An escalation between Israel and Iran has been considered a possible scenario since the beginning of the Gaza war. Following the killing of high-ranking Iranian military personnel by the Israelis, Tehran has now threatened to retaliate. Jerusalem (KNA): Following threats from Iran, Israel has strengthened its air defence and called up reservists. In addition, weekend…
Bonn/Pristina (KNA) The only Catholic bishop in Kosovo would like to see more stability in his country. Political and social tensions still persist 25 years after the NATO mission in the former Yugoslavia, lamented 2 on Friday. The bishop of the Prizren-Pristina diocese blamed Serbian politicians, among others, for this. However, the 61-year-old cleric admitted…
Regensburg (KNA) The Catholic Bishops’ Conference has rejected Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller’s criticism of its approach to political extremism. “The German bishops are neither opportunistic nor anti-democratic when they take part in demonstrations against the right or the left,” Matthias Kopp, press spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference, told the newspapers of the Bavarian Media Group…
Brussels (KNA) Roger Vangheluwe, Catholic Bishop of Bruges until 2010, is no longer a priest. Pope Francis has expelled him from the clergy, the papal nunciature in Brussels announced on Thursday. The now 87-year-old resigned as diocesan bishop in April 2010 after it became known that he had sexually abused a nephew for years. Vangheluwe…
Ludwig Ring-Eifel (KNA) For the second time, members of the German Bishops’ Conference and several Curia cardinals will meet in Rome on Friday for difficult theological and canon law discussions. The topics will once again be the reform proposals of the German Synodal Path, which met in Frankfurt from 2020 to 2023. The first meeting…
Hong Kong (CBA) International religious experts believe that the announced Hong Kong National Security Law jeopardises religious freedom. In particular, the law threatens the confidentiality of confession, according to a statement by 16 experts and organisations on the website of the organisation Hong Kong Watch. “The new law could force a priest to disclose what…
Rotenburg-Lispenhausen/Cologne (KNA) A priest from the diocese of Fulda sees his decision to offer a church for sale in a classified advert as a necessary but “brutal” step. Profanation would be “very, very painful”, said priest Andreas Schweimer, dean of Eschwege-Bad Hersfeld, in an interview with the Cologne portal domradio.de (Thursday). He has placed a…
Oliver Hinz (KNA) Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda (67) of Gdansk is the new President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference. At their plenary meeting in Warsaw on Thursday, the 90 or so bishops with voting rights elected Wojda as the successor to Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki (74), according to a spokesperson. According to the statutes, the previous chairman…
Ludwig Ring-Eifel (KNA) From Moscow to NATO headquarters, from Kiev to Washington, political decision-makers have been discussing the Pope’s statements on the subject of negotiated peace in the Ukraine war over the past few days. On Saturday, excerpts from an interview became known in which the Pope spoke of the “courage of the white flag”…
Bonn (KNA) A spokesperson for the Catholic German Bishops’ Conference has described Pope Francis’ recent statements on peace negotiations in Ukraine as unfortunate. The German bishops had made it clear in their peace statement published in February that Ukraine would ultimately have to decide when the time had come for peace negotiations, explained bishops’ spokesman…