Europe has a “twofold moral responsibility to protect the rights of its citizens and to ensure assistance to and acceptance to migrants”, Pope Francis has said. Speaking in the Vatican’s Regal Room in his annual New Year address to members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, the Pope reflected at length on…
The Belgian family of an elderly cancer sufferer who wanted to die by euthanasia is suing a Catholic care home for refusing to allow a lethal injection on Church-run premises. Mariette Buntjens died days later after receiving the injection from a doctor in a private residence. The woman’s daughter Nadine Engelen claims the Sint-Augustinus rest…
American bishops have welcomed President Barack Obama’s executive action on gun control, introducing a range of measures to regulate the sale of firearms. Miami’s Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, said in a statement that “For a long time now, the bishops…
France’s future must be built with mutual respect, recognising everyone’s contribution, the country’s bishops have said. In a statement to mark the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in which 17 people were killed, the bishops asked whether lessons had been learned since then, saying that while “it is certainly urgent to listen to our…
First video prayer message calls for broad peace efforts Pope Francis has urged people of faith from around the world to work together for justice and peace. Sharing for the first time as a video message the traditional papal prayer intentions for the month, the Pope called for dialogue among religions and asked that people “not stop praying for it and collaborating with…
Church leaders have denounced a double-headed suicide attack on Christian-owned restaurants in Qamishli, Syria, that left 20 people dead and more than 40 injured. “It was a sinister message the terrorists wanted to send to the Christians of this city, sowing death and tears,” Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan said, describing the massacre,…
The state of Utah can end its contract with Planned Parenthood, which is paid for with federal funds, a judge has ruled. US District Judge Clark Waddoups, who previously blocked an effort by Utah governor Gary Herbert to defund the Utah affiliate of Planned Parenthood, has ruled that “these are the types of decisions that…
The leading US Democratic candidate has said she believes ISIS’ campaign against Christians constitutes genocide. Hillary Clinton was asked at a New Hampshire meeting whether she would join faith and secular leaders from across the political divide “in calling what is happening by its proper name, genocide”. She replied that she would do so “because…
South Africa’s Catholic justice and peace commission has called for a halt to nuclear procurement plans and a referendum on the issue, claiming that the risks of adding nuclear energy to the financially beleaguered country’s power grid outweigh its economic benefits. According to a statement from the commission’s chairman, Kimberley’s Bishop Abel Gabuza, the country…
‘An ocean of mercy transcends human misery’ – Pope God’s mercy transcends the misery that so often marks human experience, Pope Francis has said. “A torrent of misery, swollen by sin, seems to contradict the fullness of time brought by Christ”, he said in a homily at St Peter’s Basilica on January 1, asking, “how can the fullness of time have come when…