“We can do it.” These are the four words that are dividing Germany. It has now been exactly one year since Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her motto for overcoming the refugee crisis. Even though many of her critics can no longer stand to hear her “approach to tackling the problem,” as she recently described it Read more
Martin Luther was a “teacher of the faith.” In a new report Germany’s bishops say the 500th anniversary of the Reformation must involve repentance on both sides. Germany’s Catholic bishops have praised Martin Luther as a “Gospel witness and teacher of the faith” and called for closer ties with Protestants. In a 206-page report, “The Read more
Israel has accused World Vision manager for the Gaza region of funneling millions of dollars to Islamist militant group Hamas. Mohammad El Halabi (photographed above) was arrested by Israel on June 15 while crossing the border into Gaza, World Vision said in a statement. He was charged by Israeli authorities on Thursday. He had run Read more
A Chinese bishop said the visit by German President Joachim Gauck to a cathedral in Xi’an on Holy Thursday should help the development of the church’s charity work. Bishop Anthony Dang Mingyan said he introduced the German president to the diocese’s charity works and described the general situation of Shaanxi province during the 50-minute March Read more
A Congolese Catholic priest has resigned in southern Germany after getting death threats and racist abuse. Father Olivier Ndjimbi-Tshiende, 66, announced his decision on Sunday in Zorneding, a small town near Munich in Bavaria where the priest has been serving since 2012. “We are shocked and saddened by these [death] threats,” read a statement on Read more
Germany’s Catholic Church has called for a reduction in the number of refugees coming into the country. The president of the German bishops’ conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, said Germany cannot “take in all the world’s needy”. The question of how to respond to the migrant crisis, he said, should not solely be a matter of Read more
Two hundred theologians have declared that reform of the Roman Curia must be widened to become reform of the whole Church. The theologians, from throughout the world, issued a declaration at the end of a theological congress in Germany earlier this month. The title of the gathering in Munich was “Opening the Council – Theology Read more
German police have called for refugees to be housed along religious and ethnic lines after a series of mass brawls in emergency accommodation. Last week, a fight between up to 200 Syrians and Afghans in a Leipzig shelter turned into a running battle with residents using table legs as clubs. In Lower Saxony, police reported Read more
The heartbreaking photo of the little Syrian refugee boy washed up dead on the shore of Bodrum, Turkey strikingly illustrates the tragic plight of desperate refugees – mostly Syrian – fleeing for their lives from the Islamic State and other violent groups in the Middle East and Africa. The 3-year-old boy, named Aylan, along with Read more
The compassion of the crowd can make you feel heartless for reserving comment until a reasonable question has been answered. When we began getting pictures of Syrians walking into Europe last week and our media became awash with the story, my heart was stuck on one question: why is this happening now? The Syrian civil Read more