Category: World Report

Experts: Hong Kong’s security law threatens confessional secrecy

Hong Kong (CBA) International religious experts believe that the announced Hong Kong National Security Law jeopardises religious freedom. In particular, the law threatens the confidentiality of confession, according to a statement by 16 experts and organisations on the website of the organisation Hong Kong Watch. “The new law could force a priest to disclose what…

Pastor sells church via classified ad: “Very painful”

Rotenburg-Lispenhausen/Cologne (KNA) A priest from the diocese of Fulda sees his decision to offer a church for sale in a classified advert as a necessary but “brutal” step. Profanation would be “very, very painful”, said priest Andreas Schweimer, dean of Eschwege-Bad Hersfeld, in an interview with the Cologne portal domradio.de (Thursday). He has placed a…

New chairman of the Polish bishops is an expert on the Vatican

Oliver Hinz (KNA) Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda (67) of Gdansk is the new President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference. At their plenary meeting in Warsaw on Thursday, the 90 or so bishops with voting rights elected Wojda as the successor to Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki (74), according to a spokesperson. According to the statutes, the previous chairman…

Argentine President Milei: Abortion is aggravated homicide

The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, says abortion “is murder aggravated by the bond” between mother and child and condemned the so-called “voluntary interruption of pregnancy”, a euphemism for killing the child in the womb. The statement was part of a March 6 speech at the beginning of classes at the secondary level at Cardenal…

How the Vatican brought the white flag into the conversation

Ludwig Ring-Eifel (KNA) From Moscow to NATO headquarters, from Kiev to Washington, political decision-makers have been discussing the Pope’s statements on the subject of negotiated peace in the Ukraine war over the past few days. On Saturday, excerpts from an interview became known in which the Pope spoke of the “courage of the white flag”…

Bishop’s spokesman: Pope’s statement on white flag unfortunate

Bonn (KNA) A spokesperson for the Catholic German Bishops’ Conference has described Pope Francis’ recent statements on peace negotiations in Ukraine as unfortunate. The German bishops had made it clear in their peace statement published in February that Ukraine would ultimately have to decide when the time had come for peace negotiations, explained bishops’ spokesman…

Sick Pope continues to work – service planned in parish

Vatican City (KNA) Pope Francis is continuing his work programme despite the flu. On Thursday morning, he held seven audiences for individuals and groups, according to the Vatican press office. Among others, the 87-year-old received the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatovic, and the members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Children. As Francis…

Newspaper: Vatican plans document on human dignity

Vatican City (CNA) According to a media report, the Vatican intends to publish a new document on the subject of human dignity this month. As the Vatican correspondent reports in the Catholic newspaper “La Croix international” (online), Pope Francis has commissioned the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to do so. The authority, headed…

UN expert: Religious hatred is driving conflicts worldwide

Geneva (KNA) According to a United Nations expert, religiously motivated hatred must be tackled comprehensively and at its social roots. The promotion of hostility based on religious beliefs is widespread and a driver of polarisation and conflict around the world, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion, Nazila Ghanea, told the UN Human Rights Council…