A Vatican court convicted two environmental activists of aggravated damage Monday and ordered them to pay more than 28,000 euros (NZ$49,000) in restitution. The ruling came after the activists glued their hands to the base of an ancient statue in the Vatican Museums in a protest to draw attention to climate change. The two members Read more
Chevani Shannon likes to get out and about with help from the Chris Ruth Centre Charitable trust, but that’s only made possible because of modified vans that can also transport her wheelchair. Centre Chief Executive Marilyn Paston says there’s a huge variety of things they do. “We rely on our vans to get our people Read more
On Sunday evening, Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth released a video message addressing his interventions at the Carmelite monastery in Arlington, Texas. Saying he would not be drawn into public discussion of the matter, the bishop attempted to refute accounts that the convent’s superior had been heavily medicated when allegedly admitting to sexual sins Read more
The Death Cafe movement is heading to Manawatū with the first meeting on June 17. Creating a space to talk about death is the aim of the group, says facilitator Aingie Miller, who wants to take the discomfort out of conversations. “I believe that the more that we talk about death, the more comfortable we Read more
Shortly after returning from Ukraine, where he undertook a special peace mission on behalf of Pope Francis, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi stressed the importance of dialogue and said his visit was not an attempt at mediation. Speaking to journalists on the margins of a June 7 book presentation the day after returning from Kyiv, Zuppi Read more
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Justin Welby, has strongly criticised his fellow Anglican bishops in Uganda for supporting the East African country’s new law that makes homosexual acts illegal and subject to punishment even up to the death penalty. “This is not about imposing Western values on our Ugandan Anglican sisters and brothers,” said Welby, Read more
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered local authorities to take suicide prevention measures after various media reports revealed families committed suicide due to hunger and poverty. Kim officially defined suicide as an “act of treason against socialism” and issued a confidential suicide prevention order during emergency meetings of the party leaders all over Read more
A Wellington woman who complained to police she was raped on a first date says some men are using a Christian dating app to target vulnerable women. When Belinda* first discovered Christian Connection, a popular faith-based dating app, she was optimistic about finding love again. Having been on her own for the last seven years, Read more
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has called for religion to be banned as a criterion for school admissions in England, in what religious leaders and MPs have branded a “secular-inspired attack” on faith schools. The CRC concluded that “preventing the use of religion as a selection criterion for schools Read more
There is comfort and hope in the way Dr Mary Eastham talks of human connections as an art form, a work of beauty that can build trust and understanding capable of overcoming any injustice. It is in the timbre of her voice and the conviction of her words. The 71-year-old, who has been bestowed a Read more