In the moments before Pope Francis’ arrival at the Paul VI Hall on Saturday (December 7), a final addition was made to a nativity scene gifted by Palestinian artists: A keffiyeh, the black-and-white checkered scarf that has come to represent the Palestinian cause, was placed on the manger beneath the baby Jesus. Sitting in his…
Solène Tadié (CNA) The doors of the newly restored Notre-Dame of Paris Cathedral were officially reopened to the public during a ceremony last Saturday evening just over five years after a blaze ravaged the iconic structure’s roof, frame, and spire. Authorities mobilised a massive security force of some 6,000 police and gendarmes for the event,…
KNA “Pilgrimage is now absolutely safe and also important for society,” the head of Catholics in the Holy Land said recently on a trip to Germany. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, is counting on a rapid normalisation of pilgrimage tourism following the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. He hopes that the relative…
Walter Sánchez Silva (CNA) The Nicaraguan dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his “co-president” and wife, Rosario Murillo, this week kidnapped and expelled from the country Fr Floriano Ceferino Vargas, a priest of the Diocese of Bluefields. Medardo Mairena, a former peasant leader now in exile, stated on X that “Fr Floriano Ceferino Vargas, parish priest of the…
KNA Archbishop Scicluna of Malta has warned against using the methods of the World Synod’s spiritual dialogue – an alternation of speaking and meditation without direct discussion – everywhere in the Church: “If, for example, I have to deal with financial experts for the audit of the Archdiocese of Malta, I don’t need to have…
KNA The signals are positive: the Pope’s ambassador to Syria reports that the rebels are respecting religious diversity in the country. The Pope’s ambassador to Syria is relieved about the largely peaceful change of power in the country so far. In an interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Mario Zenari made an urgent appeal to the…
Amid the jubilation unleashed inside Syria and around the world by the fall of the Assad regime last Saturday night, one community in the country that probably isn’t in such a festive mood right now would be Syria’s Christian minority. Prior to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Christians represented roughly 10%…
North Koreans who are repatriated from China and who have had contact with Christians are sent to North Korean political prisoner camps, according to the latest report on religious freedom by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2022-24 was published…
Mexico’s bishops have issued a statement clarifying that there is no such thing as an approved “Mayan rite” of the Mass and that the Vatican has only authorised specific liturgical adaptations for indigenous communities in Chiapas state in southern Mexico. In a statement the Mexican Bishops’ Conference (CEM, by its Spanish acronym) provided several details about the…
Letter from Asia Nirmala Carvalho (CRUX) According to Japanese Cardinal-elect Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, the political situation in Myanmar “is still not stable,” when marking Myanmar Day on November 17. Bishop Celso Ba Shwe of Loikaw was present at the event. He had to abandon his cathedral in Kayah State due to the fighting…
John L. Allen Jr.