A Vatican archbishop says he would “hold the hand” of someone dying from assisted suicide, even though he considers it wrong. Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia says he would offer this comfort because “no one is abandoned” by the Church. Paglia, who heads the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, explained his views during the presentation of an Read more
The position of Australian churches, faith-based schools and charities to select staff based on their beliefs has been strengthened by a raft of changes to Prime Minister, Scott Morrison’s religious freedom bill. The changes came after faith-based organisations, business leaders and LGBTTIQ+ groups were highly critical of the initial draft. A second draft, Morrison is Read more
Cardinal Joseph Zen has taken aim at the Vatican for its silence on Hong Kong, the Uyghur concentration camps in Xinjiang and growing religious repression in mainland China. The city’s cardinal emeritus, who has been politically active in protests against any encroaching power by Beijing, used international media to take aim at the Holy See Read more
Msg Andrew Wadsworth (pictured), the executive director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) is defending his social media posts calling liturgical events at the Amazon Synod as “scenes of pagan worship”. “I, Andrew Raymond Wadsworth, do not wish to belong to the new idolatrous Pachamama Church currently being brought into being,” Read more
The most popular Bible verse in 2019 encourages readers not to ‘worry about anything.’ The ‘most popular’ claim is made by the creators of Bible App, YouVersion. YouVersion’s statistics show that worldwide 400 million users shared, bookmarked and highlighted Philippians 4:6 during 2019. The Philippians verse reads: ‘Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Read more
Pope Francis has issued a stark warning about the dangers of populism in today’s world. Speaking off script to staff and members of a Jesuit magazine “Aggiornamenti Sociali” (“Social Updates”), Francis said ignoring the reality lived by men and women today has caused a resurgence of old ideologies that inevitably do more harm than good. Read more
Quebec’s health minister, Danielle McCann, says consultation on extending the criteria for euthanasia is about to open. The new criteria will enable people to be euthanised if they can’t give informed consent or who will die of an illness in the more distant future. These include people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other degenerative conditions. Read more
Pope Francis, Sunday, named Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle to lead the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. In what some are calling a very significant move, the 62-year-old Archbishop of Manila will move to Rome to oversee the work of the Catholic Church in Asia, Oceania, New Zealand and most dioceses in Africa. These areas Read more
The Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq has announced it will not hold public Christmas celebrations this year. Iraq’s Chaldean Catholic Church is one of the largest in Iraq and the diaspora. Cardinal Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, head of the church, said the decision was made “out of respect” for victims; those killed and wounded in Read more
Nearly 160,000 security personnel will be deployed to try to make Christmas and New Year celebrations in Indonesia safe, reported ucanews.org. This is an increase from last year, when nearly 90,000 security personnel guarded about 50,000 churches across the country. An official of the National Police Traffic Corps told journalists that police, military personnel and Read more