Border guards blocked a Belarus archbishop from re-entering his country this week. On Monday Catholic Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk-Mohilev was attempting to enter Belarus from Poland. Although the border guards “behaved very correctly,” their decision to refuse him entry to his homeland was “absolutely incomprehensible” and contravened the law, Kondrusiewicz says. “No explanation was Read more
Pope Francis is praying for constructive dialogue and respect for international law amidst rising tensions between Greece and Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean. During his Angelus address on Sunday Francis said he “follows with concern the tensions in the eastern Mediterranean.” Avoiding mentioning the nations involved, he prayed for the “instability” in the area. “I Read more
Preachers, politicians and family members of Black people who had been killed or shot by police gathered on the National Mall on August 28, the anniversary of the March on Washington. They called for new legislation to address racial inequities in the country. And they urged people to vote. Among the speakers Friday was a Read more
India’s Police have traced a Catholic priest a fortnight after he went missing from his southern Indian parish. Father Santhosh Joshi, the parish priest of St. Anthony’s Church in Mysore Diocese, was reunited with his family on Aug. 29. The disappearance of the 37-year-old priest came to light on Aug. 21 when he was unavailable Read more
The Bishop of San Rafael, Argentina, warned last week that he will impose canonical sanctions on priests who distribute Communion on the tongue during the coronavirus pandemic, in defiance of a diocesan directive permitting the distribution of Communion only in the hand. Bishop Eduardo Taussig announced June 13 that the Eucharist in his diocese was Read more
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has signaled that a prohibition on federal funding for abortion will be excluded from spending bills next year if Democrats retain a majority in the House of Representatives, setting the state for the end of a 44-year-old bipartisan agreement on abortion funding. The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that Speaker Read more
Pope Francis held his weekly general audience in public for the first time in six months on Wednesday, smiling and chatting as he re-emerged from the constraints of the coronavius lockdown. The audience, at which the pope announced a day of prayer and fasting for Lebanon, was held in the San Damaso courtyard of the Read more
A Boston priest shocked many when he wrote on his Facebook page that he believes in “a woman’s right to choose” on the issue of abortion. “I am pro-life and I believe that every woman who becomes pregnant deserves to have the freedom to choose life,” Msgr. Paul Garrity from the Boston Archdiocese wrote. “This Read more
Turkey is ‘weaponizing water’ in parts of Syria, say humanitarian groups. They have repeatedly accused Turkey of ‘weaponizing water’ since its military takeover of the region in October 2019. Those especially affected are those living in the north of Syria. The past few years’ religious freedom for Kurds, Christians and Yazidis is reportedly again under Read more
The pandemic is highlighting and exacerbating social problems, especially inequality, Pope Francis said at his General Audience last Wednesday. Focusing his talk on the fourth of his “Healing the World” series, Francis is urging everyone to check statistics to see how many children are dying of hunger because of a poor distribution of wealth and Read more