Israel’s finance minister wants to evict the Bedouins from Khan al-Ahmar. Human rights activists fear this will have repercussions across the entire occupied West Bank. And they warn that it could spell the end of the two-state solution. Israeli activists are sounding the alarm following the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that…
20.01 – BELFAST: The Clonard Youth and Young Adult Ministry’s Tuesday night walking group were back on the Belfast streets last week. The group set off from Clonard and making their way through Millfield, Donegal Street, the Cathedral Quarter, over to the Big Fish, across the bridge to the Ormeau Embankment, up onto the Ormeau…
In the weeks leading up to Easter, dioceses and media outlets latched onto the high numbers of people set to become fully initiated into the faith in certain places to declare a sort of “Catholic revival,” which, according to one expert, isn’t exactly happening. “For example, I’ve heard how the Archdiocese of Newark has doubled…
On May 12, the French Senate rejected for the second time the assisted suicide bill under debate, with the leader of the conservative party calling for a referendum on the issue to avoid it being approved without the Senate’s approval. The National Assembly – France’s lower house – had already approved the bill twice, but…
President Donald Trump and several top administration officials joined with a cast of mostly conservative Christian clergy on Sunday at the National Mall in Washington for a prayer gathering billed as a “rededication of our country as One Nation Under God” upon America’s 250th birthday. Some critics called the Rededicate 250 event an effort to…
On May 13 the Vatican issued a final warning to a breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics that their planned consecrations of bishops without papal consent constitutes a schismatic act that incurs automatic excommunication. Pope Leo XIV is praying for enlightenment so that the leaders of the Society of St Pius X “may reconsider the extremely…
Pope Leo XIV visited Rome’s public La Sapienza University on May 14, the largest university in Europe and one of Italy’s most prestigious academic institutions, where he denounced the “great lie” he said is causing anxiety and depression among young people. Speaking in the university’s Aula Magna after a brief moment of prayer in the…
A Pope’s first encyclical is traditionally awaited with great anticipation – and this is now the case for Leo XIV as well. Church historian Jörg Ernesti explains what makes these particular doctrinal writings so special. Monday is the day: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical will be published. And he will even present his encyclical, entitled…
Settlers have once again attacked Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Once again, a young Palestinian has been killed. At least four villages are reported to have been targeted by Israeli extremists. According to Palestinian sources, a 16-year-old Palestinian from the Kaabne Bedouin tribe was killed during an attack by Israeli settlers on several…
Pope Leo XIV surprised 13 priests from southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, by joining a video call from Rome on Wednesday, telling them they were in his prayers and that he hoped peace would soon prevail along the tense frontier. The Lebanese Catholic and Maronite priests were asked to attend an online morning…
Renata Steffens