Civilian deaths in Iraq rose to 155 in June, and according to US government figures this is the highest monthly number of civilian deaths since 159 people were killed in January 2011. Deaths of Iraqi police also rose to 77 in June, similarly the highest number of police deaths this year. June was also the Read more
The government in the northern India state of Rajasthan is offering prizes to people for being sterilised. Prizes include food processors, television sets and motorbikes. The cheapest car in the world, a NZ$3,600 Tata Nano car can also be won. “We want to promote sterilisation,” Pratap Singh Dutter, the deputy chief medical officer of Jhunjhunu Read more
The Vatican returned a profit last year, despite around a 20% fall in donations from the faithful. The NZ$17.2 million profit was a turnaround from the previous year’s NZ$7 million loss, and losses in the previous two years. The Vatican said the result showed a continuing positive trend which began in 2009, but was hampered Read more
The Church of England is likely to withdraw its investment in supermarkets that fail to meet its standards on the responsible sale of alcohol. The Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG) wants to tighten its policy on cheap supermarket booze because of concerns about “corporate complicity in the misuse of alcohol, including through inappropriate pricing and Read more
Pope Benedict has decried an approach to agricultural production based solely on profit, and called for steps to protect family farming, as he met on July 1 with leaders of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He spoke of hunger born of selfish behaviour. He said persistent world hunger was a “tragedy” driven by Read more
A simple Tweet from his iPad, and Pope Benedict launched the Vatican’s new online news portal. The new website www.news.va aggregates news content from the Vatican’s newspaper, radio, television and online outlets. News.va offers print, video and audio material. It features a list of the 10 most-read stories and offers links to many social network sites. Users can Read more
There will be women priests “when God wills” according to the archbishop of Lisbon, Portugal, Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo. The veteran cardinal, a one-time contender for the papacy, says there’s “no fundamental theological obstacle” to the ordination of women as priests in the Catholic Church. Rather, he suggested, it has never been done from the time Read more
Fr Paul Lei Shiyin was ordained bishop at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, in the Leshan diocese, China with the permission of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CCPA), but without a papal mandate. The ordination took place in the presence of about 1,000 guests including government officials and seven Vatican-approved bishops, and is the first ordination Read more
The best selling book of all time is about to change with the introduction of the ooBible. ooBible, the new digital Bible website is being designed to transform reading scripture, converting it into a type of social media experience. Former Google engineer Colin Wong came up with the idea last October when reading the Bible. Read more
New York Bishop of Brooklyn Nicholas DiMarzio has signalled a new era in Church-State relations by calling for sanctions consequent to the gay marriage bill passing. DiMarzio has called on members of his diocese “to not bestow or accept honours, nor extend a platform of any kind to any state-elected official in all the parishes Read more