Catholic Church leaders in Bolivia are opposing a controversial new law that strips protection from a national park and indigenous peoples’ territory. The measure signed into law by President Evo Morales in mid-August opens the Isiboro Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory, known as TIPNIS, to highway construction and other development. “The government doesn’t listen…

Condolences sent to people in ‘agony’ after Africa mudslide After a major mudslide and flooding led to the deaths of hundreds of people and displaced thousands, Pope Francis offered his condolences and his prayers to the people of Sierra Leone. “Deeply saddened by the devastating consequences of the mudslide on the outskirts of Freetown, His…

US Catholics have called for peace in the aftermath of violence in Charlottesville, in which three people died and dozens were injured. Catholic bishops, a cardinal and several Catholic organisations made the appeal following clashes between pacifists, protestors and white supremacists in the Virginian town. A white nationalist rally was organised in reaction to Charlottesville…

Catholic bishops in Kenya have called for calm as violent post-election protests led to over 20 people being killed, including a nine-year-old girl. The protests have ignited anger in slums across Nairobi and Kisumu after Raila Odinga, the main opposition candidate, lost against President Uhuru Kenyatta. Mr Odinga has travelled through slums saying the government…

The former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and of her order, the Sisters of charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM), has died age 82. Sr Helen Maher Garvey entered religious life when she was just 17 and subsequently earned a doctorate in organisational development in Columbia University in New York City.…

A Venezuelan cardinal rejected the possibility of foreign intervention in the country following US President Donald Trump’s threat to pursue a military option. “The crisis we Venezuelans are suffering is so serious that now an external problem arises: the threats of a military option by President Trump,” Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas said. He…

Pope Francis called for an end to violence against Christians following deadly attacks in two African countries. The Pope led pilgrims in prayer for the victims of a deadly shooting last week at St Philip’s Catholic Church in Ozubulu, in Nigeria. He also prayed for Christians killed following an attack at a mission in Gambo,…

Pope saddened by Catholics who despise others God did not choose perfect people to form his Church, but rather sinners who have experienced his love and forgiveness, Pope Francis has said. The Gospel of Luke’s account of Jesus forgiving the sinful woman shows how his actions went against the general mentality of his time, a…

In the wake of Saturday’s carnage in Charlottesville, Virginia, it’s clearer than ever that American society desperately needs help on race. The Catholic Church has unique resources to deploy, but it can’t afford to allow its own African-American community and leadership to remain “invisible”, as one African-American bishop recently described it. It’s not as if…

A man in Caracas, Venezuela, walks past graffi ti that reads, ‘Down with Trump…rot’. Photo: CNS