Polish Catholic bishops’ leader: Church supports those opting for Covid-19 vaccine
The president of Poland’s Catholic bishops’ conference said last Thursday that the Church supports those who opt to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki issued the statement July 8 as the Polish government seeks to expand its vaccination program ahead of a potential fourth wave of the virus this Autumn, while a significant number of Poles remain hesitant about receiving the vaccine.
“Vaccination against Covid-19 is an important tool for limiting the spread of the infection and is seen by very many people as a hope for the possibility of returning to the normal functioning of societies,” the archbishop of Poznań said.
Abortion activists create children’s abortion book
Two women who call themselves “abortion doulas” are authoring a children’s book about abortion.
Carly Manes and Mar recently designed a new children’s book called What’s an Abortion, Anyway?, which will be available to young children by Autumn 2021.
Described as a “nonjudgmental book about abortion for children,” the creators say they “believe in building a world for kids and adults where abortion is normalised as another outcome of pregnancy just like miscarriage and birth.”
They decided to publish their book after failing to find any other books about abortion made for children under 13 years old.
Brazilian priest denounces teaching of polyamory in school
When Fr Chrystian Shankar, a priest serving at the diocesan shrine dedicated to Friar Galvão in Divinopolis, learned from a mother in the community that her child had been given classes in school on polyamory, he denounced the practice in his June 18 sermon.
The video of his sermon went viral and drew heavy criticism from professionals in education and psychology, who said they were offended by his remarks.
The Faithful decided to rally around their priest, and a few days later as he was about to begin Eucharistic Adoration they displayed signs saying “I support Fr Chrystian”.
Canadian indigenous leaders call for end of targeting of churches
l Canadian indigenous leaders and residential school survivors have called for suspected arson attacks on churches to stop.
Since June 21, five Catholic churches in Canada have burned completely to the ground, while other Catholic and Christian churches have suffered fire damage or have been vandalised with graffiti. Most of the church fires have occurred on tribal land.
The most recent church fires occurred this week in the provinces of Alberta and Ontario. The House of Prayer Alliance Church, a predominantly Vietnamese church in Calgary, was discovered burning, while Johnsfield Baptist church on Six Nations land in Ontario was also discovered on fire early last Monday morning.
Probe into Fr Jacques Hamel’s murder shows attackers’ links to ISIS
An investigation into the murder of French priest Fr Jacques Hamel documents messages exchanged between the attackers and a senior ISIS operative based in Syria.
The information comes nearly five years after Fr Hamel was killed on July 26, 2016, while offering Mass by two armed men who stormed Fr Hamel’s parish in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy.
The French weekly La Vie published documents on July 6 that it said came from information from the French intelligence agency, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI).