Pope Francis has led renewed calls for an end to anti-Christian persecution.  Leading his weekly Sunday audience in Rome, the Pontiff celebrated the life of newly-beatified Lebanese martyr Syriac Bishop Flavien-Michel Malke but then departed from his scripted address to issue a call to the international community to act on the continuing persecution of Christians.…

The government of the Indian state of Karnataka has announced it is to compensate 12 Christians who fell victim to Hindu radicals during a wave of violence in 2008. In September 2008, over 20 Protestant churches across the state were attacked and ransacked by members of the Sangh Parivar, an umbrella group for extreme Hindu…

Christian-backed schools in Israel are set to remain closed when the autumn term begins due to an ongoing funding crisis. In an announcement from the Secretariat of Christian Schools in Israel, which provides education to some 33,000 pupils, despite a positive meeting on the issue with Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin last week, schools are set…

American abortion provider Planned Parenthood is facing a fresh scandal following claims that it failed to report a suspected case of sexual abuse to the authorities. As the group continues to suffer fall-out from video exposés of its trade in foetal body parts, an online news outlet in Alabama has revealed documents it says show…

A lawyer representing hard-pressed Christian communities in the Chinese province of Zhejiang has been arrested. Zhang Kai, of Beijing’s Xinqiao Law Firm, had travelled to Zhejiang to work fulltime in assisting communities directly affected by a drive to remove crosses and demolish church properties. Since late 2013, the campaign has affected some 1,200 church properties.…

The Iraqi government has moved to establish a committee with the aim of identifying and countering persecution against Christians in the country. On the orders of Prime Minister Haydar al Abadi, the committee will work to collect details of incidences of persecution from the long-suffering community and formulate concrete security responses to better protect Christians.…

Pope reaches 100th General Audience Pope Francis reached a personal milestone on August 26 when he preached his 100th Wednesday general audience. The Pontiff used the occasion to revisit a topic which has been at the heart of many of his most recent addresses, the family, and specifically this time, prayer within the family. “We all know how important…

Syrian refugee children scream as they sit in front of Macedonian riot police at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the village of Idomeni, Greece. As thousands of desperate migrants continue to seek salvation in Europe, Pope Francis referred to the plight of persecuted Christians during his August 30 audience address. Photo: CNS

Catholics must strive to show mercy toward non-traditional families, according to Chicago’s Archbishop Blase Cupich. Speaking after receiving his pallium from the papal nuncio to the United States, the archbishop described the Church as “a community that goes after the lost sheep”, and said that the task for the Church is “not just to find…

Pope keeps out of Falklands dispute Pope Francis has no intention of intervening between Britain and Argentina over the Falklands Islands’ disputed ownership, the Vatican’s press office has clarified.  During a general audience on August 19, a group of Argentinians gave Pope Francis a sign reading: “It is time for dialogue between Argentina and the United Kingdom about the Falkland…