Peru’s bishops called for national unity and urged citizens to stand up for democracy and the rule of law as the president closed Congress and was subsequently impeached and arrested. In a statement December 7, the bishops’ conference said it “emphatically and absolutely rejects the rupture in the constitutional order. The defence of democracy is…
Christmas this year marks the first time in its history that the European Parliament has allowed a Nativity scene to be set up at its headquarters in Brussels. Until now, officials of the European institution had considered it “potentially offensive.” The efforts of Isabel Benjumea, a member in the EU’s House of Representatives from Spain,…
A top court in the southern Indian state of Kerala has ordered police protection for the apostolic administrator of an archdiocese in the Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church, which is embroiled in a bitter liturgical dispute. The High Court of Kerala granted the request December 5 in a lawsuit by Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, administrator of the…
Pope Francis has approved a new law strengthening the oversight of Vatican-related foundations and nonprofit organisations as well as detailing sanctions and clarifying existing norms on transparency, accountability and mandated compliance with anti-money laundering measures. The new law, which took effect December 8, applies to all legal “persons” or entities dedicated to a specific purpose…
For the second year in a row Nigeria has been left off of the US State Department’s list of countries that engage in or tolerate the world’s worst religious freedom violations, despite regular reports of kidnappings and killings of Christians, sparking outcry from members of a bipartisan government watchdog group. For more than two decades,…
Vatican holds thermal shirt drive for Ukraine The Vatican’s charity office is holding a drive to collect thermal shirts for people in Ukraine as they face an energy emergency amid the war. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Pope’s almoner, said December 5 that the charity office of the Vatican is “already stocking up” on thermal shirts…
The Ukrainian government said it would sanction members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate. After a December 1 meeting of the National Security and Defence Council, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the government also would review if the Church met the legal criteria for use of one of the main shrines…
Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Catholic woman who escaped death for alleged blasphemy and who now lives in Canada, has appealed for the protection of victims of blasphemy laws in her home country. She also said her family is struggling in Canada, because the government only supported them for one year, reported ucanews.com. In her first…
As California’s three-year window to file child sex abuse lawsuits past the statute of limitations nears its conclusion, 66 Catholic clergy and religious have been named in 116 lawsuits in Alameda County, which covers the area between San Francisco and San Jose. Additionally, 14 of the clergy members and religious identified in the lawsuits are…
German Synodal Way designed to create ‘pressure’ The German Synodal Way was designed from the outset to avoid legal sanctions while simultaneously creating “pressure” on the Church to change Catholic teaching, one of the founders of the process told German media Friday. Thomas Sternberg, former president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), said…