Saying he was acting for the good of the unity of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has restored limits on the celebration of the Mass according to the Roman Missal in use before the Second Vatican Council, overturning or severely restricting permissions St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI had given to celebrate the…
Category: World Report
Christian Movement calls for free elections amid protests in Cuba
On Sunday, July 11, the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) called on Cubans to continue to pressure Cuban communist authorities to open general elections after thousands of people took the streets of major local cities to protest the unprecedented scarcity of essentials and the death rate produced by Covid-19. After months of food and medicine shortages…
Christian refugees in Lebanon live in abandoned mall amid economic crisis
In an abandoned mall on the outskirts of Beirut, an image of St Thérèse of Lisieux hangs in the window of what was once a storefront. This former clothing store now serves as home for Christian refugees who have been hit hard by the inflation caused by Lebanon’s severe economic depression. The living conditions for…
Petition urges Canadian PM not to slander Church over residential schools
More than 4,000 people have signed a petition requesting that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cease blaming the Catholic Church for the country’s residential school system. The residential school system was set up by the Canadian government, beginning in the 1870s, as a means of forcibly assimilating indigenous children and stripping them of familial and…
Belarusian president warns against singing of decades-old hymn
A Belarusian bishops’ spokesman downplayed a police raid on Minsk’s Catholic cathedral, although a prominent lay Catholic warned arrests elsewhere suggested the move could signal further police action. “We don’t really know what the police were seeking,” Father Yuri Sanko, spokesman for the Minsk-based bishops’ conference, told Catholic News Service July 8, four days after police arrived…
Vatican Roundup
Pope offers condolences after assassination of Haiti’s president In a telegram addressed to the Apostolic Nuncio in Haiti, Pope Francis said “Upon hearing the news of the heinous assassination of His Excellency Mr Jovenel Moïse, President of Haiti,” he offers his condolences “to the Haitian people and to his wife, who was also seriously wounded…
In brief
Polish Catholic bishops’ leader: Church supports those opting for Covid-19 vaccine The president of Poland’s Catholic bishops’ conference said last Thursday that the Church supports those who opt to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki issued the statement July 8 as the Polish government seeks to expand its vaccination program ahead of a potential fourth wave…
Pope released from hospital, prays at Rome basilica
Ten days after undergoing intestinal surgery, Pope Francis was released from Rome’s Gemelli hospital, the Vatican confirmed
Hundreds gather outside hospital to greet recovering Pope
Pilgrims and well-wishers gathered at Rome’s Gemelli hospital to greet Pope Francis as he made his first public appearance in a week after undergoing intestinal surgery. Appearing on the 10th floor balcony of his suite of rooms at the hospital July 11, the Pope was greeted with applause and shouts of Viva il Papa (Long…
Suspected arson attacks continue at churches across Canada
More churches across Canada have been destroyed or damaged by fires that police are describing as suspicious or suspected arson. Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Morinville, Alberta, investigated a fire at St Jean Baptiste Church, a 100-year-old building that went up in flames early June 30. The fire in Morinville, about 20 miles north of…