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Laos’ first cardinal aims for interfaith unity

In the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Vientiane a large banner is hard to miss. The “17 Martyrs of Laos” banner hangs from the ceiling of Vientiane’s only Catholic Church and commemorates a group of Catholics, including several priests, who died between 1954 and 1970 in a crackdown on the religious by the communist […]

UKRAINE MAKES CHRISTMAS A PUBLIC HOLIDAY IN DEFIANCE OF RUSSIA

Ukraine’s Catholic Church has welcomed a vote by MPs to make the 25 December Western Christmas a public holiday for the first time, in addition to the 7 January Orthodox Christmas. “We’re very grateful to the parliament – it’s a great joy for our faithful, who often had to go to work or school and […]

Poland to phase out Sunday shopping by 2020

The government and trade unions want workers to spend more time with their families Polish MPs have approved a bill that will phase out Sunday shopping by 2020. Initially proposed by trade unions, the idea received the support of the ruling conservative Law and Justice Party, who want to allow workers to spend more time […]

The Pope meets the military leaders of Myanmar ahead of schedule

It was supposed to be a day of rest – Tuesday 28 November – with the planned institutional meetings and the speech before the political authorities of the country. But Francis accelerated the times and this afternoon in the palace of the Archbishopric of Yangon he met with the Burmese military leaders. Commander-in-chief of defence,  General Aung Hlaing […]

Priest makes 450-km bicycle pilgrimage to meet pope

An Italian missionary-priest is undertaking a 450-kilometer bicycle journey with two compa-nions from northern Bangladesh to meet Pope Francis in the country’s capital Dhaka. Father Almir Trindade, 38, from Ponti-fical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) set off on the “pilgrimage” from St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Dinajpur district on Nov. 20. The priest is now […]

Irish priest calls on Church to abandon the word ‘Christmas’

A Northern Irish priest has called for the Catholic Church to stop using the word “Christmas,” saying the holiday has been hijacked by commercialism, Santa and superficiality. “We’ve lost Christmas, just like we lost Easter, and should abandon the word completely,” Father Desmond O’Donnell, of a parish outside Enniskillen, told the Belfast Telegraph. “We need to let […]

LITURGY MOTU PROPRIO ‘CANNOT BE APPLIED RETROACTIVELY’

The Bishops of England and Wales have announced that the current translation of the Roman Missal will be retained for use, in spite of Pope Francis’ motu proprio restoring responsibility for liturgical translations to local churches. Magnum Principium amends canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law, giving back to bishops the responsibility for liturgical translations […]

Catholic bishop leads search for missing Marawi Christians

A number of Christians remain missing in Marawi a month after the Philippine military liberated the city from terrorist gunmen following a five-month siege that killed more than a thousand people. The Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao reported that as of last week at least 293 people […]