It’s freezing cold and the kids don’t have proper shoes, but the elderly Samar couldn’t risk it. Overnight, the bombings got too close. They fled their village in a panic, the older children carrying the little ones, walking for seven hours just to getaway. The youngest children are shaking, their cheeks are bright pink from Read more
Catholics could remember the centenary of Czar Nicholas II and his family in 1918 with “penance and reflection,” says the secretary-general of the Russian bishops’ conference. Msgr. Igor Kovalevsky says killing the royal family “was one of the first steps on a path of mass murder, forced labor, religious persecution and genocide which led on Read more
There is a major role for faith-based groups to help create a nuclear weapon-free world, Nobel Prize winners said at a nuclear disarmament summit at the Vatican last week. They suggested faith groups could use their ability to mobilise people and public opinion, and lay out the moral and spiritual case for disarmament. The Nobel Read more
One hundred years ago on October 25 (Old Style Calendar), a Marxist political movement led by an intellectual political activist named Vladimir Lenin mounted a successful coup d’état against Russia’s ailing Provisional Government. Most believed the Bolsheviks would themselves be overthrown quickly. Scarcely anyone recognized that the event marked the beginning of one of the Read more
Russia plays a crucial role in working for world peace, says Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Parolin, who has just returned from a four day trip to Russia, says: “I tried above all to say this, this was the message that I wanted to convey: Russia, for its geographical position, its history, its Read more
Cardinal Pietro Parolin will visit Moscow at the end of August. The Vatican secretary of state’s diplomatic visit aims to formalise Pope Francis’s peacemaking efforts to President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church. Read more Related Posts:Sad loss of reason in EuropePope won’t meet U.S. Secretary of StatePope Francis removes financial authority from…Vatican defends Read more
Over 300,000 Russians have been standing in huge lines for up to 10 hours to visit a gilded ark thought to carry bone fragment relics of St Nicholas. “The thing is, people don’t have much to hope for … they have nothing else to rely on, other than to go and pray,” says Xenia Loutchenko, Read more
A missionary Catholic priest serving in Russia says he expects new anti-terror laws will have a much bigger impact on small groups of Evangelicals than on the Catholic Church in Russia. The priest, who has been serving in Russia for 24 years, said since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Catholic Church has followed Read more
Russia’s new religious laws may affect small groups of Evangelicals more than the Catholic Church in Russia. Russia’s new anti-terrorism laws, which include sweeping restrictions on Christian evangelising and teaching the faith, have officially come into force. A Catholic priest, who has been serving in Russia for 24 years, says the Catholic Church follows government Read more
Officials in the Russian region of Arkhangelsk have banned Halloween being celebrated at local schools. The Education Ministry in the region in north-western Russia stated that Halloween is “incoherent to basic traditional values and causes a negative influence on fragile minds”. Russians began – unofficially – celebrating Halloween after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Read more