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Church tensions are not new or all bad, says Cardinal Hollerich

Pope Francis did not need to launch listening sessions for the Synod of Bishops for people to discover there are tensions in the Catholic Church, said the cardinal serving as the synod’s relator general. “We do not need the synod in the Catholic Church in order to experience tensions,” Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, relator […]

Benedict XVI warns of intolerant West in new book published posthumously

Pope Benedict XVI has had a book of essays published posthumously in which he defends the unique character of the Mass and the Catholic priesthood and attacks rising intolerance in the increasingly atheistic West. In the book, which is called What Christianity Is, the German pope, who died aged 95 on New Year’s Eve, warned Catholics […]

Pope: Critics help us grow, but I want them to say it to my face

Pope Francis has addressed a wide variety of topics – from the death of Benedict XVI, criticism of Fracncis’ papacy, homosexuality, relations with China, the case of Father Rupnik, and even his “good” health despite his age – in an interview released today by the Associated Press, an American news agency. It is the pontiff’s first interview […]

Over 360 million Christians suffering persecution in the world

Although numbers haven’t changed sub-stantially from the previous year, 2022 was the worst year for Christians worldwide, due to an intensifying level of violence discrimi-nation and exclusion, according to the late-st World Watch List released by Open Doors, a watchdog group that advocates for Christians. The report, which was presented on Wednesday at the Italian Parliament in Rome, […]

India arrests alleged illegal immigration agents over family who froze to death on US border

Three alleged black-market immigration agents have been arrested in western India in connection with the case of an Indian family who froze to death on the United States’ border with Canada last year, police said Wednesday. Deputy Commissioner Chaitanya Mandlik with Ahmedabad Police’s crime branch named the suspects as Yogesh Patel, Bhavesh Patel, and Dashrath […]

Priests, activists welcome justice for long-suffering Papuans

Rights activists in Indonesia’s restive, Christian-majority Papua province have hailed life-term imprisonment for an ex-soldier accused of killing four Papuans. The sentence is the toughest against a member of the security forces long accused of gross human rights violations in the conflict-torn region. Catholic priest and rights campaigner Father John Djonga said the verdict “signals […]

Syro-Malabar Melbourne diocese gets a new bishop

Pope Francis has appointed Father John Panamthottathil of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) congregation as the new bishop of St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Diocese of Melbourne, Australia. The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Melbourne, Australia, presented by Bishop Bosco Puthur, who completed […]

Priest, nun die in separate accidents

A 73-year-old Dominican nun and a 36-year-old diocesan priest have died in tragic accidents at two different pa-rts of India. Father Melvin Abraham Pallithazhathu of Bijnor diocese died January 19 when his vehicle fell into a gorge of 500 feet deep at Joshimath in the Chamoli district of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. He […]