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No handshakes: Viral outbreak spooks Asian places of worship‍

The few hundred worshippers who showed up were asked to refrain from shaking others’ hands or holding them during prayers to prevent the spread of the virus that started in China. In Hong Kong, Cardinal John Hon Tong, wearing a mask, announced the suspension of public Masses for two weeks and urge

Pope on women in Amazon church: Don’t try to ‘clericalize’ them

Pope Francis released his document on the Amazon region on the 15th anniversary of the assassination in Brazil of U.S. Notre Dame Sister Dorothy Stang, a missionary who defended the poor and the environment. Her life and sacrifices are emblematic of what many participants at the October Synod of Bishops for the Amazon had said: […]

Gunmen kill 24 in attack on Burkina Faso church

At least 24 people were killed after unidentified gunmen attacked a church in northern Burkina Faso, officials said on Feb. 17, in the latest assault against places of worship in the West African nation. The attack took place on Feb. 16 during a weekly service at a Protestant Church in the village of Pansi in […]

China temporarily closes places of worship in effort to contain COVID-19

The Chinese government has temporarily closed all of the country’s places of worship in an effort to contain the COVID-19 respiratory coronavirus that has now killed almost 3,000 people, with more than 80,000 around the world verified with infections. The government also banned all group religious activities, including at the YMCA. But it also praised […]

Wear black on Ash Wednesday, Nigerian Catholics told

The Bishops of Nigeria have asked Catholics to wear black on Ash Wednesday as a sign of mourning and solidarity with the victims of kidnappings and terror attacks. In a statement due to be read in all Nigerian parishes on Ash Wednesday, the president of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Nigeria, Arch-bishop Augustine Akubeze, asks […]

Russian-backed Orthodox summit suffers boycott

Fewer than half the Orthodox world’s 14 main churches are due to attend a late February summit on Ukraine’s new independent Orthodox Church, convened in Jordan with backing from Russia’s Moscow Patriarchate. “As we have all recognised, dialogue and reconciliation between brothers is the only way forward,” the summit’s organiser, Patriarch Theophilos Giannopoulos of Jerusalem, told […]