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Gaza, Mother Teresa’s nuns under bombardment: ‘Where will these people go?

“In our convent we also felt the effects of the explosion at the al Ahli hospital, we are close to the affected area. The people we host are afraid that it could happen to us too,” recount the Missionaries of Charity, the nuns of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, present in Gaza for 50 years. They share their plight with AsiaNews through […]

Pakistani Senate body seeks end of ‘unjust’ blasphemy cases

A parliamentary body in Pakistan has sought clarifications on cases under the country’s blasphemy laws in its attempts to end ‘unjust’ detentions and to develop standard procedures to address the suffering of religious minorities. A total of 179 Pakistani citizens are currently in detention, awaiting trial for blasphemy, according to the Standing Committee on Human Rights of […]

Pope blames West for rise of Islamic State and lawless Libya

Pope Francis has blamed Western military interventions for the rise of the Islamic State terror group and for the distabilising of Libya and the ensuing migration crisis in the Mediterranean. In an interview for a new book, the Holy Father said the invasion of Iraq and support for jihadi groups in the so-called “Arab Spring” […]

‘War knows no religion’: Gaza’s oldest church shelters Muslims, Christians

When an Israeli air raid destroyed Walaa Sobeh’s house and much of her neighbourhood, the Palestinian Muslim sought shelter in Gaza’s oldest church. At the Church of Saint Porphyrius, she found not just sanctuary, but a feeling of belonging to “one family” — united by both the terror of bombs exploding around them and a hope that […]

Pope Francis and U.S. President Biden speak by phone, discuss Israel and Gaza

Pope Francis and U.S. President Joe Biden spoke by phone on October 22 afternoon to discuss “the latest developments in Israel and Gaza,” according to a statement from the White House. The Holy See Press Office said earlier the phone call lasted about 20 minutes and focused on “conflict situations in the world and the […]

Census records 30% drop in Hungary’s Catholic population

A recent official census of religious identity in Hungary offered bad news for those concerned with the future of Christianity in central Europe. For the first time, a majority of Hungarians (56.6%) failed to declare membership of a faith tradition, with 16.5% declaring “no religion” and a further 40.1% choosing not to answer the question at all. […]

Pope Francis on women deacons: ‘Holy orders is reserved for men’

Pope Francis reaffirmed the impossibility of women becoming priests, or even modern Church deacons, in an interview for a book released October 24 in Italy. The question of whether some women in the early Church were “deaconesses” or another kind of collaborator with the bishops is “not irrelevant, because holy orders is reserved for men,” […]