Hospitals in the Lebanese capital are overwhelmed with those suffering injuries from a massive explosion in Beirut’s port, causing widespread damage to the city and rocking the tiny Mediterranean nation already devastated by the coronavirus and its worst financial crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. “People won’t be able to rebuild their homes, businesses, livelihoods.…
Fr Christopher Heanue started his morning on July 27 by celebrating Mass at 5am…and then took off on a 100-mile bike ride. It wasn’t just any ride. Fr Heanue called his journey ‘100 Miles of Hope’, which was a fundraiser to help support his parish, Holy Child Jesus, in Richmond Hill, New York, in the…
Pope Francis has extended the authority of the Eastern Catholic patriarchs to their Faithful living in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. The Pope’s decision sets aside instructions issued by St John Paul II in 2003 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 entrusting the pastoral care of all Catholics of any rite to the Latin-rite…
Masses have been suspended in two Catholic churches in Pakistan’s Karachi Archdiocese after torrential monsoon rain. Thick black sludge covered the compound of St Francis Xavier Catholic church in the Shahjahanabad area following flooding after three days of heavy downpours in the port city. Five feet of water stood in Shahjahanabad, home to 45 Catholic…
The Catholic archbishop of Juba, South Sudan, condemned “in the strongest terms possible” the murder of three young girls, killed while watching television in their Juba home. The girls, ages 9, 7 and 4, were the children of Edward Jami Andrea, a lecturer at the Upper Nile University in the capital. The children were alone…
Pope names six women to previously all-male Council for Economy Renewing the membership of the Vatican Council for the Economy, Pope Francis named six women to the previously all-male board that oversees the financial operations of all Vatican offices and entities. The original seven lay members were all men with experience in business, finance or…
ACN sending €250,000 in food aid to Lebanon International Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has announced an emergency €250,000 food aid package for victims of the massive August 4 explosion in Beirut. The ACN grant will focus on poor families most affected by the explosion, which devastated the port area of…
An unidentified man threw a firebomb into a chapel of Managua’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Friday, severely damaging the chapel and a devotional image of Christ more than three centuries old. “This was a planned act, very calmly planned,” Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of Managua said. “So I want to say it clearly: it…
Catholic bishops have said that proposed hate crime legislation in Scotland could criminalise the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In a statement issued on July 29, the bishops argued that the Scottish Government’s new Hate Crime and Public Order Bill could lead to censorship of Catholic teaching. Commenting on the submission of the bill, the Director…
State-sponsored hackers have reportedly targeted Vatican computer networks in an attempt to give China an advantage in negotiations to renew a provisional deal with the Holy See. A report, released on July 28, said that hackers may have used a counterfeit condolence message from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, to gain access to…