Indonesian Catholics have taken the initiative in providing assistance to victims of the earthquake in West Java that killed more than 250 people and displaced over 7,000. Caritas Indonesia is coordinating with teams from the Catholic charity in three dioceses – Bogor, Bandung, and Jakarta – along with other Catholic organizations to provide assistance to Read more
Pope Francis offered advice on Wednesday for building “a more mature and more beautiful relationship with the Lord” through prayer. Speaking at his general audience in St Peter’s Square on a cold, cloudy morning on Nov 16, the pope spoke about spiritual desolation and approaching prayer without solely seeking “emotional gratification” or as “a mere Read more
The solidarity group West Papua Action Aotearoa has criticised New Zealand for not “being stronger” over growing global concern about Indonesian human rights violations in West Papua, and contrasted this with Vanuatu’s leadership. The group was reacting to the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review into Indonesia report in Geneva last week. “Eight countries Read more
A church bell that was kept hidden by a Muslim family during the Islamic State’s occupation of Mosul rang out above St Paul’s Chaldean Catholic Cathedral on Sunday for the first time in eight years. Christians from across Iraq’s Nineveh Plain came to the cathedral to participate in the bell-ringing ceremony and Divine Liturgy on Read more
New Zealand has just recorded its highest death count in a 12-month period – driven by the Covid pandemic and our ageing population. Statistics New Zealand today released its year-on-year update on births and deaths between September 2021 and September 2022. It showed a “sharp” 10 per cent increase in the mortality rate, with 38,052 Read more
Vatican prosecutors shot down a legal suit filed by ex-Vatican auditor Libero Milone and his deputy, Ferruccio Panicco, on Wednesday (Nov 16) and reopened criminal investigations into the two men who once oversaw the balance sheets of Vatican departments. “This is unacceptable!” said a visibly irate Milone at a news conference in Rome on Thursday. Read more
Chinese pro-democracy activists and dissidents from around the world paid tributes to Bao Tong, a former official of the Communist Party (CCP) and a champion of political reforms, who died last week. Tong, was a writer, political commentator, and activist who became the director of the Office of Political Reform of the CCP Central Committee. Read more
An Allegheny County jury on Monday acquitted a Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese priest who had been accused of sexually abusing a child in the 1990s. The Rev Robert Cedolia, 71, was found not guilty of indecent assault and corruption of minors. He was accused of assaulting an 8-year-old boy in 1998 at Our Lady of Joy Read more
Auxiliary Bishop Vicente de Paula Ferreira of the Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte was threatened by an armed man after a Mass on November 12 in the suburban city of Moeda, in a sign of the political violence facing members of the clergy in Brazil. Since former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat incumbent Jair Read more