Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Web-savvy Portuguese Catholics will get a chance to commune with Pope Benedict XVI for the week running up to his visit to the country this month by downloading prayer podcasts, the Church said Monday.
Billed as a "pioneer project", the podcasts feature prayer recordings in Portuguese, read by the pope himself and by leading Portuguese Roman Catholics, the country's bishops' conference said in a statement.
The first module will be available to download Tuesday from a website set up for the pope's four-day visit, www.passo-a-rezar.net, which means "Let's Get Praying."
The Church has also set up Facebook and Twitter sites devoted to the pope's trip, which will take him to Lisbon on May 11 and on to the shrine of Fatima in central Portugal on May 12-13, finishing in Porto in the north on May 14.
Almost nine in 10 Portuguese people describe themselves as Roman Catholics, although only 24 percent are practising believers according to a 2008 study by Lisbon University.
tsc/ec/co
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments