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South Korea passes bill banning dog meat trade

South Korea’s parliament on Jnuary 10 passed a bill banning breeding, slaughtering and selling dogs for their meat, a traditional practice that activists have called an embarrassment for the country. Dog meat has long been a part of South Korean cuisine, and at one point up to a million dogs were killed for the trade […]

Card. Sako: a ‘crisis unit’ against the Iraqi Christian exodus and the division between Churches

Iraqi Christians “are fleeing” from their country and many of them belong to the “productive segment” or the “most educated” sectors of the population (also) due to the “divisions” between the Churches, so far unable to implement strong and unitary policies and initiatives to give them a future. The j’accuse was launched by the Patriarch […]

China bars Tibetan kids from private classes, religious activities

Ethnic Tibetans have expressed alarm over door-to-door inspection by China’s communist authorities to ensure children are not taking private classes and participating in religious activities during their winter break. The authorities are conducting random inspections in “residential areas and commercial establishments” in Tibet and other Tibetan-populated regions, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Jan. 9 […]

Conservative Cardinal Burke says he is ‘still alive’ after rare pope meeting

Conservative American Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of Pope Francis’ fiercest critics, had his first private audience with the pontiff in seven years on December 29, a month after the pope said he was stripping him of some of his Vatican privileges. Asked by Reuters outside his residence in Rome if the meeting had gone well, […]

Christmas Massacres Challenge Secular Explanations of Nigeria Conflict

Attacks on 26 villages in Plateau State began December 23, led by suspected extremists among Fulani Muslim herdsman against Christian farming communities. Some media reports cite nearly 200 dead, with many missing as local residents fled from gunmen into the bush. Grace Godwin was preparing Christmas Eve dinner when her husband burst in with news from the neighboring village, ordering […]

African bishop urges Catholics to report priests with secret wives

Bishop Gaspard Béby Gneba has called on the people of his diocese in western Ivory Coast to report priests who secretly have wives and families, as well as those who commit sexual or financial abuse. “Any lay believer who knows that a priest is not faithful to his celibacy, has a wife or child, or has committed sexual […]

Over 130 Catholic priests and religious arrested, kidnapped, or murdered in 2023

Throughout 2023, more than 130 Catholic priests and religious were either arrested, kidnapped, or murdered, according to a new report on Catholic persecution published by Aid to the Church in Need. The report published by the Catholic charity found at least 132 instances of arrests, kidnappings, and/or murders, which is slightly higher than the report from the […]

Vatican moves to calm bishops over same-sex blessings approval

The Vatican on January 4 moved to calm Catholic bishops in some countries who have balked over last month’s approval of blessings for same-sex couples, telling them that the measure is not “heretical” or “blasphemous”. In a five-page statement, the Vatican’s doctrinal office also acknowledged that such blessings could be “imprudent” in some countries where […]