Vatican City (KNA) An international congress in the Vatican has been focussing on the further training and motivation of Catholic priests since this Tuesday. The motto, taken from the Bible, is: “Rekindle the grace of God that has been given to you.” The Vatican authorities for the clergy, evangelisation and Eastern Churches are responsible for…
Berlin (KNA) Following an attack on a Jewish student on a street in Berlin-Mitte, the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, has once again called for universities not to become “no-go areas” for Jews. Universities must create a safe environment for Jewish students and not give extremists any room, he…
Indigenous people in trouble because of illegal gold prospectors By Thomas Milz (KNA) The images of emaciated indigenous children caused horror throughout Brazil in January 2023. The government of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, which had just left office at the time, had deliberately accepted the precarious situation in the Yanomami reserve, journalists explained at the time.…
By Anita Hirschbeck (KNA) 80 years ago, the “brothers” saved his life in this place. Now Fausto Zabban sits on the stage of the school theatre at the Collegio San Giuseppe in Rome and tells the pupils his story. When the Nazis occupied the Italian capital, his Jewish family went into hiding, he explains. His…
By Tobias Käufer (KNA) Record drug finds in harbours in the Netherlands and Belgium, record production in Colombia. Plus almost weekly reports of violence in Mexico, Ecuador and Argentina. In Latin America, the power of the drug cartels appears to be increasing all the time. Now one of the most prominent heads of the Catholic…
In Poland, the Catholic Church is struggling with adversity in society and politics. It is therefore speaking out strongly against the new centre-left government, particularly with regard to its family policy, writes Oliver Hinz Warsaw (KNA) In January, the priestly profession in Poland often resembles a back-breaking job. Day after day, priests go from house…
Dakar (KNA) Human rights activists have called on Senegal to comply with fair conditions for the presidential election on 25 February. Instead, Senegal’s authorities are cracking down on the opposition, media and civil society in the run-up to the elections, criticised the human rights organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday. According to the opposition…
Warsaw (KNA) The Catholic Church in Poland is intervening in the conflict between two imprisoned politicians from the right-wing conservative opposition party PiS and the new government in Warsaw. The Bishops’ Conference announced on Wednesday evening that its chairman, Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, had written to both politicians offering to lobby Justice Minister Adam Bodnar for…
Berlin (KNA) The German Child Protection Association has criticised Pope Francis for his comments on the beating of children. “There is no justification for beating children, not even a papal one,” said Daniel Grein, Federal Director of the Child Protection Association, in Berlin on Tuesday. Anyone who physically abuses a child is doing the wrong…
Geneva (KNA) The Swiss daily newspaper “Le Temps” accuses the traditionalist Catholic Fraternity of St Pius X of serious shortcomings in dealing with abuse. After months of research in several countries, the paper says it has compiled numerous cases of physical, sexual and psychological abuse within the ranks of the Fraternity. An article published at…