Chinese churches forced to surrender income, donations Churches in Zheijiang province in China are being forced to hand over income and donations under a new law, it has been reported. According to Chinaaid.org, which monitors the situation of Christian communities in the country, government officials have begun to oversee donations to churches while, under provisions of the new law, communities must…
Motion passed to save convent before sale Dublin city councillors unanimously passed an emergency motion this week to put an immediate protection order on the Georgian-era Sisters of Charity Convent and School on Gardiner Street Upper. The 200-year-old building has an adjoining Victorian chapel as well as several other original features, but due to an oversight, the building was never listed…
Vatican employees convicted in Vatileaks II trial Two Vatican officials have been convicted for their parts in the so-called Vatileaks II scandal. Facing a Vatican tribunal for their roles in passing confidential documents to journalists, Msgr Lucio Vallejo Balda was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his part in the leak, while Francesca Chaouqui, a consultant at the Vatican, was…
Loreto sisters want to keep working
A worker of the Piacenti restoration centre works on a mosaic in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank. Photo: CNS
Images depicting Noah’s Ark and Moses’ parting of the Red Sea have been uncovered at an ancient synagogue in Galilee. The mosaic images are the latest find in a long-term excavation taking place at the 5th-Century Huqoq synagogue. The site is already famous among archaeologists for the wealth of its mosaics, with images of beasts…
One of Pakistan’s leading human rights lawyers who regularly defends Christians accused of blasphemy has been forced into hiding due to death threats. Sardar Mushtaq Gill, National Director of Legal Evangelical Association Development (LEAD), a body providing legal aid to religious minorities in Pakistan, has faced numerous threats in the past, but as a high…
The Irish-born Bishop of Dallas, Kevin Farrell, has led calls for peace and “a moment of national reflection” on race and violence in America in the wake of the deadly July 7 shootings of five police officers in the city. Bishop Farrell, who hails from Dublin, described events in Dallas as “staggering” and urged an…
A flower garden dedicated to the memory of deceased children has opened at Knock. On July 9, families of some 700 children listed in Knock’s book of remembrance gathered at the Marian shrine to see the culmination of a project begun at the prompting of parents who attend Knock in November each year to remember…
The Catholic Bishops of Malawi have signalled a growing threat of famine in the country. In an appeal to the international community for help for six million citizens already affected by food insecurity, the prelates said: “Our hospitals are already reporting higher rates of malnutrition cases with the situation feared to worsen as we approach…