An estimated 5.2 million children in 21 countries, including the United States, lost at least one parent, a custodial grandparent or a primary caregiver to Covid-19 during the first 20 months of the pandemic, social researchers and child well-being advocates said in a new study. Notably, the researchers estimated that the number of children orphaned…
Spanish bishops announce clerical abuse investigation In an about-face, the Spanish bishops’ conference announced that it has hired a law firm to conduct a yearlong investigation into clerical sexual abuse in the country. At a news conference in Madrid February 24, Cardinal Juan José Omella of Barcelona, president of the Spanish bishops’ conference, said the…
A researcher with the Philos Project told journalists last Tuesday that Iran is using incremental strategies to squeeze non-Muslims out of the country and in nearby states such as Iraq and Syria, and that the plight of Christians in the Middle East is “truly misunderstood” by most in the West. Senior Research Fellow Dr Farhad…
President Joe Biden announced federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his first nominee to the Supreme Court on Friday. In a tweet announcing the news, Biden called Jackson “one of our nation’s brightest legal minds” and said that she will be “an exceptional Justice”. If confirmed, Judge Jackson would be the first black…
Pope warns against digital media addiction in Lenten message The Vatican released Pope Francis’ Lenten message last Thursday in which the Pope recommended that Lent 2022 can be a time to put down the smartphone and encounter those in need face to face. “Let us not grow tired of fighting against concupiscence, that weakness which…
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, lambasted a recent financial probe that opened in his native Sardinia. According to a February 15 report by Italian news agency ANSA, Italian finance authorities conducted several raids on individuals connected with Cardinal Becciu. The raids took place in Rome and in the Sardinian towns of…
Amid widespread protests over a ban on hijabs in schools, an Indian court has temporarily prohibited all forms of religious dress in schools while it considers a legal challenge to the hijab ban. The current conflict began in September 2021 when a girl’s preparatory school in the Indian state of Karnataka moved to ban hijabs,…
A Church official from the Diocese of Loikaw told ucanews.com that he was in the middle of a war zone, with sounds of gunfire, artillery shelling and airstrikes a daily affair. He said the city of Loikaw, in Kayah state, had hundreds of people, “especially women, children and the elderly”, who were displaced from their…
Pro-life bell blessed by Pope resounds in Ecuador A bell forged in Poland and blessed by Pope Francis has arrived in Ecuador, where it will ring out in honour of unborn children. The bell, known as the “Voice of the Unborn”, was welcomed into the Cathedral of St Peter the Apostle in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s chief…
Catholics from Mary Mother of Divine Shepherd Mulajje Parish in central Uganda are worried about losing their church and all properties after one of the families that donated the land to the church years ago began to repossess it. The parish is one among hundreds of Catholic churches in the East African country that continue…