Isabel Allende, a leading Latin American novelist, has praised the efforts of the Church in Chile on behalf of human rights following the 1973 overthrow of her cousin President Salvador Allende. She said Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez, Archbishop of Santiago from 1961 to 1983, “established an office inside the cathedral” to document cases of disappearance Read more
One in five civil unions registered last year were between visitors to New Zealand. Statistics New Zealand figures show 303 civil unions registered to New Zealand residents and 87 to overseas residents. A statistical analyst, Anne Howard, says 88% of all civil unions were between same-sex couples. She says while the figures don’t show where Read more
Social organisations are pleading to be kept in mind during the central Christchurch rebuild. The new-look city centre is likely to have far fewer cheap premises because of the loss of old buildings, escalating construction costs, and buy-up of land for the green frame. Council of Social Services executive officer Sharon Torstonson said many social Read more
Catholics in the Archdiocese of Wellington diocese were asked, Sunday, to consider merging some parishes. The church held a hui in Porirua on Sunday and plans another in the South Island next weekend to discuss issues such as it having fewer clergy, less money and earthquake-prone buildings that need repair. Archbishop John Dew says some Read more
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has said he is “happy to be back at the Vatican” after moving into his new quarters in a restored convent in the Vatican Gardens. A Vatican statement said the retired Pope intended to “dedicate himself to the service of the Church, above all with prayer”. But Vatican correspondent John Allen Read more
Several prominent bioethicists have come out in favour of infanticide in a leading medical journal. A special issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics contains 31 commentaries on infanticide from a range of ethicists, some arguing it can be a moral action; others maintaining that even suggesting it is a vile stain on academic integrity. Read more
The death of Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, a key figure in the struggle for control of the Catholic Church in China, has raised the question of who will succeed him as Bishop of Shanghai. Bishop Jin, originally named a bishop by the government-approved Patriotic Association but reconciled with the Holy See in 2005, frequently straddled Read more
The proportion of New Zealanders who drank more than recommended limits on at least one occasion in the past year ranged from 40 per cent for those aged 55 to 64 to 80 per cent for those aged 18 to 24. While for some this may be infrequent, for too many New Zealanders this is Read more
A Kiwi sperm donor who says he has sired 49 children has reportedly been arrested in the UK for alleged sexual assault. Professor Gennadij Raivich, who grew up in New Zealand and moved to London in 2001, said he wanted to give women the gift of parenthood. He considered giving private sperm donations a “hobby Read more
When an 1883 Catholic congregation in Wanganui saw that their nuns had changed brown robes for black some of them cried – they thought the pope must have died. But it wasn’t that. It was a split in the nuns’ religious order, a split that divided friend from friend, Sister Catherine Shelton said. That split Read more