On an ordinary September morning in Salzburg, Austria, the improbable happened. Three elderly women, once cloistered nuns, packed their bags, left a retirement home, and marched back to the convent they had called home for most of their lives. They didn’t come alone. Cameras, journalists, and – in a detail that makes the whole episode…
A historic moment: for the first time since the Reformation, an English monarch took part in a Catholic funeral service for a British royal. The Pope also spoke. The Catholic funeral mass for the Duchess of Kent took place in London’s Westminster Cathedral on Tuesday. The liturgy was presided over by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the…
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich from Luxembourg sees a future for Catholicism in Europe despite profound changes. He told the weekly newspaper Die Furche that “many parishes will collapse” in the next ten years and the “system will come to an end”. However, the Church should not be fixated on the past: “We must accept that we…
While the fate of the people in Ukraine and Gaza concerns many, the civil war in Sudan concerns only a few. After a trip to Egypt in which he spoke to Sudanese refugees, Archbishop Stefan Heße of Hamburg hopes to remind politicians of the conflict in Northeast Africa. According to Archbishop Heße, refugees from the…
Pope Leo XIV discussed the conflict in Gaza, including a two-state solution, with Israel President Isaac Herzog in a private audience at the Vatican on September 4. According to a Vatican statement after the meeting, the talks focused on the political and social situation in the Middle East and the need to guarantee “a future…
Pope Francis’ environmental letter, Laudato Si’, is world-famous. His thoughts on environmental protection have now been put into practice – on papal territory, open to all. The first dedicated Vatican restaurant, a hotel open to everyone on papal grounds, home-grown wine – the plans for the Borgo Laudato Si’ ecology project, which was inaugurated by…
Bro. Francesco Ielpo, the Franciscan Custos in Jerusalem, is dismayed by the latest news of forced evictions in Gaza by Israel. In an appeal on September 3, Bro. Ielpo addressed “the conscience of those who can stop this senseless spiral of violence, so that they finally take effective measures to end this war and the…
Young people organised protests throughout Nepal against a government ban on social media. After heavy police violence, they have now achieved considerable success. Nepal’s communist Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli resigned on Tuesday following the violent suppression of street protests. The Nepalese newspaper “Republica” quoted him as saying that he wanted to contribute to…
“Since 2019, Jordan has stopped registering refugees,” says Rottenburg’s bishop. There is no state support for these people and Caritas is often the only help. A summary of the trip. According to Bishop Klaus Krämer of Rottenburg, the refugee crisis in Jordan continues to worsen. “Since 2019, Jordan has stopped registering refugees. This means that…
An HBO series on Marcial Maciel this month has once again placed the spotlight on the founder of the Legionaries of Christ and the complaints of sexual abuse against him. The congregation in Rome confirmed to ACI Prensa that it had known about the production for years and agreed to be interviewed to address their…