A unique charity challenge As part of Trócaire’s Lenten campaign, the charity is challenging people to come offline and give up social media for 24 hours. The ‘Sign Up Sign Out Challenge’ takes place on March 7, and encourages everyone to stay off social media for a full day, and asks them to instead seek sponsorship and…
Migration is not a crime and vulnerable migrant and refugee children should not be detained as if they were criminals, speakers said at a UN programme. More than one dozen speakers addressed ‘Ending the Detention of Migrant and Refugee Children: Best Interest Determination and Alternatives to Detention’ in a fast-paced discussion hosted by the Permanent…
The Church in South Korea has gathered over a million names on a petition to keep the country’s anti-abortion law in place. As South Korea continues to modernise and with the number of single mothers on the rise, calls to decriminalise abortion have increased from sectors of society. “The signature-gathering campaign was conducted voluntarily and it served as an opportunity to…
Ash Wednesday burns mystery explained An investigation has ruled out sabotage as the cause of skin rashes from ashes used during an Ash Wednesday ritual in the Philippines last week. Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan said the “mystery burns” people had on their foreheads after the ashes were administered in Manila Diocese were caused by acid.…
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the Irish-American Archbishop of Newark, has apologised for what he described as an embarrassing gaffe on social media after he posted a message to Twitter which included “Nighty-night, baby. I love you”. Within two hours the tweet had been deleted, and a diocesan spokesman insisted that the cardinal was boarding a flight at the…