Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-fai, the top Chinese official at the Holy See, has been appointed the apostolic nuncio to Greece. In 2016, he was for some time the apostolic administrator of Agãna, in Guam. Hon’s appointment in Guam followed a request from Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron of Agãna, who was under investigation as a result of Read more
High Tech Youth studio in Samoa has a new unique Samoan name: Le Tuiga Samoa. The name was chosen by a representative workshop group of the many young people who go there. The process used to choose the name is in keeping with the studio’s philosophy. The studio is designed for youth to create their own Read more
Asia’s most Catholic nation, Timor-Leste, has a new seminary to tap the growing number of young people who want to study to become priests after finishing junior high school. The St. Joseph Seminary in Maliana Diocese is the country’s second minor seminary after Our Lady of Fatima in Dili, which has been the only place of Read more
The Diocese of Mendi is nestled in the mountains in the southern highland region of Papua New Guinea. When the first missionaries came to the area in the mid-1950s there were no Catholics. The diocese now has 80,000 – around 10 percent of the population. Bishop Donald Lippert says the diocese has a vibrant and Read more
Catholic doctors have asked the Indonesian government to take action to stop the abuse of pills containing a combination of paracetamol, carisoprodol and caffeine (PCC). At least 68 young people were hospitalised on the island of Sulawesi last week after taking these pills. Two children died. “It was relaxing as if I was flying. After that, Read more
As part of a parish fundraiser, a priest in Texas, Father Brian Guerrini, recently walked 34 miles from Sacred Heart in Edinburg to the Queen of Peace Church in Harlingen. Guerrini began the walk at 5:30am and hoped to be in Harlingen by 4pm but he arrived a few hours earlier than that. The run/walk Read more
There have been at least 12 attacks on women in Enga this year in cases related to sorcery, according to American Lutheran church missionary Anton Lutz. “That’s just in Enga and not counting the border areas of Hewa and Paiela,” he said. “And the number of sorcery-related cases might in fact be higher.” Lutz said Read more
Representatives from Caritas agencies in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga attended a forum in Cairns last week. Also present were representatives from countries not yet members of the Caritas network, reflecting the forum theme of ‘Our Family, Our Future’ and strengthening ties with French- and English-speaking peers. Forum delegates were Read more
The ordination of Dr ‘Afa Vaka as the first Anglican bishop of Tonga is the fulfilment of a long-held desire among Anglicans there for a greater level of autonomy within the Diocese of Polynesia. Vaka, who was consecrated and installed on Sunday, is actually the third Anglican bishop to serve in Tonga. Its first Anglican missionary Read more
Catholic Filipino priest Teresito “Chito” Suganob is finally free, having been held hostage by Islamic State-linked militants for almost four months in the war-torn city of Marawi. According to The New York Times, the priest was rescued late on Saturday by the Philippines military, as it moved closer to rooting out the remaining gunmen from Read more