President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishop’s Conference and Archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal John Dew has offered Catholic churches and church facilities to the Government for Covid vaccination centres. Dew made the offer at a meeting in Auckland between Church leaders of some of the country’s major Christian faiths and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. As Read more
Pope Francis said on Wednesday that he was “delighted” to learn that a Muslim group had overseen the translation of his latest encyclical into Russian. In a message released by the Holy See press office on March 3, the pope said it was “a beautiful and joyful surprise” to hear that the encyclical Fratelli tutti Read more
The Interfaith Relations Committee of the Catholic Bishops of Aotearoa New Zealand has sent a letter of support to the country’s Muslim communities on the second anniversary of the Christchurch mosques atrocity. “In a spirit of peace and prayer we reach out at this time to those who live in this land, and especially the Read more
The Vatican has released a copy of the Mass booklet that will be used for this Sunday’s Papal Mass to mark 500 years of Catholic faith in the Philippines. Published by the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, the booklet contains texts and songs in Italian, English, Filipino, Cebuano and Latin. The Read more
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill passed by a wide margin on Thursday – 82-32 with 4 abstentions – after MSPs debated several amendments through Wednesday. The legislation consolidates law already on the books. It also applies “stirring up hatred” – itself a relatively new offence that heretofore applied only to race – Read more
Sri Lankan Roman Catholics attended Mass dressed in black on Sunday, with prayers and protests calling for justice for those killed in coordinated suicide bomb attacks on Easter Sunday two years ago. Church bells tolled and prayers were chanted at 8:45 a.m., the time when bombs were detonated almost simultaneously at two Roman Catholic churches Read more
Tamariki close to a “lovely boy” who died from meningococcal disease cannot get the vaccine because of cost, according to the 6-year-old’s principal. Takarua Ngakuru, 6, from the rural Northland town of Tautoro, died on February 13 from what has now been confirmed as meningococcal disease, although the strain is unknown. After his death, whānau Read more
Switzerland will follow France, Belgium and Austria after narrowly voting in a referendum to ban women from wearing the burqa or niqab in public spaces. Just over 51% of Swiss voters cast their ballots in favour of the initiative to ban people from covering their face completely on the street, in shops and restaurants. Full Read more
An Ōpōtiki teacher said their principal had her home burgled while they were out helping their students evacuate during the tsunami alerts. About 150 children at St Joseph’s Catholic School had to be relocated yesterday morning. The school is less than a kilometre away from the shoreline, and also surrounded on three sides by rivers. Read more
Father Christian Carlassare was appointed Bishop of Rumbek, South Sudan, on Monday, nearly 10 years since the death of the diocese’s last bishop. He described his appointment as an illustration of “the God of surprises.” In a message to ACI Africa, Fr. Carlassare said he welcomed his episcopal appointment in a “spirit of faith” even Read more