A new abortion law reform bill is heating debate in South Australia. The private member’s bill wants the law reformed to refuse to terminate pregnancies after 28 weeks. Touted by its supporters as a “world-first”, Ben Hood’s bill aims to ensure pregnancy terminations after 27 weeks and six days are achieved through the early induction Read more
Caritas Lebanon has issued an urgent appeal for aid as the situation in Lebanon becomes increasingly dire due to ongoing heavy bombing. “The situation at present in Lebanon is very difficult, if not critical. It is not possible to make assumptions about what may happen in the future, but we know that the prospects are Read more
A new Pew Research Center survey reveals that the majority of Catholics in Latin America and the United States support the use of birth control, women’s ordination and Communion for cohabiting couples. Pew Research surveyed 5,676 Catholics from seven countries: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico and the United States. Catholics in these countries overwhelmingly Read more
Dozens of children drowned while bathing in rivers and ponds in rituals that were part of a three-day Hindu festival in eastern India’s Bihar state, officials said. Heavy monsoon rains recently had raised the levels of waterways across the state. At least 46 people, including 37 children, drowned in separate incidents across the state’s 15 Read more
Following an investigation into an influential Peru-based Catholic movement that has expanded across Latin America and the United States, Pope Francis has expelled ten members from its ranks for physical and spiritual abuse. The group, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, which operates in seven Latin American countries and has communities in the archdioceses of Denver and Philadelphia, Read more
For centuries, Christians have attributed the Shroud of Turin a first-century date. Nuclear engineer Robert Rucker says his latest research on the shroud verifies that. “The Shroud of Turin is the second-most valuable possession of the human race next to the Bible itself,” Rucker told CNA. The shroud is currently preserved in the Chapel of Read more
A moral theologian whose views are at odds with Church teaching on the use of contraception in marriage has been appointed as one of 28 new consultors to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. CNA reports that Pope Francis has appointed Fr Maurizio Chiodi to the DDF. Chiodi is known for his view Read more
US Cardinal Robert McElroy has urged the Catholic Church to promote peace and active nonviolence rather than refining just war theory. “In the life of the church, just war theories are a secondary element in Catholic teaching; the first is that we should not engage in warfare at all” he said in an interview with Read more
Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the European Rabbinical Conference, has criticised Pope Francis’ approach to migration, suggesting it may lead to political instability in Europe. Goldschmidt’s remarks, published in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, expressed concerns over the implications of the Pope’s immigration policy. He stated it could result in “chaos and political upheaval”. Rabbi Goldschmidt pointed to Read more