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Pope shows up unannounced at funeral of lay woman and friend

Despite the ethereal air that has often surrounded popes over the centuries, Francis is famous for projecting ordinary humanity. Usually that everyman ethos expresses itself in warmth and approachability, though every now and then we also get a glimpse of grumpiness, as happened on New Year’s Eve when Francis slapped away an overly clingy woman […]

Catholic leaders join New Yorkers in march against hate

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn joined about 25,000 New Yorkers who took to the streets for a Jan. 5 “Solidarity March” in protest of anti-Semitism. “When there’s an attack on you, there’s an attack on all of us,” Cardinal Dolan said in remarks at the rally in […]

President of Asia’s bishops’ confederation calls for end of police brutality in Hong Kong

Asia’s leading cardinal was among the dozens of people to sign an open letter to the Hong Kong government to complain about “police brutality” over the Christmas period in the self-governing Chinese city. Major protests began in the former British colony in June, after the Hong Kong government attempted to push through legislation which would […]

Row over Syro-Malabar Mass resurfaces

The question whether the celebrant should face the congregation (westward) or eastward during Mass, a bone of contention in the Syro-Malabar Church for several decades, is back in focus again. On the agenda of the Church Synod meeting at St Thomas Mount in Kochi, headquarters of the Church, from January 7 are possible changes to […]

BJP president meets Christian pastors on CAA

Bharatiya Janata Party president Jagat Prakash Nadda has tried to get the support of Christian community to the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The former student of St Xavier’s School in Patna on January 7 met with around 15 pastors of various Christian denominations in the national capital. BJP vice president Dushyant Gautam and Tom […]

Bishop, former chaplain to queen, to be received into Catholic Church

A former chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II is to be received into the Catholic Church. Bishop Gavin Ashenden of the Christian Episcopal Church will become a Catholic Dec. 22 in Shrewsbury cathedral. He said he had reached the conclusion that only the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches “have the capacity to defend the faith” from […]

Islamists in Nigeria kill Christian hostages

The Islamic State group in Nigeria released a video on December 27 claiming to show the killing of 11 Christian men. The Dec. 26 video shows masked militants be-heading 10 blindfolded captives, and shooting an eleventh. The west African province of Islamic State, which broke off from Boko Haram in 2016, said the killings were […]

Europe needs a “climate change on religious freedom,” says EU Special Envoy

According to the latest report of the Observatory on Intolerance and discrimination Against Christians in Europe, there have been in the last year about 500 cases of anti-Christian discrimination on European soil. Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world. In Europe, the persecution might be subtle or take place in the form of […]