More than 300 Christians in 50 countries are kidnapped or unjustly imprisoned every month because of their faith, pontifical foundation laments in new report
“While dialogue may not be able to prevent all atrocities, solidarity in the wake of violence can help to heal communities in the aftermath of trauma”
In new book ‘Let Us Dream’, Francis likens plight of indigenous ethnic group to that of the Rohingya in Myanmar, the Yazidi in the Middle East and the persecuted Christians of Egypt and Pakistan
“Christians continue to be the most persecuted religious community in the world”, with about 250 million suffering violence and discrimination, denounces Aid to the Church in Need
In OSCE meeting, Vatican permanent representative laments “profound ramifications” of coronavirus lockdown measures on religious freedom
“It is legitimate for a State… to impose measures that are for the benefit of all”, claims Archbishop of Poitiers Pascal Wintzer
Pope mourns aggression “that sowed death in a place of prayer and consolation”: “I pray for the victims, for their families and for the beloved French people, that they may respond to evil with good”
The Holy See has warned that law enforcement and security measures alone are not enough to combat radicalisation and terrorism.
Rainbow Catholics are urging the Pope and the Vatican to rein in LGBTIQ+-phobic prelates, warning that it is “literally a matter of life and death”.
On Saturday, 22 August, the President of the Jewish community in Graz, Austria, Elie Rosen, was attacked on the premises of the synagogue.
At the Angelus Sunday, Pope Francis warned that “the Lord will hold us to account for all of the migrants who have fallen on their journey of Hope”, as “victims of the throwaway culture”.
Pope Francis pleaded with the world today to “stop using religions to incite hatred, violence, extremism and blind fanaticism”.
Following an unprecedented increase of violence against religious communities and people belonging to religious minorities, in 2019 the UN General Assembly proclaimed August 22 as the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, has conveyed Pope Francis’ “warm greetings” to Supreme Knight Carl Anderson of the Knights of Columbus on the occasion of the Knights’ 138th Supreme Convention which took place last week.
During his Angelus address at midday today, Pope Francis pleaded for a world “completely free of nuclear weapons” and a commitment to make Lebanon – still reeling after last Tuesday’s blast in the port in Beirut – “free and strong”.
In 2018, Pope Francis announced a deal that cleared the way for the reappointment of clergy in China, something that the Vatican described as “a question of great importance for the life” of the Catholic Church.
The Vicar Apostolic of Anatolia has recalled that most Turks want Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia to be a mosque, and as such the decision to reconvert the monument was “not the whim of the president”.
In a recent letter sent to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, H.Em. Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, President of COMECE, expressed his solidarity to the Christian communities in the African country, who are “living a situation of continuous attacks by terrorists, insurgents and militias, that in some cases reaches levels of genuine criminal persecution”.
In his Angelus today after his Mass for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis denounced the “solitude of the elderly”, treated as “discarded material”, as a “tragedy of our times”, and urged that the life of children and grandchildren be given “as a gift” to older people.
In the Angelus today, Pope Francis pressed for a renewed commitment on the part of the world to refugees and the environment post-COVID-19, as he recalled too the “painful reality” of persecuted Christians today, whom he lamented are more numerous even than the martyrs of the early Church.
The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) has called on the world to redouble efforts to stop the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, as well as to bring criminals to justice, support victims and promote dialogue and peace.
An EU court condemnation of migrant detentions in Hungary has shown that the goverment’s concern for persecuted Christians is a farce.
In the face of hatred, fear, and division, Pope Francis called Sunday on the Christian communities of the Mediterranean to recognise the inherent unity of the region’s multiculturalism.
At the invitation of the Italian Episcopal Conference, various leaders of the Churches of the Mediterranean region have been meeting in Bari, Italy this past week. Pope Francis joined them on Sunday morning and offered words of encouragement and vision.
From their Bari synod, the bishops of the Mediterranean have denounced that European “economic interests” in the region “do not always reflect evangelical principles”.
On the first day of their Bari ‘synod’ Wednesday, 60 bishops from 20 countries around the Mediterranean deplored the “economic and interested wall” dividing the countries around that sea.
A Spanish-Moroccan cardinal has blasted Europe for holding to a “nearsighted, selfish, individualistic and unfair” migration policy.
A Vatican and an Italian cardinal are looking forward to the Bari ‘synod’ that begins today with bishops from all around the ‘Mare Nostrum’ as the start of a “great Mediterranean spring”.
“The Mediterranean has forgotten its vocation to hospitality”, the Vicar Apostolic in Turkey has lamented.