World

A Catholic community in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater region have, for many months, been bearing witness to attempts by Tanzania's national government to squeeze out indigenous Maasai communities from their traditional lands, by cutting health services in a long-established clinic. The clinic, which has been run by the Catholic church since 1965, has suffered cuts to water and electricity, and the... Read More

Sister Cathy, a Religious of the Assumption from the Twickenham community wrote on X (Twitter) today: @SrCathyRA - 30 years ago today, six Assumption Sisters were killed in Rwanda. We remember them with love, and pray for peace wherever there is violence & hatred. A reflection on the Assumption Sisters website reads: 'Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a sin... Read More

Basic necessities like electricity are prohibitively expensive in Lebanon and Syria because of an ongoing economic crisis, making renewable energy systems crucial, according to the local Church. Priests and religious Sisters in Lebanon have explained how the solar panels donated by a Catholic charity have enabled them to survive soaring power costs. Sister Yaout of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy... Read More

The UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has decried a series of Israeli strikes on Rafah in the past few days that killed mostly children and women, repeating his warning against a full-scale incursion on an area where 1.2 million civilians have been forcibly cornered. Such an operation would lead to further breaches of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, he said. It... Read More

The Archbishop of Canterbury met and prayed with Gaza's only Catholic parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, at Lambeth Palace yesterday. Fr Romanelli is parish priest of the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City. He was in Bethlehem buying medicine when Hamas attacked Israel on 7th October, and has not been able to return to Gaza since the war broke out. The Archbishop and Fr Romanelli, with C... Read More

The UK Parliament has received an exclusive report from a leading Catholic charity about the latest wave of attacks against Christian communities in Nigeria and how the people are terrified amid growing concerns of inaction in the struggle to bring the culprits to justice. The account, given by Daniel Beurthe of Aid to the Church in Need ACN (UK), the Catholic charity for persecuted Christians, wa... Read More

Extremists attacked the Christian community in Al-Fawakher village in Minya Province, Upper Egypt, following rumours that they were planning to build a church. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) sources report that several homes and properties belonging to Christians in the village were destroyed on 23 April, and that local police and firefighters, led by the deputy governor and the head of the ... Read More

Sister Gillian Price FC writes: On April 11th Pope Francis addressed the participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical biblical commission as they met to discuss, 'Sickness and suffering in the Bible.' Rather than avoiding the topic of suffering like a taboo, he said, we should endure trials "by living in relation with others" and allow God to turn "the sieve of suffering" into an opportu... Read More

Congolese bishops have painted a harrowing picture of the severe challenges facing the population because of internal armed conflict and international exploitation. In a statement, a copy of which was sent to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the six bishops of Bukavu ecclesiastical province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) asked the nation's leaders to serve their peo... Read More

An independent panel released its much-awaited report yesterday about the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), providing 50 recommendations and noting that Israeli authorities have yet to provide proof of their claims that UN staff are involved with terrorist organisations. "Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organisations. ... Read More

Thousands of people have signed a petition calling for the beatification of 171 Catholics slain during the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo yesterday (21st April) received the appeal from Catholics in his diocese calling for the slaughtered Christians to be beatified - a step along the way to being declared saints. Father Gregory Vajira Silv... Read More

As the Global Christian Forum closed in Ghana on 19 April, the gathering shared a message focusing on moving beyond a posture of "us" and "them," and on how we can be inspired to act together for the restoration of the world. For the first time, a young gathering preceded the main forum. "The diversity and vision of the young adults gave energy to their own conversations about justice, hope, and r... Read More

Passionist Fr Nicholas Postlethwaite writes: As the Christian world continues to celebrate this Easter in our time, we must not forget what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank. Do Palestinian lives not count? This clip received this morning from my friend in Ramallah. Though this video only shows the struggle of medics to reach those wounded or killed, it highlights the background to Palesti... Read More

Gathered in Rome to review and update their Constitution, the Discalced Carmelites were received by Pope Francis on Friday. The local Carmelite is represented by Sr Lucia van Steensel OCD, prioress. Pope Francis said: "The path of contemplation is inherently a path of love," that "makes us witnesses of the love we have received," Pope Francis observed when welcoming superiors and delegates of Disc... Read More