others.  For example, “In Central Africa it is estimated that elephant numbers have fallen by about 60% in a decade” (ibid.).

Jesus Christ taught that a house divided against itself will not stand (Luke 11:17). He also taught that one of the signs of the end of the age will be “nation fighting nation”—in the inspired Greek, this means “ethnic group against ethnic group” (Matthew 24:7). When we look around the globe, we see these prophecies being fulfilled more and more as Syria, Iraq, Egypt, the Holy Land and Ukraine are torn apart by internal divisions. And the United States is not immune! Racial tensions in the U.S. have reached another high as emotions and the use of force to deal with them escalate in the St.

“He’s an ambassador of peace to a world in great need of it” wrote one journalist during the Pope’s recent visit to South Korea (Catholic News Agency, August 14, 2014). Following a mass in Seoul attended by mostly non-Catholics, the Pope performed the “beatification of 124 Korean martyrs.” A Thai woman in the audience commented “‘I think that the Pope is not just for Catholics, but for the world.