A poll found two-thirds of Americans have a positive view of Pope Leo XIV’s calls for peace amid the Iran war and a majority of people hold a negative view of President Donald Trump’s criticisms of the Holy Father and threats to destroy Iranian civilisation. The Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll surveyed 2,560 American adults between…
21 days and 14 days’ military detention: this is the sentence imposed by the Israeli army on two soldiers for desecrating a statue of the Virgin Mary. The soldier who placed a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon must serve three weeks; his comrade, who photographed him…
Fr Gerardo Fortich Saco Jr, 60, was supposed to be the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Tagbilaran, in the central Philippines, after his ordination and installation on May 26. But at 6am on May 5, Fr Saco jolted the Diocese of Tagbilaran — and sent shockwaves nationwide — when he announced that he was…
Israel has begun construction of a bypass road in the West Bank. According to Transport Minister Miri Regev, the aim of the new transport link is to “bring a million residents to Judea and Samaria”, as reported by Haaretz on May 6. The biblical names of these regions refer to the land occupied in violation…
Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least seven people and wounded others on Saturday while the Israeli military demolished parts of a Catholic convent in a border village, officials said. Israel’s military on Saturday issued a new warning for residents of nine southern villages to evacuate. Israel and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group have kept…
Children “bear the brunt” of international religious freedom violations, panelists at an April 30 hearing of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said. Vicky Hartzler, chair of USCIRF, an independent, bipartisan US federal government commission that monitors religious freedom around the globe, said the group is “deeply concerned about countries where governments restrict religious…
In light of a recent law legalising assisted suicide in New York, Catholic bishops urged Catholics to make end-of-life decisions prayerfully and with guidance from the Church. The updated pamphlet, “Now and at the Hour of Our Death,” is designed “to simply explain the moral principles of Catholic teaching with regard to end-of-life decision-making and…
Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who has served as archbishop of Munich and Freising in Germany since 2008, has instructed the priests and full-time pastoral staff in the archdiocese to introduce the controversial handout “Blessing Gives Strength to Love” as the basis of pastoral care. Priests who do not want to carry out such blessing celebrations for…
In Hungary, the era of right-wing populist Viktor Orbán is coming to an end after 16 years. Expectations of his successor are high. Can Magyar achieve a fresh start with a dancing surgeon and a blind martial artist? Vilmos Katai-Nemeth is a lawyer, a black belt in the martial art of Aikido, and has raised…
There was great sadness a year ago when the first Pope from South America died. For many, Francis represented the new, more human face of the Church: open, humble, flexible. Today, some of that narrative has changed. When Pope Francis, who died a year ago, is commemorated at the memorial service on Tuesday evening, the…