An initiative to give spiritual accompaniment to survivors of clerical sex abuse has been set up in Ireland. Towards Peace was launched on May 25 in Cork with a Mass of healing and reconciliation. The initiative seeks to help survivors re-engage with their faith. It is being rolled out regionally in Ireland over the next Read more
A Sudanese Christian mother sentenced to death for apostasy is to be released from prison, a Sudan foreign ministry official says. Meriam Ibrahim would be “freed within days in line with legal procedure that will be undertaken by the judiciary and the ministry of justice”, said Abdullah Alazreg. But Mrs Ibrahim’s lawyer, Mohanned Mustapha, told Read more
Pope Francis and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, have reportedly agreed to an ecumenical gathering in Nicaea in 2025. This will mark 1700 years since the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, which is recognised by both east and west. After meeting Pope Francis in Jerusalem last month, Patriarch Bartholomew told Asia News Read more
Pope Francis has urged governments to help economic migrants travel to wealthy counties, to defeat the scourge of human trafficking. In a letter to a meeting of the International Labour Conference, the Pope wrote that mass migration is a “grave issue”. Pope Francis called for a “concerted effort . . . to encourage governments to Read more
Pope Francis is to meet with a group of clergy sex abuse victims for the first time, possibly as early as next week. During an impromptu media session on his flight back from the Holy Land, the Pope said the meeting would take place in the first week in June. Six to eight victims would Read more
The chief executive of Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has resigned. Jannette Dines, who had been in the role since 2012, will depart on June 6, reported the ABC. The circumstances surrounding her departure remain unclear. But the ABC understands Ms Dines will be returning to a previous role. She Read more
The Catholic Church in Ireland can no longer be a spiritual super store dispensing every possible service, a newly installed bishop says. The Irish Church must stop trying to be a “spiritual Tesco”, said Bishop Donal McKeown, who was installed as Bishop of Derry in April. Instead it should re-focus on re-organising itself in order Read more
Filipino Catholic bishops have joined calls for transparency following a recent defence deal between the United States and the Philippines. Last month’s deal could see the US return to former naval and air force bases in the north of the country, warned Philippines bishops’ conference spokesman Bishop Broderick Pabillo. “The problem is we don’t even Read more
During the final day of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Francis made an emotional visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. On May 26, the Pope kissed the hands of half a dozen Holocaust survivors and heard their stories of persecution by the Nazis. He left an inscription in the Yad Read more
A Sudanese Christian mother sentenced to hang for apostasy has given birth to a baby girl in a Khartoum prison. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim was last month sentenced to death after refusing to renounce her faith. Mrs Ibrahim was raised as an Orthodox Christian by her mother, but her absent father was Muslim. The Public Order Read more