Raymond Ibrahim’s fundamental new book Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians, has been widely reported, covered and praised and does not require an introduction, but it prompts a reflection. The problem of Christian discrimination and persecution by Muslims is in fact two problems. Like unpunished crimes’ victims who suffer twice, for the crime and for Read more
The kidnapping of two Orthodox bishops in Syria has caused alarm in Rome, where it is feared that Syria will become the next Iraq — with Christians once again becoming the primary victims of chaos following the disintegration of a police state. A Vatican spokesman called the kidnappings “a dramatic confirmation of the tragic situation Read more
A Vatican department has taken the unusual step of issuing a public denial that it is preparing a document on the reception of Communion by Catholics who are divorced and remarried. The denial follows an article circulated by an Italian news agency claiming that Pope Francis had asked Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Read more
The globally trendy TED conferences came to the Vatican on April 19, with contributions from a Serbian basketball star, a Muslim graffiti artist from Birmingham, scientists, a rabbi and Cuban-born American singer Gloria Estefan. TED — short for Technology, Entertainment and Design — offers a worldwide platform for what it calls “ideas worth spreading”. Its Read more
A second senior Vatican official has spoken in favour of civil recognition of same-sex unions — but has said they can never be equivalent to marriage. Archbishop Piero Marini, who served for 18 years as Pope John Paul II’s liturgical Master of Ceremonies, said “there are many couples that suffer because their civil rights aren’t Read more
In a bid to educate the public about the promises offered by adult stem-cell therapies, the Catholic Church has brought together scientists, politicians, Church leaders, students and journalists at a conference in the Vatican. The Church is promoting adult stem-cell research as ethical and scientifically more promising than embryonic stem-cell research, which requires the destruction Read more
In Rome, one of Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s first acts as Pope Francis was to call his newsdealer back home in Buenos Aires and cancel his daily delivery. In New York, the Rev. Matt Malone seemed reasonably confident that a similar papal ax would not fall on America, the venerable Jesuit weekly that he edits. “I know for a Read more
The Vatican has denied a Spanish report that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is seriously ill. On the contrary, said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, Benedict XVI “does not have any illness” and “this has been certified by his doctors”. The report in El Mundo quoted Spanish Vaticanista Paloma Gomez-Borrero as saying: “Benedict XVI has something very Read more
René Brülhart, 40, has been the director of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (FIA) for nearly half a year. The Swiss lawyer and former head of Liechtenstein’s financial intelligence unit is on a mission to clear the Vatican Bank of all suspicions of money laundering and other illegal financial transactions. SPIEGEL: Mr. Brülhart, are you partly Read more
Much has been made of the impressions Pope Francis has created by his ordinary, every day activities: catching buses, using a telephone to make his own calls, not dressing in all the fine drapery usually worn by popes, treating people respectfully as he did the journalists, celebrating the Holy Thursday Mass in a Roman prison. Read more