The patriarch of Syria’s Catholics has said Western nations are responsible for the carnage in Syria, where the morale of Christians is “very, very low”. Syriac Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan said the present situation in Syria is the result of Western nations carrying out a geopolitical strategy “to split Syria and other countries” in Read more
As a United Nations commission debates violence against women, the Holy See has found itself lumped together with Iran and Russia as alleged opponents of efforts to reduce such violence. The reason is that these states oppose a strong drive to use the issue of violence against women as a means to establish abortion in Read more
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has spoken out against the Indonesian government’s continued persecution of religious minorities. Navanethem Pillay urged the world’s largest Muslim nation to translate universal human rights obligations into domestic law. Continue reading
A World Bank report offers rare good news on global poverty. According to World Bank estimates released on Feb. 29, in every region of the developing world the percentage of extreme poverty, people living on less than $1.25 a day, and the total number of global poor declined between 2005 and 2008. World Bank researchers Read more
A senior African Vatican official has called on U.S. and African Catholic bishops to respond more forcefully to efforts by the United Nations to impose policies on African nations that run contrary to the faith and the continent’s culture.
Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, responded forcefully to a speech given by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who told African nations to repeal criminal laws that place sanctions on homosexual conduct and to stop discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
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For the first time in more than a decade, the U.N. General Assembly on Monday condemned religious intolerance without urging states to outlaw “defamation of religions,” an appeal critics said opened the door to abusive “blasphemy” laws. The call on countries to prohibit “defamation” had been included in a non-binding resolution on combating religious intolerance passed annually by the 193-nation assembly.
The resolution approved on Monday declares that “discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief constitutes a violation of human rights.” It also expressed concern about the incitement to religious hatred and the failure of some states “to combat this burgeoning trend.”
The General Assembly adopted the resolution by consensus without a vote.
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Global efforts to increase access to clean water favours the middle-classes and ignores most of those in need. WaterAid Charity says a global plan to halve the number of people without access to sanitation by 2015, is failing so badly that some of the world’s poorest countries will not have this basic necessity for another Read more
Monsignor Giacinto Marcuzzo, Bishop of Nazareth and vicar of the Latin Patriarchate, has defended Abu Mazen’s request to the UN, for Palestine to be recognised, a request which “according to us is valid and justified.” At the UN “we feel let down by the United States. President Barack Obama, who had shown courage, clear thinking Read more
A reference to assisted suicide in a special report on the place of the elderly in society has upset the Catholic Church’s delegation to the United Nations in Geneva which has taken “strong exception” to the reference, although it agrees with other aspects of the report. “We strongly believe that life is a gift that Read more