In a March 12 statement, the Vatican said the Nicaraguan government “has decided to withdraw the consent (welcome) for Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, apostolic nuncio to Nicaragua since 2018, imposing him to leave the country immediately after notifying him of that measure.” The statement continued: “Such an order is incomprehensible since (Archbishop Sommertag) has worked Read more
Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from killings to belonging to militant groups. It was the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history. The number of executed surpassed even the toll of a January 1980 mass execution for the 63 militants convicted of seizing Read more
A group of supporters is advocating for the process of canonisation for Father Peter Young, a revered Albany street priest. He rescued untold lives from the wreckage of addiction and incarceration. The push for sainthood began around the first anniversary of Young’s death at age 90 on December 9, 2020, after a long fight with Read more
An Auckland-based organisation is helping the city’s most vulnerable people in the most unlikely of ways – with empty potato chip packets. The Chip Packet Project (CPPNZ) was founded in September 2021 during lockdown, and was a spin-off of the UK-based organisation, Crisp Packet Project. The organisation collects freshly-washed chip packets, or any foil-wrapped food Read more
A Christchurch food bank has had to install a new phone system to record calls after an increase in abuse from clients. 0800-hungry delivers about 200 food parcels a week in Christchurch, and has done so for about 20 years. Warehouse supervisor Nicky Bensemann said there has always been some abuse from people. “A lot Read more
Ask a Christian to describe other Christians, and the answers likely will be “giving,” “compassionate,” “loving”, and “respectful.” Ask a non-Christian on the other hand, and the more likely descriptors you’ll get for Christians are “hypocritical,” “judgmental”, and “self-righteous.” Non-Christians are also far more likely to say Christians do not represent the teachings of Jesus. Read more
Abortion figured prominently in President Joe Biden’s statement in observance of International Women’s Day. It again underscores how his policies toward the unborn conflict with Catholic teaching on the right to life. “Every person deserves the chance to live up to their full God-given potential, without regard for gender or other factors,” Biden, a Catholic, Read more
Four men were convicted in Paris of terrorist conspiracy after the murder of a Catholic priest in a Normandy church in 2016, an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The four were handed sentences of between eight years and life in prison over the attack on Father Jacques Hamel, 85. Fr Hamel was stabbed Read more
In an interview with ERT (Greek state TV), the Primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine said that there had been three attempts to kill him from the day the attacks began. He stated that three Russian agents attempted to enter the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael with the Golden Dome. “I want to Read more
Despite battling the second year of a global pandemic, banks operating in New Zealand collectively made more than $6 billion in 2021 according to a report by KPMG. LPMG’s Financial Institutions Performance Survey of banks found net profits rose nearly 48 per cent last year to hit $6.13b – the first time it had gone Read more