Anti-conversion laws in twelve states in India are being challenged by the National Council of Churches of India, which has filed a writ petition challenging the constitutionality of such legislation in the Supreme Court. Hindu nationalists often accuse Christians of using force and surreptitious tactics in pursuing conversions, often storming into villages and leading “reconversion”…
Advocates and civic officials are warning of the high numbers of donated organs from assisted suicide victims in Canada, arguing that organ donation programs for suicidal individuals could lead to additional pressure for such patients to decide to end their lives by assisted suicide. Data have shown consistently high numbers of organ donations in Canada…
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is calling on the Trump administration to place Egypt on a watch list after a Christian man was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labor for allegedly violating the country’s blasphemy laws “for his online content critical of Islam.” “Egypt is systematically enforcing laws, policies,…
“I will always be close to God, because he is the most important thing in my life.” This is how Joe Wilson, a young Scotsman on the path to sainthood, expressed his profound relationship with the Lord in his personal diary, which since his sudden death at the age of 17 in 2011 has inspired…
Bishop Jesús Fernández of Córdoba has said that the “confusion” of the authorities prevented priests at the scene of the recent train crash in Adamuz from administering last rites to victims. Fernández said priests at the scene of the accident couldn’t administer last rites to the victims because authorities “thought the dead were already dead…
Sarah Mullally walked into St Paul’s Cathedral on January 28 as the Bishop of London. When she walked out in the afternoon as bells rang out, she was the spiritual leader of millions of Anglicans around the world. Mullally, 63, became the Archbishop of Canterbury, making her the first woman to lead the Church of…
Pope Leo XIV’s first extraordinary consistory (January 7–8 , 2026) looked, felt, and even sounded like a deliberate return to two defining instincts of Pope Francis’s pontificate: synodality and mission. But it also hinted at something more strategic than stylistic imitation. Leo is using the world’s cardinals not as stage dressing for a new reign,…
As the Catholic Church prepares to join Christians around the world in commemorating the 2026 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the theme chosen also reflects Pope Leo XIV’s hope of unified humanity in an increasingly individualistic world. “There is one body and one Spirit,” drawn from St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, is the…
The Pope opens his Vatican II series with Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on divine revelation Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome! We have started the cycle of catechesis on Vatican Council II. Today we will begin to look more closely at the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, on the divine Revelation. It is…
Following his first extraordinary consistory, Pope Leo XIV has outlined a programme of engagements aimed at drawing Catholics more deeply into both the intellectual and prayerful life of the Church, renewing attention to the Second Vatican Council while inviting the faithful to pray with him for the world’s pressing needs. Speaking at his general audience…