US bishops receive Blessed Carlo Acutis relic The US bishops recently welcomed a relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis. It is the teenager’s pericardium, or the sac that protected his heart. “I now bring to you the relic of the pericardium, which is the membrane that surrounds the heart of a new blessed,” Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino…
Two members of a group called Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising said April 5 that five foetuses taken by the police a week earlier from the Capitol Hill residence of one of the activists were “proof of illegal abortions” being performed at a Washington abortion clinic. Activists Lauren Handy, 28, and Terrisa Bukovinac, 41, made the comments…
Bishop Tesfaselassie Medhin of Adigrat, Ethiopia, has sent out an SOS call for swift humanitarian aid in Tigray to save millions of people facing death due to a “merciless man-made famine” in the war-torn region. While condemning the war atrocities, the bishop acknowledged individuals, institutions, governments and partners working tirelessly to bring hope to the…
Vatican Children’s Hospital to treat little patients from Libya The Libyan healthcare system has been devastated by over a decade of war and instability. Libyan doctors and medical staff face major challenges every day, and the country’s hospitals and medical centres face problems ranging from frequent power cuts and insufficient medical supplies to staff shortages.…
Malta and its people need to remember the country’s roots as a centre of “welcome”, especially to those in need such as migrants, Pope Francis told leaders of the Mediterranean nation during his fleeting April 2-3 visit. Visiting the territory that hosted St Paul following his shipwreck around AD60, Pope Francis encouraged Malta in its…
German Cardinal Reinhard Marx said in an interview published on last week that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is “not set in stone” and “one is also allowed to doubt what it says.” The cardinal made the comments in a seven-page spread in the March 31 edition of the weekly current affairs magazine Stern, reported CNA Deutsch. Cardinal…
A former Vatican official facing charges of extortion and abuse of office related to a controversial London property deal said he was acting under obedience in his role and made no decisions without approval from his direct superior, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra. Msgr Mauro Carlino, who served as secretary to then-Archbishop Angelo Becciu, when he…
An Arab Christian police officer was one of five killed by a Palestinian gunman in a suburb of the Israeli city of Tel Aviv March 29. The attack took place that evening in Bnei Brak, one of the country’s most populous ultra-Orthodox Jewish areas. One of those killed was Christian police officer Amir Khoury, a…
Catholic priest abducted after Sunday Mass in Nigeria A Catholic priest of the Diocese of Minna in Nigeria was among 45 people kidnapped after Mass March 27. The Nigeria Catholic Network reported that on the morning of March 27, assailants abducted villagers along with Fr Leo Raphael Ozigi, a priest of St Mary’s Catholic Church in the…
The verdict in the closely watched trial of a Finnish Christian MP was announced March 30. A court in Helsinki dismissed all charges against Päivi Räsänen, a physician and mother of five, and Juhana Pohjola, a bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, after a free speech trial that drew international attention. The court said in…