Pakistan court rules men can marry underage girls after first period

Monday, February 17th, 2020

A high court in Pakistan has ruled that men can marry underage girls, under Sharia law, after they have experienced their first menstrual cycle.

Sharia law is the religious law of Islam derived from the teachings of the Quran, which acts as a divine code or guide for living.

The ruling was made by the Sindh High Court on Feb. 3 during the hearing of Huma Younus, a 14-year-old Catholic girl who was abducted, pressured to convert to Islam, and forced into child marriage. Read more

Additional reading

News category: News Shorts, World.

Tags: Pakistan, Sharia law, Underage marriage

The optimism of Timothy Radcliffe

Fr Timothy Radcliffe, the Dominican friar, was chosen by Pope Francis to lead the three-day retreat for all participants prior to the first assembly last October of the Synod on Synodality. This was a position of great trust given the Read more

Theologian: The future of the church is local

In Europe, the number of church members is declining – but Christianity remains strong worldwide. However, the structures do not remain stable, but are constantly changing. Thomas Schlag is Professor of Practical Theology at the University of Zurich, where he Read more

The perils and necessities of saying ‘I don’t know’

When I was studying political science in graduate school, I was surrounded by students who were much smarter than me. Most of my fellow students at the University of California Berkeley went to Ivy League schools as undergraduates. They were Read more

Survey: New priests are young and involved in their community

The incoming class of seminarians who will be ordained in 2024 is young and involved in their community, an annual survey released April 15 found. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned the Center for Applied Research (CARA) at Georgetown Read more

CathNews New Zealand