Abuse study for Protestant church is presented

Hanover (KNA): An independent team of researchers will present the first nationwide study on sexualised violence in the Protestant Church and Diakonie at the end of January. The results will be presented at a press conference in Hanover on 25 January, the Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts announced on Wednesday. The study offers…

Bosnian Serbs celebrate controversial holiday

Banja Luka (KNA) With a military parade and drone show, ethnic Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina celebrated a controversial holiday to mark the founding day of Republika Srpska on Tuesday evening. The day of remembrance has divided the south-east European country for years. The Bosnian Constitutional Court has repeatedly declared the celebration illegal in the country’s Serb…

Cardinal Kasper renews criticism of German synodal path

Freiburg (KNA) The German Cardinal Walter Kasper (90) has once again criticised the reform plans of the German Catholic bishops. The former Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart and Curia Cardinal told the online platform “communio.de” that the establishment of a Synodal Committee, which is to prepare the appointment of a new decision-making body with equal representation of…

UN estimates 14.6 million people in need of aid in Ukraine

Geneva (KNA): United Nations aid organisations will present this year’s aid programme for Ukraine and war refugees in neighbouring countries on Monday. This was announced by a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva on Tuesday. It is expected that more than 14.6 million people in Ukraine, 40…

Vatican blinks and German Synod gets a win

Christoph Arens (KNA) In the end, the Vatican budged after all. Many German catholics had not expected its decision, announced shortly before Christmas, to allow the blessing of homosexual and remarried couples. Some reform minded catholics called it a Christmas present. For Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), the decision…