Category: International News

Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar gave video addresses to COP28, which was held in December in Dubai, and signed a declaration of support for urgent climate action. 

Pope Francis plans to visit Oceania for the first time this year, confirming in a televised interview he has several foreign trips planned for 2024, including a trip to Melanesia in August and a potential visit to Argentina. In the interview, Pope Francis said he is in good health and has no plans to resign. […]

Pope Francis has announced the start of a Year of Prayer in preparation for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year. 

A new poll published in a British Government report claims the priesthood is in danger of being replaced by artificial intelligence algorithms.

Concern that attendances at Mass have not returned to pre-pandemic levels has prompted the Irish bishops to prepare a special pastoral letter on Sunday Mass.

The military junta in Myanmar has occupied the Loikaw cathedral complex and plans to use the building as a shield in its war against resistance forces, says the local bishop who was forced to flee the complex. 

Christians across East and West Africa are facing twin threats from jihadists and dictatorships, according to the 2024 World Watch List. 

A major vocation crisis could result in fewer than 10 active priests in the Clogher diocese in the north of Ireland in less than 20 years, according to the local ordinary, Bishop Larry Duffy. ‘Over the past few months, over 40 people from 12 parishes across the diocese have taken part in a formation course to enable them to accompany people and families at the time of bereavement,’ Bishop Duffy announced in a Christmas pastoral letter. Other parishes have indicated a ‘willingness’ to nominate people for a similar course in the spring, he wrote.

For more than 100 years, MPs in the State of Victoria, Australia, have started each parliamentary sitting day with the Lord’s Prayer. But this could soon change, with the new premier conceding the tradition does not reflect the state’s growing cultural diversity. ‘We are seeing greater cultural diversity. I think it’s important we do look at reflecting that in our parliamentary practices,’ Jacinta Allan, Premier of Victoria, told reporters.

In January, the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Daniel Ortega released and sent to the Vatican two imprisoned bishops along with 15 priests and seminarians. In tears, Managua Auxiliary Bishop Silvio José Báez, exiled due to persecution by the Ortega dictatorship, confirmed the news of the release of Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa and Bishop Isidoro Mora of Siuna and the remaining priests and seminarians: ‘Our pastors are free.’