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New ACN report says persecution of Christians still rising

The Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is holding its annual international Red Week campaign to draw attention to religious freedom and persecuted Christians across the world. Although the events are spread throughout the month, many of the prayer nights and testimonies around the world will be held on 23 November, #RedWednesday. […]

Census: Christians a minority in England; non-religious grow

Fewer than half the people in England and Wales consider themselves Christian, according to the most recent census — the first time a minority of the population has followed the country’s official religion. Britain has become less religious — and less white — in the decade since the last census, figures from the 2021 census released on November […]

New report: Anti-Christian violence ‘passes threshold of genocide’ in some countries

Anti-Christian persecution in Nigeria and other countries “clearly passes the threshold of genocide,” according to a report released Wednesday by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The Catholic charity found that oppression or persecution of Christians increased in 75% of the countries it tracked between October 2020 and September 2022, compared with the period […]

Jewish actor converts to Catholicism: the Virgin Mary ‘is my most beautiful love’

The famous Jewish actor and humorist Gad Elmaleh, beloved in France, announced his conversion to the Catholic faith, a process in which he says the Virgin Mary played a crucial role. Elmaleh, 51, was the partner of Charlotte Casiraghi, the daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco, with whom they have a son named Rafael. His […]

Church hopes for reconciliation of Brazilians after Lula’s election

After the fiercest presidential campaign in Brazil’s history, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva managed to beat his rival Jair Bolsonaro on Octo-ber 30 with a narrow margin of only two million votes. As soon as the South Ameri-can country’s electoral authority proclaimed Lula’s victory, seve-ral world leaders called him or congratulated him on […]

Jihadists execute 26 women for being ‘witches’ after claiming children suddenly died

The fate of the other female detainees in Nigeria is currently unknown and the relatives did not specify how the women died but the term they used often refers to Boko Haram jihadists slitting victims’ throats Boko Haram militants have slaughtered a group of women in Nigeria they deemed “witches.” Last week, around 40 women were […]

UK nuncio named prefect of Vatican’s Eastern Churches dicaster

Pope Francis on Monday named U.K. nuncio Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti as the new prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. The 67-year-old Italian arch-bishop succeeds the Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who has led the dicastery since 2007 and turned 79 on Nov. 18. The customary retirement age for bishops is 75, although a few […]

Francis Stokes Up German Bishops’ Rebellion

Defiant German bishops claim that Pope Francis is backing them in their rebellion against Church teaching on homosexuality, women’s ordination and the abolition of priestly celibacy. A pastoral worker blesses a homosexual couple in Germany “The Holy Father made it clear to us that tension is necessary,” Bp. Georg Bätzing, president of the German Bishops’ Conference, […]