With new document, Vatican implements practical steps for environmental sustainability
Vatican CityRNS Five years after Pope Francis issued his landmark “green” encyclical, Laudato Si’, calling for new economic and social models that embrace human and environmental diversity, the Vatican released a new document on Thursday that hopes to bring theory into practice. “The COVID-19 pandemic leads us to further experience the socioeconomic, ecological and ethical […]
Record 79.5 million displaced at year-end despite COVID slowing exodus – UN
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Nearly 80 million people worldwide, or one per cent of humanity, were uprooted at the end of 2019 after fleeing wars or persecution, a record figure capping a “tumultuous” decade of displacement, the United Nations said on Thursday. The figure rose by some nine million from a year earlier and is close to […]
Health Insight: Here’s why those last few pounds can be hardest to lose – according to science
In an article first published on The Conversation, PETER ROGERS, professor of biological psychology at the University of Bristol, looks at what science tells us about weight loss…
Financially hit by COVID-19, Washington National Cathedral lays off staff
RNS The Washington National Cathedral announced a 15 per cent reduction in full-time staff on Tuesday due to the financial impact of coronavirus. Starting on 1st July, the cathedral – located in Washington, DC – will eliminate 13 full-time positions and 13 part-time ones and will furlough another 12 full-time positions. The cathedral’s doors have […]
With climate change, conflict and COVID, stresses grow for Malian villagers
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Nearly four decades ago, farmers in the small central Malian village of Dlonguebougou grew their millet crops with little more than hoes, and local mud-hut shops sold just the basics: salt, sugar, tea, cola nuts, kerosene and cigarettes. The vast empty reaches of the Sahel, stretching north into the Sahara Desert, […]
Hitler’s birthplace shows that confronting dark past can take decades
Vienna, AustriaReuters As anti-racism protesters topple statues of slave traders and colonisers worldwide, some nations are pondering how to mark their dark past. In Austria, debate over confronting one link to Adolf Hitler has taken decades, and it’s not over yet. Austria recently unveiled plans to convert the house where the Nazi leader was born, […]
Virus outbreaks linked to three churches in US state of West Virginia
Charleston, West Virginia, USAP Coronavirus outbreaks were linked to three churches in West Virginia on Wednesday as officials urged parishioners to follow safety guidelines and warned about the virus spreading into surrounding communities. Local health authorities said Greenbrier County’s Graystone Baptist Church has at least 33 cases and Ohio County’s First Baptist Church has four […]
South Sudan cleric highlights biting hunger in a “triple pandemic” as African churches confront food insecurity
South Sudan church leaders are among African clerics who are highlighting a painful “hunger pandemic” in their countries, as experts warn of aggravated food insecurity in regions due to coronavirus. Fr James Oyet Latansio, general secretary of the South Sudan Council of Churches, said the disease had devastated families, creating a “triple pandemic” including COVID-19, […]
Postcards: Five years after shooting, Mother Emanuel uneasily adapts as pilgrimage site
In an article first published on Religion News Service, MATTHEW J CRESSLER, assistant professor of religious studies at the College of Charleston, reflects on how congregants of the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church have coped in the wake of the 2015 mass shooting in which nine church members were killed…
Intentional living: In a Bronx shelter, friars and homeless have weathered the coronavirus quarantine together
ZOE CHEVALIER, writing for Religion News Service, reports on how a community of friars and homeless people in New York City have fared during the coronavirus lockdowns…