The world’s worst humanitarian crisis being played out in Yemen is about to escalate. The United Nations estimates 8.4 million people are on the brink of famine. So far at least 10,000 Yemenis have been killed since the war broke out in Yemen in March 2015. Cafod, a Catholic Aid agency, says the Saudi-led coalition’s Read more
Hundreds of priests in Britain support Humanae Vitae – the encyclical affirming traditional Christian teaching on the family and sexuality. The encyclical, written by Pope Paul VI and issued in July 1968, specifically deems artificial contraception as being “absolutely excluded” and “intrinsically wrong”. The British clergy have signed a statement endorsing the encyclical as its Read more
The French church has launched a programme to combat anti-migrant and anti-Muslim attitudes. Reports of tensions among Catholics have prompted the programme. “It is to resist the rise of tensions and hostilities within the Christian community that our movements have decided to work” with the French bishops’ conference. The groups say they hope to find Read more
Mexico’s Presidential candidate has spoken about religion in his campaign. “The time has come to present a proposal based on the aim that when we obtain the presidency, we must not only seek to achieve material well-being, we must also seek well-being for the soul,” Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says. The favourite to win July’s Read more
A stolen letter from Christopher Columbus has been returned to the Vatican. The letter, worth US 1.2 million, was stolen and a forgery put in its place. “We do not know exactly when the substitution took place. We will probably never know who the forger was,” Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugues says. Bruges is the Vatican’s chief Read more
A new law requiring priests to break confession seal is ‘premature and ill-judged’, says Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge. Priests are not using the seal of confession to protect child abusers. Removing a priest’s legal protection will not make children safer, Coleridge says. While he agrees children’s safety is paramount, he Read more
Catholic groups have reacted strongly against new law enforcement measures that will prevent asylum seekers fleeing domestic or gang violence applying for protection in the United States. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says US asylum laws cannot be used to remedy “all misfortune.” This is even in cases where a person may be threatened with Read more
Pope Francis has accepted Bishop Juan Barros’s resignation. Anti-abuse activists called the move the Vatican’s first concrete step in Chile to purge a corrupt church hierarchy implicated in decades of sexual mistreatment and ignoring victims. Barros of Osorno, Chile, has been at the centre of a sex abuse scandal for several years, having been accused Read more
Irish hospitals that receive government money will be expected to carry out abortions when new abortion laws come into effect. This includes hospitals with a Catholic character, the Irish prime minister says. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says doctors, nurses and midwives could opt out of performing procedures on conscience grounds. If they want to keep Read more
The outcome of the Korean summit between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un has been greeted with joy and calls for prayers of thanksgiving. The United States and North Korean leaders signed a joint-statement making commitments “to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.” After the summit, Trump said Read more