Church leaders in South Sudan and Congo wonder if they have laboured in vain because too often their own people are waging war against each other, a Sudanese priest said during a meeting of hundreds of men and women from dozens of religious orders. The root of the conflict, Fr Maurice Ibiko said, is “the…
All faiths must protect Jerusalem’s current status Christians, Muslims and Jews who are sincere about their faith must be committed to protecting the special character of Jerusalem and to praying and working for peace in the Holy Land, Pope Francis wrote in a letter to the grand imam of Egypt’s al-Azhar University. Only a special, internationally guaranteed statute on the status…
A cloud of darkness seems to be hovering over the land of the free and home of the brave, writes Fr Thomas Rosica CSB The last presidential election campaign in the United States was a divisive, bitter, toxic, embarrassing and polarising experience for many in the US and for people around the world, leaving…
Pope Francis in South America Barbara J. Fraser Pope Francis tackled politically charged issues during his weeklong visit to Chile and Peru, decrying human trafficking, environmental destruction, corruption and organised crime in speeches before audiences that included political leaders. At the same time, he called for unity, dialogue and coexistence in each of the…
Catholics in Belgium are concerned the country’s euthanasia law is being abused to kill patients without legal checks and safeguards. Auxiliary Bishop Jean Kockerols of Mechelen-Brussels said “not just the Church’s hierarchy, but doctors and medical professionals as well” were concerned. The Belgian Church’s Cathobel news agency published an article saying the Federal Euthanasia Control…
The vice president of the German bishops’ conference has urged a debate on whether Catholic clergy should bless same-sex unions. “I’m concerned with fundamental questions of how we deal with each other; although ‘marriage for all’ differs clearly from the Church’s concept of marriage, it’s now a political reality,” said Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabruck.…
In Brief Right-wing Hindu students clashed with police in central India after they tried to storm a Catholic-run college to conduct a Hindu religious rite, according to Church sources. About 800 students from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) group were charged by police after trying to gain access to St Mary’s College in…
A Chinese priest involved with the country’s underground Catholic Church has been missing ever since government officials took him just after Christmas for “re-educating”. Fr Lu Danhua of Lishui Diocese of China’s eastern Zhejiang province was the only priest of the diocese, and took over from Kenneth Roderick Turner of Scarboro Foreign Mission Society from 1948…
The Vatican has named a Colombian bishop to be the trustee of the scandal-plagued Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Catholic movement based in Peru. The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life appointed Bishop Noel Londono Buitrago of Jerico, Colombia, trustee of the group, the Vatican press office announced. Pope Francis, the…
In Brief Church leaders in the Middle East are intensifying efforts to combat US President Donald Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as well as plans to move the US embassy there. “The two-state solution is accepted by all the world, including the Vatican. It corresponds to the legitimate resolutions passed by…