An African St Peter’s Basilica, a country with no Christians but with voodoo… In Africa, religion and faith play a central role in everyday life. It is a continent of superlatives. At last: Africa has had to wait a long time for a papal visit. Three years ago, at the start of 2023, Pope Francis…
Bishops and other members of the Catholic Church in Spain called for prayers and offered reflections in light of the euthanasia of 25-year-old Noelia Castillo Ramos following a two-year legal battle by her family to try to obtain treatment for her psychiatric issues rather than having her death induced. Since it became known that Castillo…
The Finnish Supreme Court has convicted parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen on one charge related to her expression of her Christian beliefs on marriage and sexual ethics. In the 3-2 decision, the court said Räsänen’s criminal conviction over the distribution of a 2004 pamphlet alongside her Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola was for “making and keeping available to…
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced a new policy to protect women in sports, under which only “biological women” — and not “biological men” who self-identify as women — will be permitted to compete in the women’s category. The new policy, announced on March 26, will take effect starting with the 2028 Los Angeles…
A man has been arrested by police in connection to an attack on the March for Life in Lisbon, Portugal, on March 22 when an improvised explosive device was thrown into a crowd of attendees. According to a statement by the Public Security Police (PSP), at the time of the attack around 500 people were…
The Catholic aid organisation Aid to the Church in Need is warning of a renewed escalation of violence in Nigeria. There has recently been a series of attacks in the north-east of the African country, the organisation announced on March 26 in Munich. It quoted its project partner Joseph Bature Fidelis, a priest from the…
The case of a young Spanish woman who wishes to end her life with state assistance has sparked international sympathy and horror. The Catholic Church has also spoken out. The euthanasia case involving a 25-year-old woman is shocking Spain. Noelia Castillo, who has been paraplegic since a suicide attempt, is due to receive a lethal…
Ten years after Pope Francis issued a controversial document on families, Pope Leo XIV will meet with bishops from around the world to discuss the text’s application for today. Amoris Laetitia, Francis’ apostolic exhortation on marriage and the family, followed two contentious synods at the Vatican dominated by debate over divorce. Pope Leo on Thursday…
The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said last week that “the manipulation of God’s name to justify this and any other war is the gravest sin we can commit in this time.” The cardinal was commenting in response to the words of US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who quoted Psalm 144 during…
Icelandic police have confirmed that they are examining comments made by a Catholic priest about homosexuality that may violate the country’s laws against conversion therapy. The Reykjavik police said they would investigate the remarks made by Fr Jakob Rolland to Icelandic state broadcaster RÚV in early March, to determine whether criminal proceedings should be opened…