The city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, will be removing Christmas decorations from public areas in solidarity with Gaza as Israel continues attacks in Gaza in response to the war initiated by Hamas’ previous terrorist onslaught. Bethlehem, an ancient city located in the West Bank, declared via social media and official spokespeople that…
CNA—Beginning Aug. 4, 2022, Rolando Álvarez, the bishop of Matagalpa and the apostolic administrator of Estelí in Nicaragua, was prevented from leaving his residence by the Nicaraguan police. Two weeks later in the middle of the night, the police broke into the residence, abducted him, and took him to Managua, where he was held under…
VN—As of Saturday, hundreds of people have reportedly left the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. The hospital is the site that Israeli forces have been searching for days. Doctors insist the Israeli military ordered an evacuation, but the Israelis says it facilitated a safe route out after a request from the hospital director. Reports suggest…
CNA—When Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, was created a cardinal by Pope Francis on Sept. 30, 2023, few would have imagined that within a week, he would find himself leading his Church amid one of the bloodiest conflicts in the region’s recent history. Vocation of a Cardinal: “Even to the shedding of…
VaticanNews—Sister Nabila Saleh and 700 other Christians sheltering in the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza are now facing an outbreak of the flu virus, but say they have rediscovered the importance of community. There are 700 people taking refuge inside the Holy Family Catholic Parish in Gaza City. “There is only destruction and desolation…
William McGurn, a longtime The Wall Street Journal editorial columnist, a member of The Wall Street Journal editorial board, and a life-long Catholic, is also the godfather of now-imprisoned Hong Kong freedom activist and businessman, Jimmy Lai. Lai launched and ran the enormously popular news outlet, Apple Daily, which is now defunct due to the…
Vatican News—Jerusalem—Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, expresses his willingness to exchange himself for the kidnapped children held by Hamas and discusses the Holy See’s mediation efforts with regards to the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the Holy Land. “Anything” for their freedom and to have “those children back home” In a poignant…
Christians united in prayer and solidarity for Gaza and the Holy Land. CNA—Jerusalem—The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has arrived in the Holy Land in a solidarity visit to the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. His visit began Friday, Oct. 20. Just two days earlier, on the evening of Oct. 17, the Al Ahli Anglican Hospital…
CNA—After hitting their lowest recorded levels since the start of the pandemic in early summer, COVID-19 cases have begun to increase again, raising the specter of new mask mandates and recalling the early days of the pandemic, when fears of COVID outbreaks led much of society to shutter — including, controversially, many churches around the…
The extraordinary story of the Ulma family is one of faith, courage, and heroic love of neighbor. Józef and Wiktoria Ulma risked their lives to protect three Jewish families during the Holocaust. On the night of March 24, 1944, German Nazis raided their farmhouse and cruelly shot all of the Jews the Ulmas were hiding…
Vatican News—A political analyst engaged in helping Mongolia implement democracy and human rights shines a light on the current socio-political challenges in the country, and upholds its commitment to protect freedom of religion and the rights of religious minorities. Pope Francis’ historic Apostolic Visit to Mongolia would have been unimaginable during Mongolia’s communist period “where…
Population Research Institute— The communist Chinese party (CCP) has been on a mission to suffocate religion in China for decades. Now, new measures are set to go in place today that further this terrible mission. All religious venues will have to uphold the Chinese Communist Party. All Christian sermons will have to reflect China’s political…
A Catholic parish in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is taking a legal battle to an appellate court amid fears that a state civil rights law could be used to restrict its religious liberty in matters related to gender identity and sexuality. Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th…
FBI targets serious Catholics. NYPost—Multiple FBI field offices were involved in drafting a controversial January 2023 internal memo suggesting traditionalist Catholic groups were potential hotbeds of domestic extremism, two Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee alleged Wednesday. A less redacted version of the memo obtained by the panel last month cited a “liaison contact” at…
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…
What is the Battle? That is a reasonable question as there are multiple battles raging in society today at the same time, on different subjects – at the federal level, state level and local level. These battles are about issues that have been fought over for decades, some with a new twist these days and…
(July 13, 2023 – New Orleans, Louisiana) Thomas More Society attorneys have filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in a lawsuit seeking to block a Biden Administration directive that forces doctors to perform elective abortions in emergency rooms. The filing, made July 7, 2023, in the United States Court of Appeals for…
Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco wrote a masterful summary of the history of violence against Catholics in the U.S., including felony crimes committed recently in San Francisco and other cities. Vandals get off with a misdemeanor charge for defacing a statue as police looked on. Below are clips of the original story that…
In October of 2020, a group of protestors trespassed on Mission San Rafael, a Catholic parish in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and desecrated and toppled a beloved statue of St. Junipero Serra. The crime was witnessed by the police, caught on videotape. Five were arrested and charged with felony vandalism. Today in court the…
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…
