My friend and colleague Carl Trueman recently observed that “the West is no longer a consortium of serious cultures”. To which I am sorely tempted to add, “…or serious polities”. The two are connected, the cultural decay of the West being a not-insignificant factor in our descent into political infantilism. The exploration of that connection…
Dakar (KNA) Human rights activists have called on Senegal to comply with fair conditions for the presidential election on 25 February. Instead, Senegal’s authorities are cracking down on the opposition, media and civil society in the run-up to the elections, criticised the human rights organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday. According to the opposition…
Warsaw (KNA) The Catholic Church in Poland is intervening in the conflict between two imprisoned politicians from the right-wing conservative opposition party PiS and the new government in Warsaw. The Bishops’ Conference announced on Wednesday evening that its chairman, Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, had written to both politicians offering to lobby Justice Minister Adam Bodnar for…
Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa has been released from prison and sent into exile along with 18 imprisoned churchmen as the Nicaraguan government expelled its most prominent critic, whose presence behind bars bore witness to the Sandinista regime’s descent into totalitarianism, along with its unrelenting persecution of the Catholic Church. Vatican News confirmed on January 14 at…
Amid an unprecedented wave of violence in Ecuador, the South American country’s bishops’ conference issued a statement asking the people to unite against the disturbance caused by criminal gangs, whose operations were defined as acts of “treason against the nation”. The incidents began after José Adolfo Macías Villamar, the leader of the criminal gang Los…
LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Mary McAleese, the former president of the Republic of Ireland, has backed calls for the Catholic Church to end priestly celibacy. McAleese, currently chancellor of Trinity University, spoke to The Irish News after Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who also serves as an adjunct secretary of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine…
Berlin (KNA) The German Child Protection Association has criticised Pope Francis for his comments on the beating of children. “There is no justification for beating children, not even a papal one,” said Daniel Grein, Federal Director of the Child Protection Association, in Berlin on Tuesday. Anyone who physically abuses a child is doing the wrong…
Geneva (KNA) The Swiss daily newspaper “Le Temps” accuses the traditionalist Catholic Fraternity of St Pius X of serious shortcomings in dealing with abuse. After months of research in several countries, the paper says it has compiled numerous cases of physical, sexual and psychological abuse within the ranks of the Fraternity. An article published at…
Berlin (KNA) The five richest men in the world have more than doubled their wealth since 2020. According to an Oxfam study published on Monday, these five men had a fortune of 405 billion US dollars in 2020. This figure has now risen to USD 869 billion. All billionaires have increased their wealth by USD…
Berlin (KNA) The Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) is calling for a long-term strategy for war refugees from Ukraine. Temporary protection will end for them in March 2025, said Jan Schneider, Head of Research at the SVR, in Berlin on Thursday. Sustainable follow-up solutions are needed, “otherwise several million people in Europe may…
George Weigel