Last month Pope Francis, aged 86, made the first-ever visit of a pontiff to Mongolia, a country with a tiny Catholic population, sandwiched between Russia and China. The country has just 1,500 Catholics in the entire country. The Pope ended his five-day mission with a stop to inaugurate the House of Mercy, which provides health care to the most needy in the Mongolian capital as well as to the homeless, victims of domestic abuse and migrants.
The Institut Catholique of Paris (ICP), the largest French-speaking faculty of theology in the world, has appointed the first-ever layperson to be dean of its famed Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. Anne-Sophie Vivier-Muresan, a 45-year-old theology professor and mother of two, was elected by her peers to the three-year post.
Following yet another migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean, Pope Francis has expressed his sorrow and urged people not to be indifferent in the face of continuing migrant deaths during dangerous sea crossings.
Married Indigenous men should be allowed to be ordained as Catholic priests and the centuries-old rule of compulsory celibacy will ‘very likely’ ultimately be changed by the Vatican, says Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge.
President Joe Biden’s special envoy for climate issues is counting on Pope Francis’ support to get nations attending the next UN climate summit, at the end of this year, to adopt bold measures to mitigate climate change.
Catholics marked the 78th anniversary of the United States’ 1945 atomic bombings in Japan with calls for nuclear disarmament, prayers for peace and a protest at the White House.
The percentage of Gen Xers (people aged 39 to 57) in the US who attend a church service either in person or online is now as low as among millennials, at 28 per cent.
The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has initiated a class-action suit against a global mining company on behalf of current and former miners who turned to the Church for help after contracting incurable lung diseases.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog has condemned attacks by Jewish extremists against Christian places of worship in the country.
A key Anglican organisation in Australia has warned euthanasia could become so morally corrupting for Church-run aged care facilities that it may have to exit the industry.