Pope Francis has named Robert Francis Prevost, an Augustinian missionary who has been serving as Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, as the new prefect for the Dicastery of Bishops. Bishop Prevost succeeds Cardinal Marc Ouellet, both as prefect and as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. The Holy Father has accepted the resignation Read more
More and more junior doctors are being lost in the training pipeline before they emerge to bolster the stressed ranks of specialists, data suggests. A new estimate from the senior doctors’ union puts the loss rate at about 40 per cent compared to just 16 per cent a few years ago. The analysis, passed by Read more
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life is preparing a document that will address divorced and remarried couples at the request of Pope Francis, according to the dicastery’s prefect, Cardinal Kevin Farrell. Farrell mentioned the in-progress document in a speech delivered in Italian on April 22 that opened a meeting of the dicastery, Read more
An international rights group has called upon the Singapore government to halt the impending execution of a man convicted of drug trafficking and urged the repeal of the death penalty in the country. In a press statement on April 24, the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) condemned the Singapore government’s use of the Read more
Robert F Kennedy Jr has become the fourth member of his family to run for the Democrat presidential nomination, launching his campaign in Boston to loud cheers from disgruntled Democrats in a sign of the vulnerability of ageing incumbent Joe Biden. Nephew of assassinated former president John F Kennedy and the son of Bobby, gunned Read more
After Cyclone Gabrielle, endless work continues to repair communities overwhelmed by rising waters and clean-up efforts are ongoing across damaged farms and businesses. Meanwhile homeowners hold their breath for insurers to deliver relief. But as individuals face varying degrees of disruption, a collective sense of frustration has built among those in dire need of financial Read more
The Director of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Pakistan, Emmanuel Yousaf, says abductions and forced conversions of young women from Christian minorities are on the rise. “The problem is becoming more acute day by day,” the priest said in an interview with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need Read more
An Auckland pharmacy has apologised after a staff member asked a trans customer who was picking up a prescription whether he believed he would go to heaven. Logan Popp, a trans man, said he was speaking out to warn others in the rainbow community about the staff member’s words – which he said “could be Read more
A Chinese citizen journalist who was imprisoned for three years after a secret trial for reporting on the Covid-19 situation in Wuhan City will be released at the end of this month after completing his jail term, says a report. Fang Bin disappeared on Feb 1, 2020, after he live-streamed the pandemic situation from healthcare Read more
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Msgr Carl Reid, 72, as the ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, effective July 1. The Pontiff also named Bishop Anthony Randazzo of Broken Bay (Australia), who took part in a recent visitation of the ordinariate, as the ordinariate’s apostolic administrator. Established Read more