Category: News

Cardinal ‘ashamed’ as lawmaker puts out Hanukkah candles in Poland’s parliament

Cardinal Grzegorz Rys of Lodz, chairman of the Committee for Dialogue with Judaism of the Polish bishops’ conference, strongly condemned the incident in which a far-right Polish lawmaker used a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles in the Sejm, the country’s parliament. “In connection with the incident in the Sejm committed by Mr MP…

‘Groundbreaking’ gene-editing therapy gets thumbs up from Catholic bioethicist

A new gene-editing therapy called Casgevy, which is designed to help treat patients suffering from sickle cell disease, has been endorsed by the US-based National Catholic Bioethics Center and its president, Dr Joseph Meaney. Casgevy is a new gene therapy developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals that uses CRISPR, a genome-editing technology, to modify a patient’s blood…

Decapitated statue of Tipperary prelate restored

A statue of an archbishop that was decapitated outside the cathedral in Tipperary was restored and then blessed on December 17. The vandals who targeted the statue of Archbishop Patrick Leahy, which is based outside the front of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Thurles, were not caught. Despite an investigation launched after the attack…

European football fans fly flags for the Faith

Football fans on the European continent have been faithfully flying flags for Our Lady and one of the Church’s great saints, St Ambrose of Milan, during recent football games. Images of the flags went viral on social media after the games, with many commenting favourably on the public displays of affection for the Faith. The…

Even if the Pope changes conclave rules, don’t say it hasn’t happened before

Letter From Rome H.L. Mencken once famously quipped that love is like war, in that it’s easy to begin but very hard to stop. Had Mencken plied his journalistic trade in the internet age, he might well have added rumours to that list, which are notoriously easy these days to put into circulation and virtually…

Central American bishops warn of ‘unprecedented’ migration crisis

Eduardo Campos Lima With an unprecedented rise in 2023 in the number of immigrants crossing Central America in an effort to reach the United States and Canada, the bishops of the region are urging local governments to establish adequate programs to deal with them and to ensure their safety. The migration crisis was the main…

Pope condemns targeting of Christians in Gaza

Pope Francis condemned the Israeli military’s killing of two Christian women taking shelter at a Catholic parish in Gaza, as well as an attack on a convent, describing the IDF’s actions as “terrorism”. The Pope’s comments came after praying the Angelus in St Peter’s Square, December 17, as Francis decried the December 16 attack on…

Vatican blinks and German Synod gets a win

Christoph Arens (KNA) In the end, the Vatican budged after all. Many German catholics had not expected its decision, announced shortly before Christmas, to allow the blessing of homosexual and remarried couples. Some reform minded catholics called it a Christmas present. For Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), the decision…