New lineages of the Omicron Covid variant, like BA.4 and BA.5, are helping to spark a wave of reinfections as people who previously caught Covid-19 contract Covid again. Now the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is tracking a new “variant of concern”: BA.4.6. This week, the CDC included the BA.4 spinoff in Read more
Leaders of the global response to HIV and AIDS who gathered in Montreal for the International AIDS Conference praised faith leaders for their contribution to fighting the four decade-old pandemic. “Faith leaders have helped to keep us on track. You have provided hope to millions of people living with HIV and to HIV activists with Read more
A nursing academic says it’s unethical to rely on migrant workers to fix staff shortages. Health New Zealand will run an international recruitment service to ease immigration for health workers. But New Zealand College of Nurses Executive Director, Jenny Carryer, told Heather du Plessis Allan “there’s a 12 million-strong global shortage of nurses, and other Read more
Catholics in Hong Kong are bracing for a shortage of Chinese-language bibles amid the unwillingness of publishing houses in mainland China to print the sacred Christian scripture, says a religious order specialising in biblical and archaeological studies. The Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (SBF) of Hong Kong, run by the Franciscans, announced last week that the society Read more
A former Celebration member believes deliverance – the Pentecostal equivalent of exorcism – has been used to replace counselling, medical care and even law enforcement at the controversial church. Others say the experience of having a demon ‘cast out’ made them physically ill or left them psychologically damaged. Read more
Pope Francis has responded to his being sent a brochure from the Outreach LGBTQ ministry conference held recently at Fordham University. Writing a letter to Fr James Martin, SJ, Francis encouraged Martin to keep working in the ministry “I encourage you all to keep working in the culture of encounter, which shortens the distances and Read more
Pope Francis in his prayer intention for the month of August invites Catholics to pray for small and medium-sized businesses, so that in the midst of economic and social crisis, they find ways to continue operating and serving their communities. “Stores, workshops, cleaning businesses, transportation businesses and so many others. The ones that don’t appear Read more
Stolen Generation advocates in Western Australia are calling on the Pope to come to Australia and apologise to First Nations people taken from their families and/or abused in missions. The call follows news of Pope Francis visiting Canada to apologised for the church’s role in schools where indigenous children were abused, branding forced cultural assimilation Read more
The rainbow community faces homelessness at a significantly higher rate than other New Zealanders, new research shows. The study explored the relationship between Takatāpui/LGBTIQ+ and homelessness, and was carried out by researcher Dr Brodie Fraser. Earlier research from Fraser examined the experiences of eight people from the LGBTIQ+ community who had been homeless. There was Read more
Pope Francis said on Saturday that his advancing age and his difficulty walking have ushered in a new, slower phase of his papacy and he repeated that he would be ready to resign one day if serious health problems prohibited him from running the Church. “I don’t think I can continue doing trips with the Read more