We share the responsibility for the deaths of desperate migrants when we stand by silently, Pope Francis has said, urging Catholics to see migrants not in legalistic terms but as fellow human beings with their own inherent dignity and abilities to contribute to their new homes. Speaking on the World Day for Migrants and Refugees,…

Ghana’s bishops have issued a statement protesting about the transfer of former Guantanamo Bay prisoners to their country, describing it as “wrong and dangerous”. In a statement signed by Konongo-Mampong’s Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu, president of the country’s bishops’ conference, the bishops said they had responded to this development with “distress and sadness”, calling on the…

Mercy at the heart of the Pope’s new series of talks God’s mercy is constant and limitless, and he is faithful in his mercy for his children, even when they are unfaithful, Pope Francis has said in his first general audience of 2016, the first of a series of weekly talks on mercy. Claiming that in the Bible, from the “Old Testament to the full…

Kenya’s bishops have said they are “shocked and surprised” by government plans to regulate worship in the east African country. Responding to concerns that some pastors were fleecing followers and some mosques are becoming centres of radicalisation, the government has published new rules requiring religious leaders to have theological degrees and religious groups to submit…

Two American bishops have written to the government seeking an end to deportation raids that earlier this month rounded up more than 120 Central American immigrants. “We disagree with the underlying rationale behind this action: that sending children and families back to the dangerous environment they fled will serve as a deterrent for other children…