CNA—The delegate for the Colombian Bishops’ Conference (CEC) for Church-state relations, Monsignor Héctor Fabio Henao Gaviria, explained the role of the Church as part of the monitoring and verification mechanism of the cease-fire between the government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group. The peace plan, so far The 180-day cease-fire will go into…
CNA—A Catholic freelance journalist who has reported on a surge of violent attacks by radicalized Muslims in Nigeria for CNA recently found himself caught in the middle of a firefight between government soldiers and armed militiamen. “With hundreds of bullets flying over my head, and the whizzing gunfire whipping past my ears, lying flat on…
Don’t Miss this film on Catholic businessman Jimmy Lai—WSJ—Currently imprisoned by the Chinese government for pressing the case for freedom and democracy, the defiant entrepreneur and media mogul is the focus of a stirring, free-to-stream documentary. “It would be so boring just being a businessman,” notes the Hong Kong entrepreneur and media mogul Jimmy Lai,…
WSJ—A Hong Kong court ruled Friday that imprisoned newspaperman Jimmy Lai, a devout Catholic, can’t hire the British lawyer he wants for his upcoming national security trial. That came the morning after Mr. Lai’s son Sebastian accepted the Cato Institute’s prestigious Milton Friedman Prize on behalf of his father in Washington. The two events tell…
CNA—King Charles III will be crowned on Saturday in Westminster Abbey in the first royal coronation since that of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, 70 years ago. The coronation will be a Christian service, centered on the celebration of holy communion in an Anglican (Church of England) liturgy. Originally centered on the Catholic Eucharist But…
CNA—The dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, has confiscated a cloistered monastery and arrested 20 people for activities related to Holy Week in Nicaragua. The Trappist sisters of Nicaragua (see feature photo), who left the country in February after 22 years of service, reported April 11 that the government…
On March 9, 2023, the president of Hungary, Katalin Novák, will deliver a lecture, titled “The Calling of the Christian in Politics: What We Can Achieve,” followed by a Q-and-A with students at Ave Maria University in Florida. (video below) Novák’s lecture focuses on the importance of faith and family. As a devoted Christian, Novák…
CNA—Cardinal George Pell, prefect emeritus of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, died on Tuesday at the age of 81. The Australian prelate suffered a cardiac arrest and died at 8:50 p.m. Rome time, his secretary confirmed. A towering figure of the Church both physically and intellectually, Pell served for many years as archbishop of…
Pro-Democracy, former media tycoon and courageous Catholic Jimmy Lai sentenced to 69 Months in Communist Prison—December 2022 CNA / WSJ—The godfather of an arrested Hong Kong Catholic entrepreneur and pro-democracy advocate says he hopes Jimmy Lai’s courageous example will inspire more calls for justice amid an ongoing crackdown on human rights in now-Communist Hong Kong.…
As we celebrate the Christmas Octave with family and loved ones, in warm homes and beautiful churches, with glorious singing, prayers and with abundant food, gifts and laughter…. our suffering Catholic brethren endure the same Christmas Octave in a cold, sparse, merciless prison in Communist China. They suffer dearly the loss of being able to…
A quick glimpse at what’s happening in China now. As we cull this news, I wonder how many Chinese know of St. Francis Xavier, the Jesuit sent as a missionary to the Far East by St. Ignatius himself (the founder of the Jesuit order). “Go set all on fire” Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552), whose Feast…
Ukraine—CNA—After the liberation of the Mykolaiv district in Ukraine from the Russian army last week, residents began to return to their homes with the hope of saving at least some of their possessions. Together with the parish priest, Society of Christ Father Oleksandr Repin, and other nuns, Benedictine Sister Faustina Kovalska went to the site…
On Tuesday, Cardinal Joseph Zen’s second day in court in Hong Kong, five witnesses were cross-examined and the magistrate ruled that there was sufficient evidence to justify a trial. Paul Marshall, the director of the Religious Freedom Institute’s South and Southeast Asia Action Team, told CNA that Zen’s trial “further undercuts [communist] China’s 1997 promise…
Warsaw, CNA—On Wednesday, Catholics recited the Divine Mercy Chaplet in the streets of 173 cities in Poland and 44 localities worldwide, according to organizers of the prayer event. “We believe that 10 minutes of supplication to God can change our families, cities, and the whole world,” the organizers said. At 3 p.m. local time, street…
Last Sunday, the priest at a local parish where I attended Mass underscored the “unimaginable power” of Our Lord in the Eucharist and the importance of drawing closer to the Blessed Sacrament by sharing — calmly yet passionately, at the very end of his sermon — that a parish in his homeland had just been…
Crisis—With the passing of Queen Elizabeth, several parallels to our Faith emerged. Here was deceased royalty brought to bear on a grieving nation, and all of the pomp and circumstance, along with the throngs of people along the route of the hearse, brought to mind both our King, Jesus Christ, and His Mother, the Queen…
OldHollywoodandBeyond—That Queen Elizabeth II would end her earthly sojourn today, September 8, 2022, the Feast of the Birth of Mary, Mother of Jesus, is poignant and special. On a personal note, as the Queen was getting ready to breathe her last, my 96-year-old father, recovering in the hospital, and I, said the Holy Rosary for…
(CNA)—Queen Elizabeth II passed away today, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Royal Family already had gathered in Balmoral Castle Thursday amid concerns for Queen Elizabeth II’s health, Catholic bishops in England and Wales have offered their prayers for her and her family. Queen Elizabeth, who turned 96 in…
(CNA)—Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, England, offered prayers for and paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, who died Sept. 8 while under medical supervision at Balmoral Castle in Scotland with multiple family members by her side. She was 96. “On 21 April 1947, on her twenty-first birthday, Princess Elizabeth said, ‘I declare before you all that…
(CNA)—Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history, and the oldest and longest-serving head of state in the world, died at the age of 96 Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after a brief illness. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, born on April 21, 1926, was the elder daughter of Prince Albert, duke of York, and…
