UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on July 29 that debate around the introduction of assisted suicide should be put on hold until palliative and social care programs in the country are properly funded. “I take the view that that debate – and I don’t say that there shouldn’t be a debate at some point…
The Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta offered emergency resources to civil authorities July 31 as more than 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, straining local infrastructure. In a statement published July 30, the diocese said it was deeply concerned “over the severity of events and the particular vulnerability of so…
A burial controversy involving a Dalit man in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state has brought the plight of the country’s Dalit population into sharp focus, with the local Catholic bishop involving civil authorities to resolve the dispute. Fr Devasagayaraj Zackarias, national secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s Office for Scheduled Castes and Backward…
A sedevacantist group of monks in Scotland hosted an illicit consecration of a “bishop” on July 25 in spite of repeated warnings that doing so would constitute a schismatic act and a break from the Catholic Church. The Transalpine Redemptorists, or the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, livestreamed the counterfeit ceremony from their monastery…
Pope Leo XIV renewed his appeal for peace in the Middle East on July 26, after a week that saw deadly Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, Israeli military strikes in Gaza, and intensified US operations against Iran. The pope’s new appeal came in remarks following the Angelus prayer on Sunday at the papal…
A nun who was taken into immigration custody last month in Texas said on July 23 that she went into a cold sweat as two armed men approached her while she walked to Sunday Mass in her habit, thinking about the day’s Bible readings and carrying little more than her rosary and cellphone. “Honestly, in…
The Vatican will study the conditions needed for a possible trip by Pope Leo XIV to Ukraine, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher said following a six-day pastoral and diplomatic mission to the war-torn country. Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states and international organisations, said the possibility of a papal visit was among the…
France’s bishops are strongly criticising a “radical choice” made by French lawmakers to legalise “assisted dying.” A watershed vote by the National Assembly July 15 legalised assisted dying, including euthanasia and assisted suicide in certain cases. Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille and president of the bishops’ conference, lamented that “members of parliament have enshrined in…
Catholic leaders and immigrant advocates called for prayer, accountability and compassion after two fatal shootings involving US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in less than a week, incidents that have prompted protests in Maine and Texas. In Maine, 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was shot and killed by an ICE officer July 13 while driving…
Amnesty International UK has expressed regret for releasing a report that included the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW) and many Christian and Catholic organisations on a list of “anti-rights” organisations. The report, titled A Growing Threat: The Anti-Rights Movement in the UK, was published last week and immediately caused a furor as…