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Marriage hits record low amid S. Korea’s population decline

Less than 200,000 marriages were registered in South Korea in 2022, the lowest since 1970 when the country began recording demographic data, says the government. The country recorded 191,690 marriages in 2022, down by 0.4 percent from 192,507 marriages in 2021, the Korea Herald reported on March 16 referring to data from the Korea Statistical […]

French bishop suspends priest due to marry Holy Spirit ‘incarnation’

The French diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, currently under Vatican scrutiny for welcoming controversial religious groups, has suspended a priest and shut down his lay Catholic association after he revealed plans to marry a woman he said was “the incarnation” of the Holy Spirit. Fr Antoine Coelho, a former Legionaries of Christ priest in his 40s who founded the “Holy […]

Novels, dreams, and prophets: A conversation with Michael O’Brien

“It’s my hope,” says the author of By the Rivers of Babylon, “that this story will enflesh, so to speak, the real struggles of biblical characters, and show how they resisted the dark undertow of despair, prevailing in hope at a time when there seemed to be no hope.” Born in 1948, Michael O’Brien had a […]

WCC joins appeals for better protecting holy sites in Jerusalem

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has decried attacks on holy sites in Jerusalem and is calling for their protection. In a statement issued in the wake of the March 19 attack against the Church of Gethsemane in East Jerusalem, the WCC Secretary General, Rev. Prof. Dr. Jerry Pillay, made the appeal, joining in that […]

Exiles describe Nicaragua regime’s ‘unholy war against the Catholic Church’ at congressional hearing

Recently released political prisoners and human rights activists testified before members of Congress Wednesday about the ongoing persecution in Nicaragua, which one witness called an “unholy war against the Catholic Church.” In recent years, the Nicaraguan government under Daniel Ortega has detained, imprisoned, and likely tortured numerous Catholic leaders, targeting at least one bishop and several […]

Local Chinese authorities order parents at school to sign pledge renouncing their faith

In another crackdown on religious freedom, local authorities in an eastern Chinese city ordered parents of kinder-garteners to sign a pledge that affirms they are not religious. Guardians of children at schools in Wenzhou, a city in the Zhejiang province, were asked to sign a “pledge form of commitment for family not to hold a […]

Iraq: Catholics-Shiites conference two years after Pope Francis’ visit

The 3rd International conference “Catholics and Shiites facing the future. On the occasion of the 2nd anniversary of Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq” will be held in Najaf from the afternoon of 8 until 10 March. The dialogue conference has been organised by the Community of Sant’Egidio together with the Al-Khoei Institute of Najaf. It […]

Ordain women as Catholic priests, says survey

There are calls for the Catholic Church to ordain women as deacons and priests and to allow women to preach the homily during Mass from in a new survey of more than 17,000 Catholic women around the world. The International Survey of Catholic Women, carried out last year in response to the call for submissions to the […]