The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is praising the change to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Affordable Care Act healthcare mandate regarding funding contraception. The USCCB says the change is a “return to common sense, long-standing federal practice, and peaceful coexistence between church and state.” The change provides “a Read more
The German bishops appear to have abandoned a controversial new German translation of the Missal that was based on Liturgiam authenticam, the Congregation for Divine Worship’s 2001 document. Liturgiam authenticam insisted on greater fidelity to the Latin original in liturgy translations. The conference president Cardinal Reinhard Marx has called Liturgiam authenticam, a “dead end”. Read Read more
Students at an Oxford college protested after their representatives tried to ban the Christian Union (CU) from a first year students’ fair. Balliol College’s Junior Common Room, which represents undergraduates, initially refused the CU a stall, fearing it would be “harmful” to students because of Christianity’s links with “neo-colonialism” and “homophobia”. Read more
The Ninevah Plains, traditionally home to a large Christian community, could be wiped out as it is now “ground zero” for disputed territories between the Kurdish regional government and Baghdad. Five Catholic and Orthodox bishops have issued a joint statement appealing to the international community to protect Christians in the area. Read more
Amnesty International spent €275,463 in Ireland promoting abortion in 2016. It is the top priority for the human rights charity and accounts for more than half of Amnesty’s war chest. The Irish Sun reports that by contrast, the human rights group spent €89,370 on stopping torture, €55,537 on anti-discrimination, €34,983 on the abolition of the death Read more
A call to action has followed last week’s World Congress on Child Dignity in a Digital World. The call is the fruit of the four-day congress that brought experts in child care, internet security, law enforcement, education and a host of other fields together in Rome. The delegates shared experiences and best practice to develop Read more
Australian bishops have been meeting top Vatican officials, including the Vatican secretary of state and the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, to discuss the situation of the Catholic Church in Australia. The Australian delegation – which included Denis Hart, Archbishop of Melbourne, Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Brisbane and Justice Neville Owen Read more
Thousands of Polish Catholics formed human prayer chains on the country’s borders on Saturday, begging God “to save Poland and the world”. Church leaders in Poland say the event was purely religious and “the key objective of this manifestation is to pray for peace.” During a mass celebrated on the border, the archbishop of Krakow, Read more
Two elderly nuns, who are veteran peace campaigners, say they are “more hopeful than ever” that nuclear weapons will be eliminated. “We trust, we believe, we know that we are well on the way to a nuclear-free world and future,” Sister Ardeth Platte (81). Yesterday she and Sister Carol Gilbert, 69, presented a copy of the Read more
The board administering Belgian hospitals sponsored by the Brothers of Charity has been summoned to Rome. The board – made up mainly of lay members – recently decided to allow euthanasia in the Catholic hospitals it oversees. After appeals from the religious order, board members have been asked to explain their decision to Church authorities Read more