Geneva (KNA): United Nations aid organisations will present this year’s aid programme for Ukraine and war refugees in neighbouring countries on Monday. This was announced by a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva on Tuesday. It is expected that more than 14.6 million people in Ukraine, 40…
The Catholic Difference George Weigel In the apostolic letter Ad Theologiam Promovendam (To Promote Theology), issued by Pope Francis on Nov. 1, 2023, the Church was urged to do theology contextually: as the motu proprio put it, theology must be “fundamentally contextual…capable of reading and interpreting the Gospel in the conditions in which men and…
Carol Glatz All forms of artificial intelligence should be used to alleviate human suffering, promote integral development and help end wars and conflicts, not increase inequality and injustice in the world, Pope Francis said in his message for World Peace Day 2024. “Artificial intelligence ought to serve our best human potential and our highest aspirations,…
Cindy Wooden Pope Francis’ 2023 was a year of important trips made or postponed, a predecessor’s funeral and his own 10th anniversary as Pope, a call to the world to act on climate change and a call to the Church to strengthen its mission by learning “synodality”. The Argentine pope, who was born on December…
Pope Francis revealed his intention to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major, reflecting his intense personal devotion to Mary and the famed icon of Salus Populi Romani contained in its Borghese chapel. Francis thus will become the sixth pontiff to be interred in the basilica, joining Pius V, Sixtus V, Paul V, Clement IX…
Former NBA star Devin Harris recently revealed in an interview with US magazine The Atlantic that he and his three children converted to Catholicism. The move seems to have come following an academic interest in the Catholic Faith, with many commentators noting that Mr Harris’s university thesis was on the famous 15th Century Dominican friar,…
Jonathan Luxmoore As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is celebrating its 75th birthday, the Vatican’s Permanent Representative in Geneva, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, organised a symposium that aimed to focus on both human rights and care for creation. The December 8 symposium, co-sponsored by the Sovereign Order of Malta, Caritas in Veritate Foundation, and the…
Wuerzburg (KNA): Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, the former secretary to Pope Benedict XVI, has said he is still suffering from the loss of his superior and companion one year ago. “The memory of the anniversary of his death awakens sadness, pain and melancholy in me,” Gaenswein told the catholic weekly newspaper Die Tagespost. Gaenswein said he did…
The Vatican City State criminal court sentenced Cardinal Angelo Becciu to five years and six months in prison on two counts of embezzlement and one of aggravated fraud but found him not guilty of abuse of office or witness tampering. The 75-year-old cardinal’s attorney, Fabio Veglione, told reporters his client would appeal. The three-judge panel…
Cardinal Grzegorz Rys of Lodz, chairman of the Committee for Dialogue with Judaism of the Polish bishops’ conference, strongly condemned the incident in which a far-right Polish lawmaker used a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles in the Sejm, the country’s parliament. “In connection with the incident in the Sejm committed by Mr MP…
George Weigel
John L. Allen Jr.
Ruadhán Jones