Wiesbaden (KNA) The number of abortions in Germany remains at a high level. Around 28,200 abortions were reported in the first quarter of 2024. This was just under 2.3% more than in the first quarter of 2023 (27,600) and 11.4% more than in the fourth quarter of 2023 (25,300), according to the Federal Statistical Office…
Berlin (KNA) Papyrus experts have deciphered a manuscript fragment as the earliest surviving copy of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. They dated the manuscript to the 4th to 5th century, as the Institute for Christianity and Antiquity at Humboldt University (HU) in Berlin announced on Tuesday. The Gospel tells of the childhood of Jesus and…
Freiburg (KNA) Around three years after the Islamist Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the situation of the population there is dramatic, according to Caritas. “The humanitarian situation remains extremely precarious,” said Oliver Müller, head of the aid organisation Caritas Germany, in an interview with the magazine “Herder-Korrespondenz” (June issue). “Around 23 million people, half the…
By Tobias Käufer (KNA) The two moments that made him immortal were only 180 seconds apart: in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final against England, Diego Maradona showed his two faces: that of the genius and that of the cheat. Because Argentina, on their way to their second World Cup title, had put the English, who…
Alexander Riedel (KNA) According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Jews in Germany are facing ever greater dangers. Even in the current global political situation, “the rise of anti-Semitism is a clear crisis seismograph”, said the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, on Monday…
Paris/Rome (KNA) For papal adviser and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, there is no way back to a Christian Europe. Christians are increasingly becoming a minority in Europe today, said the Archbishop of Luxembourg in an interview with the newspaper “La Croix” (Thursday) in Rome. Politically, this has led to a lack of ideas. Eighty years ago,…
Jerusalem (KNA) During excavations south of the Bedouin town of Rahat in the Negev Desert, Israeli archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a 1,500-year-old church. They found drawings of contemporary ships on parts of the remains of the wall, which could have been made by Christian pilgrims, according to the Israeli Antiquities Authority (Thursday). According…
Sabine Kleyboldt (KNA) Rome (KNA) Personalities from the Church and academia have emphasised the importance of relations between the Vatican and China at an international congress. Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin emphasised on Tuesday in Rome that a direct dialogue between the Holy See and the Chinese authorities was needed. The Council of Shanghai,…
Gaza/Jerusalem (KNA) According to the Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the city of Gaza is partly destroyed beyond recognition. The biggest problems for the civilian population, apart from the ongoing war, are medical care, the hygienic situation and the distribution of humanitarian aid, the Italian religious said on Monday in Jerusalem. He had previously visited…
Alexander Brüggemann (KNA) Since the 18th century, Marian apparitions have been categorised as “private revelations”. As such, they raise theological problems, since according to Church teaching, God’s revelation came to an end with the death of the last apostle. The Magisterium therefore makes a sharp distinction between revelation and private revelation. The latter can only…