While Ireland plans to keep the ban on public religious ceremonies until July 20th, the Italian government has announced that celebrations in churches will resume from May 18th. After a long negotiation between the Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and State representatives, this week the approved protocol for public masses was presented in a joint briefing by […]
In February 2020, in the middle of the first wave of coronavirus infections in China, Hong Kong’s emeritus bishop Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun visited the United States and spoke with members of Congress. Cardinal Zen, a vocal supporter of Hong Kong’s democratic movement and a passionate defender of the underground Catholic church, painted a […]
With churches on lock-down during the Coronavirus pandemic, one idea to connect people on Palm Sunday is gaining traction. The Deacon’s Bench shared this idea from Missionaries of the Holy Spirit and it has now gone viral on Facebook. How can we publicly acknowledge this important day on our calendar when so many of us will be […]
A Scottish church is to sue the City of Edinburgh Council after it cancelled the congregation’s three-day conference because of a keynote speaker’s views on homosexuality and abortion.
As Ireland attempts to avoid the devastating impact of Covid-19 experienced in Italy, Pope Francis was meanwhile spotted walking deserted Roman streets to churches where people historically prayed for an end to plagues besetting the country.
No voluntary organisation in the world does more work in the fields of education, healthcare, poverty relief, etc. than the Catholic Church, led in many cases by the Church’s religious orders. Amidst all the criticism of the Church, this basic fact is often forgotten. Cara, a research body at Georgetown University in the US, compiles the […]