Dale Gavlak   Jordan’s King Abdullah II urged greater co-operation to take on serious challenges worldwide as he was awarded a top Catholic peace prize by the Conventual Franciscans of the Sacred Convent of Assisi in central Italy. The annual award, known as the Lamp of Peace, recognises King Abdullah’s promotion of peace in the…

To better protect minors and vulnerable adults from all forms of abuse and exploitation, Pope Francis approved a new law and a set of safeguarding guidelines for Vatican City State and the Roman Curia. Pope Francis established the new norms and legal, criminal and safeguarding procedures with an apostolic letter given motu proprio (on his…

A Chilean appeals court has ruled in favour of three survivors of abuse by former priest Fernando Karadima and ordered the Catholic Church to pay damages. In a decision announced yesterday, the court ordered the Church to pay 100 million pesos (€4,594,271) for “moral damages” to each of the survivors: Juan Carlos Cruz, Jose Andres…

Hannah Brockhaus   The ‘daily bread’ asked of God in the ‘Our Father’ is for everyone, and Christians will be judged by how well they shared their gifts with those in need, Pope Francis said yesterday. “Let’s get this in our heads: food is not private property, but providence to be shared with the grace…

Nearly two million people marched on Saturday last in Pope Francis’s native land of Argentina in pro-life demonstrations dedicated to defending the life of the unborn, and offering solutions to mothers in crisis pregnancies. The rally was organised by Argentina’s March for Life, a lay-led organisation. Although Catholic bishops, evangelical pastors, and Jewish and Islamic…

A Venezuelan cardinal has called on state security forces to exercise civil disobedience when given orders to use lethal force against citizens. “State security agencies exist not to take care of the government but to take care of the citizens,” said Cardinal Baltazar Porras, at a press conference last week. “Therefore, every order that is…

More than half of US Catholics say they are very concerned about the persecution of Christians around the world, with this 58% figure up by 17% from a similar poll a year ago. When asked to rank their concerns about global issues, respondents considered persecution of Christians as a slightly more important problem than climate…

The professional body for doctors in the UK dropped its traditional opposition to assisted suicide, despite a poll that found a majority of its members remain opposed to the practice. The Royal College of Physicians declared it has adopted a policy of neutrality, although a majority of doctors said they were against assisted suicide. In…

‘Special
 attention’
 for
 migrants
 at
 Francis’
 Morocco
 visit Pope Francis wanted to go to Morocco in December to draw attention to the need for international cooperation in assisting migrants and in alleviating the situations that force people to seek a better life outside their homeland. Protocol dictated that he could not fly to Marrakech just for the United Nations meeting on migration,…

Simon Caldwell   The professional body for doctors in the U.K. has dropped its traditional opposition to assisted suicide, despite a poll that found a majority of its members remain opposed to the practice. The Royal College of Physicians has declared it has adopted a policy of neutrality, although a majority of doctors said they…