The world is again facing a huge spike in oil prices and shortages of fertilizer and other oil-based commodities that are worsening world hunger and driving thousands more poor people to starvation in Africa as Iran continues to attack shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and block oil tankers. 20% of the world’s total oil…
A new Vatican anthology presents the pontiff’s teaching on peace The peace proposed by Pope Leo XIV is “not abstract, ideological, or naive” but one that “passes through the pain, contradictions, and wounds of the world,” according to Alessandro Banfi, communications director of the Oasis Foundation and coordinator of a new book collecting the pope’s…
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on July 29 that debate around the introduction of assisted suicide should be put on hold until palliative and social care programs in the country are properly funded. “I take the view that that debate – and I don’t say that there shouldn’t be a debate at some point…
The Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta offered emergency resources to civil authorities July 31 as more than 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, straining local infrastructure. In a statement published July 30, the diocese said it was deeply concerned “over the severity of events and the particular vulnerability of so…
The US Catholic bishops are getting ready a nationwide call to prayer and action, with an official launch date of August 18, to mobilise Catholics to address the rising abortion rate and the increased availability of an abortion-inducing drug. “Every abortion involves the death of a child and harm to the mother. Now with easier…
With the release of Christopher Nolan’s new interpretation of The Odyssey (which, at the time of writing, I have yet to see) Homer’s great story has once again captured the public imagination. Anyone who knows me knows of my deep-seated love for Greek mythology. Ever since I was a child, I have been obsessed with…
A Catholic-supported hospital in Gaza City sustained damage after an Israeli airstrike hit a nearby residential apartment late July 29, according to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association’s Pontifical Mission in Lebanon and Syria. The blast shattered windows and doors at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital and damaged an elevator serving its diagnostic center, though the hospital…
Holy See: Urban planning must address homelessness to promote human dignity Homelessness needs to be addressed in order to create sustainable cities that enable every person to flourish and that contribute to the common good, the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations said in a message released on July 28,…
‘Prudence is a thoughtful refusal to run with every intimation of fear’ says Fr Chris Hayden *** I will give you all of these, if you worship me” – so said Satan to Jesus in the wilderness, while gesturing towards the kingdoms of the world. But what the father of lies actually gives to those…
Serving as a priest in Mullingar, I often pass two bronze statues of Augustinian monks known as The Pilgrims in the centre of the town. One carries a pilgrim’s staff and haversack; the other holds the Scriptures and wears the scallop shell, the emblem of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Almost 800 years ago,…