PANAMA Vatican confirms Pope’s visit for World Youth Day 2019 The Vatican .has confirmed that Pope Francis will be visiting Panama from January 23-27, 2019. A brief statement from Press Secretary Greg Burke said the Pope had accepted an invitation from the Panamanian government and Catholic bishops to attend World Youth Day 2019 during...
INDIA 50,000 sign petition for the release of 7 innocent Christians imprisoned for 10 years An online signature campaign demanding the release of seven innocent Christians who have been in prison since 2008 has collected over 50,000 signatures. Each online signature generates three automatic e-mails to the President of the Supreme Court of India, the...
Newly appointed Bishop of Darwin, Charles Gauci, will visit Malta in October Maltese born Fr Charles Gauci, currently the administrator of St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Adelaide, was appointed the seventh Bishop of Darwin on 27 June 2018. Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge welcomed the appointment of FrGauci, who is known...
NICARAGUA Church strongly condemns attack on bishops by pro-Government paramilitaries The Nicaraguan Catholic Bishops Conference has strongly condemned the attack on Cardinal Leopoldo José Brenes Solorzano of Managua; his auxiliary, Bishop Silvio José Baez Ortega; and Archbishop Waldemar Sommertag, apostolic nuncio to Nicaragua. The Archdiocese of Managua said the assault committed “by persons close...
INDIA Attacks and harassment against Christians at historically high levels Christians and religious minorities 10 years after the Kandhamal Riots 2008 was a year Catholics in the Indian state of Odisha suffered a terrible suppression at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists intent on extinguishing the presence of Christianity. Murders, the burning of buildings and...
ZIMBABWE “Elections are an opportunity to build a new Zimbabwe,” say bishops Since former President Robert Mugabe, who ruled the country since independence in 1980, was forced to resign in November 2017, Zimbabwe has been experiencing a mixture of hope and disappointment. The country has been struggling as the 30 years of Mugabe’s regime...
CAMEROON Priest killed in clashes between government forces and separatists A Catholic priest has been killed on 20 July during an exchange of fire between government forces and separatist militants by unidentified individuals. Fr. Alexandre Sob Nougi, 42, pastor of the parish of the Sacred Heart in Bomaka and diocesan secretary for Catholic education,...
IRAQ Christians in Iraq: Quo Vadis? “IS tried to take the monastery. In August of 2014 we were convinced that they would succeed,” Archbishop Timotheos Moussa Al-Shamani, abbot of the Syriac Orthodox Mar Matti Monastery, founded in the 4th century and one of the oldest in the world. The monks fled but quickly returned after...
