The Archbishop of Los Angeles, Irish priests and many of those who knew and worked with the late Irish Bishop David O’Connell, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles who was shot dead on February 18, 2023, have paid tribute to his memory ahead of a memorial mass on Saturday February 24 to mark the first anniversary of his…
Category: World Report
Israel-Vatican rift widens over cardinal’s Gaza remarks
A growing rift between the Vatican and Israel was exacerbated recently when the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See hit back against a top Vatican official who said the ongoing Israeli military offensive in Gaza is disproportionate. On the margins of a February 13 event commemorating the 95th anniversary of the Lateran Pacts, which regularised the…
In spite of threats and torment, Navalny never lost the faith
Jonah McKeown Russian leaders last Friday announced the death of Alexei Navalny, a prominent opposition politician to President Vladimir Putin, in a Siberian prison. Navalny, 47, had been serving a 19-year sentence for alleged extremism and years of criticism of the authoritarian Putin in a harsh penal colony north of the Arctic Circle. Navalny’s political opposition to Putin…
Marx: Church must not stand alongside AfD and Putin
Augsburg (KNA) Cardinal Reinhard Marx from Munich has called on the Church to defend freedom. “Freedom may be under threat, but then we as a church have to stand on the side of freedom,” said Marx on Tuesday in Augsburg. “Not on the side of authoritarian regimes, not of those who dream of the past,…
Abuse victims: Protestant church must relinquish power
Hanover (KNA) Following the presentation of the first nationwide study on abuse in the Protestant Church, those affected are urging for swift consequences. “Much remains to be done,” said Detlev Zander, spokesperson for the organisation representing those affected, according to a statement issued by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) on Tuesday. “Only if the…
Christian indigenous people in India protest against border fence
New Delhi (KNA) Indigenous ethnic groups and human rights activists in northern India are condemning the sealing off of the border with Myanmar and the end of freedom of movement without visas and passports to the neighbouring country. According to media reports, the sealing off of the border with a fence primarily affects the predominantly…
Historian: Sexual abuse is not a modern problem
Zurich/Notre Dame (KNA) According to the German historian and theologian Ulrich L. Lehner, all the problems of the Catholic Church in the abuse crisis were already known in the 17th and 18th centuries. “The Jesuits liked to present themselves as a particularly chaste order,” said the author of the book from the renowned University of…
Rabbis criticise words of Vatican chief diplomat on Gaza
Vatican City/Bern (KNA) A letter from Jewish rabbis to Pope Francis has caused a stir. The Vatican newspaper “L’Osservatore Romano” published extracts from the friendly letter on Thursday evening. On the political level, there had been criticism from the Israeli side shortly beforehand of statements made by the Pope’s chief diplomat Cardinal Pietro Parolin on…
Maduro regime takes action against UN representatives
Tobias Käufer (KNA) The socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela has called on the staff of the United Nations Human Rights Office to leave the South American country within 72 hours. This emerged from a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry in Caracas on Thursday. At a press conference, Foreign Minister Yvan Gil…
“Another world is possible” – World Social Forum in Nepal
Kathmandu (KNA) The World Social Forum (WSF) began in Nepal on Thursday under the motto “Another world is possible”. 30,000 participants from 1,200 social movements and 100 countries will be discussing topics such as human rights, climate justice, food and democratisation in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu until Monday. “In fact, humanity is on the brink…