After a disputed incident in which more than 100 Palestinians were killed while attempting to access humanitarian aid in Gaza, Church leaders in Jerusalem have condemned what they described as a “wanton attack” and called for a ceasefire. In a March 1 statement, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem pointed to the February…
Vatican City (CNA) According to a media report, the Vatican intends to publish a new document on the subject of human dignity this month. As the Vatican correspondent reports in the Catholic newspaper “La Croix international” (online), Pope Francis has commissioned the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to do so. The authority, headed…
Geneva (KNA) According to a United Nations expert, religiously motivated hatred must be tackled comprehensively and at its social roots. The promotion of hostility based on religious beliefs is widespread and a driver of polarisation and conflict around the world, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion, Nazila Ghanea, told the UN Human Rights Council…
Freiburg (KNA) Caritas Germany has criticised the dropping of aid over the Gaza Strip as a sign of poverty and symbolic politics. “Uncontrolled drops of aid are the worst form of aid. They in no way ensure that the weakened population actually receives the vital support and are therefore an indictment of poverty,” criticised the…
At least 15 Catholics were killed in an attack during Mass on Sunday in the Burkina Faso village of Essakane in the country’s Oudalan province in the northeastern region, a jurisdiction of the Diocese of Dori. In a statement, Fr Jean-Pierre Sawadogo, the vicar general of the Dori Diocese, called the February 25 incident a…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
Brandon Scott