From The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings: J.R.R. Tolkien’s works have achieved cult status. This year’s International Tolkien Reading Day on 25 March will focus on the “unexpected heroes”. “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit” – this unassuming sentence marked the beginning of a literary success story whose end remains unforeseeable to this day. The…
A powerful escape – five Iranian female footballers used their stay in Australia to apply for asylum there. As it has now emerged, they received active support from the highest levels. The Australian authorities have apparently helped five Iranian women’s footballers to flee the country. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) shielded the players as they…
The new chairman of the Bishops’ Conference, Heiner Wilmer, does not want Germany to go it alone on Catholic Church reforms. Good coordination with the church leadership in Rome and with the World Synod is important to him, said the Bishop of Hildesheim on Thursday in Würzburg. He will travel to Rome soon so that…
The Vatican has received explosive mail from the Goldenstein convent: the rebellious nuns are demanding the dismissal of their superior and are making serious accusations against the provost. In the dispute over the Goldenstein monastery near Salzburg, the three nuns who live there have now turned to the Vatican. In a letter dated Tuesday, obtained…
60 years ago, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the Catholic Church initiated a comprehensive renewal. These are the most important contents of the 16 Council texts: Understanding of the Church: the constitution Lumen gentium (1964) sets out the new self-understanding of the Roman Catholic Church. It defines the Church as a community of believers, as…
Long consultations and many discussions – also with Rome – lie behind those responsible. In Fulda, bishops and lay people now want to lay the foundation stone for a new church body at national level. The Catholic Church in Germany may soon have a new national body made up of bishops and laypeople. “We are…
Leo XIV has 1,300 special guests on Sunday: homeless people, refugees and other marginalised people. Among them was a transgender activist – an acquaintance of Pope Francis. Rome (KNA) A first for the Pope: according to media reports, Leo XIV will also receive five trans people for lunch on Sunday. The meeting in the Vatican…
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged Christian Churches across Europe to continue walking together in faith and friendship, as they respond to a changing cultural landscape and the ongoing challenges of war, migration, and secularisation. The Pope was speaking in the Consistory Hall on November 6, where he met members of the Joint Committee of the…
For some Catholics, Mary as the mother of Jesus herself has an almost divine significance. The Vatican’s religious authority has now emphatically pointed out the limits of this veneration. The Vatican is warning Catholics and theologians to overstep the boundaries of the Christian faith when it comes to the veneration of Mary. A ‘Doctrinal Note’…
A hurricane has caused enormous damage in the Caribbean. An internationally important place of pilgrimage is also affected. The Archdiocese of Santiago is deeply shocked. Hurricane “Melissa” has also affected one of the most important Marian shrines in Latin America in the Caribbean. Social media posts show damage to the El Cobre pilgrimage church in…