The Canadian bishops are aiming to raise $30 million (€20.5 million) over the next five years to support the Indigenous peoples of the country, including survivors of residential schools. Bishop Raymond Poisson of Saint-Jerome and Mont-Laurier, who was recently elected president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that there was a “universal consensus”…

Benedict Rogers, a human rights campaigner, explained that Burma’s Christian minority is suffering amid the military’s continuing crackdown on protesters opposed to its February coup. Speaking last Tuesday, Mr Rogers told a webinar at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, on September 28 that earlier this month the military killed a Christian pastor, Cung Biak Hum.…

Modern ‘throwaway Culture’ leads to neglect of society’s vulnerable, says Pope Pope Francis condemned abortion and euthanasia in a speech in which he said that today’s “throwaway culture” leads to the killing of children and discarding of the elderly. “There is the discarding of children that we do not want to welcome with the law…

Scottish Catholics urge opposition to assisted suicide legalisation Scotland’s Catholic bishops are urging opposition to a measure that would legalise assisted suicide, warning that the government “prevent suicide, not assist it”. A consultation on the Proposed Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill was launched on September 22, and will run through December 22.…

The High Court in London rejected a landmark challenge to a UK law allowing abortion up to birth for disability. In its September 23 ruling, the court declared that a law allowing abortion up to birth for disability was not discriminatory. The challenge was brought by Heidi Crowter, a woman with Down syndrome, and Máire…

Spanish Church leaders are urging prayers and donations for residents of the Canary Islands, after earthquakes and a volcanic eruption devastated parts of the Atlantic island chain. “We welcome the public administration’s speed in ensuring the safety of all those affected and caring for those with greatest vulnerability,” said a September 22 statement from the…

Catholic lay organisations took to the streets of downtown Fulda under the motto “We remain loud” to express their dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church, on the final day of the German bishops’ annual fall plenary assembly. On September 23, Catholics demonstrated in front of the 18th-century palace where the bishops met and marched to demand…

Catholic leaders from Eastern Europe pledged closer cooperation against sexual abuse by clergy, despite different levels of preparedness, at the region’s first international child protection conference. A statement from the September 19-22 conference said lectures and group sessions had covered “spiritual, theological, legal and pastoral aspects of the crisis”, adding that key themes would be…

The Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021, introduced in the US Senate and House June 8 and currently moving through various committees in both chambers, “is nothing short of child sacrifice”, said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco. The “misnamed” measure, he said, “shows to what radical extremes the supposedly ‘pro-choice’ advocates in our country…

Vatican requires vaccine pass for visitors and employees The Vatican will require all visitors and personnel to show a Covid-19 pass proving they have been vaccinated, have recovered from the coronavirus, or have tested negative for the disease in order to enter the city state beginning October 1. To enter Vatican territory, tourists and other…