WelCom December 2021 Pope Francis has urged political and economic leaders to show courage and long-range vision. His message came shortly after UN-led climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, last month, ended in compromise on how to combat global warming. Francis in remarks to the public in St Peter’s Square said the ‘cry of the poor, […]
WelCom December 2021 The Pope’s apostolic nuncio to the United States has told the US bishops ‘a divided church will never lead people to where it should be’. In a 30-minute address during the two-day US bishops’ general assembly, Archbishop Christophe Pierre spoke about synodality, abortion, racism and the Eucharist. For the bishops, he said, […]
WelCom December 2021 According to recent statistics, Africa added more than 8 million Catholics in 2019, the largest area of growth in the world. In comparison, America added 5.3 million, Asia added 1.9 million and Oceania 118,000. Europe, on the other hand, saw a decrease of almost 300,000 Catholics. Kinga von Poschinger, who works at […]
WelCom December 2021 Leaders of Ireland’s Christian churches presented a united front during a ceremony marking 100 years of partition of Ireland. ‘For the past 100 years, partition has polarised people on this island. It has institutionalised difference, and it remains a symbol of political, cultural and religious division between our communities,’ said Catholic Archbishop […]
WelCom December 2021 India will have its first canonised layman in May next year. Nilakandan Pillai, born in 1712, took the name ‘Lazarus’ – Devasahayam in the local Tamil language – when he converted to Catholicism. ‘While preaching, he particularly insisted on the equality of all people, despite caste differences. This aroused the hatred of […]
WelCom December 2021 A new survey of US priests has found younger clergy tend to be more conservative than their elders on many issues. ‘We find strong empirical confirmation of the nearly ubiquitous perception that younger priests are more orthodox in their beliefs than older priests,’ the authors state in the abstract. ‘Additionally, we find […]
WelCom December 2021 Lisa Beech The Wellington EJP Commission, Challenge 2000 and Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand were among submitters supporting a government Bill to establish Matariki as a public holiday. The Māori Affairs Select Committee is considering Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki/Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill, which […]
WelCom December 2021 Lisa Beech ‘Racism is a virus that quickly mutates and, instead of disappearing, goes into hiding, and lurks in waiting.’ – Pope Francis: Fratelli Tutti, para 97, 2020 In his most recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, October 2020, Pope Francis has added to the Church’s history of Catholic social teaching opposing racism. Pope […]
WelCom December 2021 Martin de Jong, Caritas Advocacy Advisor United Nations climate talks (COP26) held in Glasgow, UK in November were described by many civil society organisations as the least participatory to date, as Covid restrictions and other measures limited the representation of many Pacific Island nations and monitoring of the negotiations by civil society. […]
WelCom December 2021 In response to the Covid challenges, for almost two years now staff and volunteers from Wellington’s youth and community development agency, Challenge 2000, have been supporting many people, families and groups in the Wellington region to manage new life complexities and to stay safe, prepared and well. Kitty McKinley, Challenge 2000’s Founder […]