The Church of Central America has given strong support to Nicaraguan bishops who speak and act to protect the most vulnerable population facing the Covid-19 pandemic. In a message, the Presidency Council of the Episcopal Secretariat of Central America (SEDAC) expressed closeness and full support for the actions of the Nicaraguan Church in the context […]
Pope Francis has named Mario Draghi, former president of the European Central Bank, as an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. This appointment, along with those of Professor Pedro Morandé Court and Professor Kokunre Adetokunbo Agbontaen Eghafona, to the same Academy was published in a bulletin of the Holy See Press Office, […]
The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Gonzalo De Villa y Vásquez, S.J., as metropolitan archbishop of the archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala, Guatemala, transferring him from the diocese of Sololá-Chimaltenango. Archbishop-elect Gonzalo De Villa y Vásquez, S.J. Archbishop-elect Gonzalo De Villa y Vásquez, S.J., was born on April 28, 1954, in Madrid, Spain. In 1974 […]
Bishop Tom Williams, Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool, England, celebrated a special Mass for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with a particular focus on those caring for and helping the sick and vulnerable in society. Bishop Williams, who worked as a hospital chaplain for many years, used his homily, preached in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel […]
By Massimiliano Tubani and John Newton A kidnapped Christian girl in Pakistan has phoned her parents to say she is pregnant after being raped by her abductor, who has imprisoned her in one room of his house. Tabassum Yousaf, the lawyer fighting for the freedom of 15-year-old Catholic girl Huma Younus who was kidnapped in […]
Original sin has rendered our world an ever-contentious place, but for many who remember the late 1960s, the Year of Our Lord 2020 seems (largely thanks to the internet, social media, twenty-four-hour news channels) like a banner year—a David Banner year, furious and destructive—like 1968 on steroids. It’s brought us to a place were dialogue […]
The headlines on RAI’s television news program on July 7, 2020 reported the successful operation of Siamese twins, joined at the head, at the Vatican’s Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital in Rome. The case, of the two little girls from the Central African Republic, was studied for a year before the operation took place. What is […]
15th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year A – July 12th, 2020 Roman rite Is 55.10 to 11; Ps 65; Rom 8,18-23; Mt 13.1-23 Ambrosian rite 5th Sunday after Pentecost Gen 11.31.32b-12.5b; Ps 104; Heb 11.1-2.8-16b; Lk 9.57-62 1) Outgoing sowers. Going out is the movement of love. Commenting on Psalm 64, Saint Augustine […]
The Catholic charity and international pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has published the report, “Life after ISIS: New challenges to Christianity in Iraq” which includes the results of a series of surveys carried out over a one year period. The study addresses the current challenges facing Iraqi Christians, who returned to […]
While recognizing that talking about COVID-19 ‘aftermath’ is proving to be more complex and challenging than it seemed initially, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson says that what we are learning from countries that have flattened the curve of contagions can teach valuable lessons to others globally. Regardless, he recognizes, the future reactions of each country […]