The legalisation of surrogacy would be “the final blow” against the family in Italian law, the head of Italy’s bishops’ conference has said, saying surrogacy “exploits the female body” and profits from the poverty of women. Addressing members of the bishops’ conference, Genoa’s Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco said under a new law civil unions are implicitly…

Mercy is common ground for renewal Catholics and Lutherans are finding common ground in “the original, fundamental” emphasis of Martin Luther on “the Gospel of grace and mercy and a call to conversion and renewal”, the former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity has said. Arguing in a new book that next year’s ecumenical commemoration of the…

Bishops criticise refugee camp closures Kenya’s bishops have added their voices to calls by the Jesuit Refugee Service and others for their government to reconsider plans to close refugee camps and repatriate refugees.  The government announced its plans on May 6, claiming that the refugees posed a security threat, particularly from Somali Islamist group al-Shabab. Welcoming how the government…