Bishops are obliged to report all suspected cases of abuse to the civil authorities, the head of the Church’s global advisory panel on tackling abuse has declared. On behalf of the entire Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, commission president Cardinal Seán O’Malley issued a statement in which he said that prelates are called…
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the longest-serving justice on the United States Supreme Court, died of apparent natural causes at a Texas resort on February 13. Texas Governor Greg Abbott called the 79-year-old Catholic “a man of God, a patriot and an unwavering defender of the written Constitution and the rule of law”, praising him…
Leading South American prelates have rejected proposals by the UN Human Rights Commission that countries allow abortion in cases where mothers were infected with Zika virus. The Zika virus has been linked by the Brazilian government to a surge in microcephaly cases, but Brasilia’s Archbishop Sergio da Rocha has denied suggestions that abortion is an…
The Justice and Peace commission of Malawi’s bishops’ conference has called on the country’s government to “ensure that the right to food and essential healthcare services is guaranteed to all citizens of Malawi”. Maintaining that “life is sacred, and all efforts must be made so that people’s lives are not at risk”, the commission has…
Lent is a time to celebrate and experience God’s mercy, a prominent Kenyan bishop has proclaimed, donating food and clothing to more than 4,000 households in the Ngong slum district of Mathare, Eldoret’s Bishop Cornelius Arap Korir, chairman of the national Catholic justice and peace commission, called on Kenyans to move forward in forgiveness and…
‘Finally, we are brothers’, Pope tells Orthodox Patriarch “Finally, we are brothers,” Pope Francis declared in Havana on Friday, February 12, as he met Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. The two-hour meeting, culminating in the signing of a joint declaration, was the first time the leaders of Christianity’s two largest Churches have ever met. Although there are many areas of serious disagreement between…
In what is being hailed as the biggest ecumenical development in decades, Pope Francis is to meet with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch on February 12 during a two-hour stopover on the way to Mexico. Describing the first ever meeting of a Pope and Russian patriarch, as “an event that, in the ecumenical journey and in…
Attacks on a UN base in Timbuktu have “almost certainly” been perpetuated by an Islamist group, according to the secretary general of the Episcopal Conference of Mali. Claiming that Tuareg rebel groups are committed to peace agreements signed with the government, and that there is no fighting between them and either the Malian army or…
Christian leaders in Pakistan have welcomed suggestions by Muhammad Khan Sherani, President of the Islamic Ideology Council, that the country’s repressive blasphemy might be amended. While there is a possibility that the already strict law could be made more censorious, Christian activist Nasir Saeed, director of the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement, said…
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta decided to reject plans for rules to regulate religious worship following consultations with religious leaders, the secretary general of the Kenyan Episcopal Conference has said. Religious Societies Rules 2015, which Kenya’s bishops had believed defied constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and the separation of Church and State, will not now be…