A proposed law in the UK aiming to bolster the protection of free speech could impose fines on universities if they fail to protect freedom of speech for students, staff, and visiting speakers. Among the bill’s provisions is one that would allow visiting speakers, academics, and students to seek compensation if they suffer loss because Read more
The social media WeChat account of Radio Veritas Asia’s Mandarin service has been shut down by Chinese authorities, said a Catholic priest who works in the Church-run organization. The account was reportedly closed on May 10. The priest who asked not to be named for reasons of security told LiCAS.news that “for a long time” Read more
Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference, defended the plan for “ecumenically mindful” reception of Communion in Catholic and Protestant services during Germany’s ecumenical congress May 13-16. The bishop told KNA, Germany’s Catholic news agency, May 11 that the services planned May 15 were not about “cross-denominational Communion in the sense of a general mutual Read more
Taranaki Christians will gather together on Friday to celebrate 175 years of the Bible Society in New Zealand. The event is a milestone and chance for the organisation’s leadership to meet and talk with supporters, Bible Society programme director Graeme Milne said. The organisation was established in New Zealand in 1846 and 2021 marks the Read more
Support for the religion tends to speed its decline, while the lack thereof speeds its growth. A peer-reviewed study published this month in the academic journal Sociology of Religion finds a paradoxical correlation between the growth of Christianity on the one hand and the support given to it by the state on the other. As Read more
It will come as little surprise to its legion of fans that the first professional musical to be mounted in the U.S. during the pandemic was “Godspell.” The Berkshire Theater Group in western Massachusetts put on a production in August with plexiglass partitions between the actors and temperature checks for the audience. Why “Godspell”? Its Read more
Holding a general audience with visitors and pilgrims present for the first time in more than six months, Pope Francis talked of the power of prayer. Prayer, he told the crowd, is not always “a walk in the park.” While it may be easy to “parrot” prayer, “blah, blah, blah,” he said, real prayer requires Read more
Below is the text of Pope Francis’ weekly Wednesday audience, delivered on May 5, 2021. Dear brothers and sisters, good morning! We continue the catechesis on prayer and in this catechesis, I would like to reflect on contemplative prayer. The contemplative dimension of the human being—which is not yet contemplative prayer—is a bit like the Read more
A milestone for Tāmaki Makaurau has been reached with the launch of the tunnel boring machine at New Zealand’s largest infrastructure project, the $4.4 billion City Rail Link. Father Christopher Denham of the Catholic St Patrick and St Joseph’s Cathedral blessed the machine – named Dame Whina Cooper – and the teams who will operate Read more
Fr. Juan Ortiz has said he reached the scene of the accident on a metro overpass in Mexico shortly after it occurred Monday evening, giving general absolution to the victims. “I got as close as I could, at a safe distance, I prayed for the dead, for the injured, and gave general absolution,” he told Read more