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Pakistan reopens churches after outcry‍

Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has allowed six Christian churches to reopen, some two weeks after their forced closure over alleged security threats, minority representatives said. The home-based churches are in Abbottabad, the city where Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was fo

Franciscan sister dedicated to orphans in Medan

Sister Bernadette Saragih is a Franciscan nun. She works at the St Angela orphanage in Medan, North Sumatra province, where she helps girls and young women on their path towards independ-ence, responsibility and integra-tion. For years, she was involved in rescuing young women from human trafficking on Batam Island (Riau province); now she has dedicated […]

Bangladesh agrees with Myanmar to complete Rohingya return in two years

Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed to complete within two years the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled an army crackdown last year in Myanmar. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), responding to the plan, said they were concerned about forcibly repatriating over 650,000 Rohingya who fled to […]

Filipino priest turns church into dance floor

A Filipino Catholic priest is in hot water after turning his parish church into a dance floor, complete with disco lights, to celebrate his birthday. Father Wilfredo Lucas, priest of San Miguel Archangel Parish in the town of Plaridel, Bulacan province, was caught on video dancing in front of the church altar. Bishop Jose Francisco […]

Serving isolated parishes may mean ordaining married men, cardinal says

The idea of exceptionally ordaining older married men of proven virtue to celebrate the Eucharist in isolated Catholic commu-nities is something that should be discussed, said Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy. “It is not about being in favour of or against something, but about attentively evaluating various possibilities without being closed […]

Pope marries couple on flight during Chilean trip

Love was literally in the air as Pope Francis performed an impromptu wedding ceremony at 36,000 feet aboard his flight in Chile. During his flight to Iquique Jan. 18, the Pope was approached by LatAm flight steward Carlos Ciuffardi Elorriaga and asked for a blessing for him and his wife, stewardess Paula Podest Ruiz. The […]