Pakistan court orders arrests over Christian teen’s forced marriage
Karachi, PakistanThomson Reuters Foundation A Pakistani court ordered several arrests on Monday in the case of a Christian teenager who was allegedly forced to convert to Islam and marry a 44-year-old Muslim man, an incident that sparked street protests by church groups and rights activists. The high court in Sindh province – where the legal […]
Sight-Seeing: Why can’t I sing the Lord’s song in this strange land?
Writing from London, RICHARD KINGSLEY THOMAS reflects on how the “singing famine” – due to prohibitions on singing in church – has made him realise he needs a new song…
Biden victory kindles hope for warmer US-Vatican relations
Vatican CityRNS While Pope Francis and the Vatican will likely wait for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration before commenting on the result of the fractured elections in the United States, the former Vice President is already being received as a promising ally for this pontificate. Vatican-US relations have grown increasingly strained in recent years, mainly as […]
Church of England leaders apologise for “damage and hurt” to LGBT+ people
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation The Church of England’s two most senior figures apologised on Monday for the “huge damage and hurt” caused to LGBT+ people, as the church published a package of teaching materials covering sexuality and gender identity. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell respectively, said in a joint […]
“Great day for humanity”: Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine over 90 per cent effective
Reuters Pfizer Inc’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90 per cent effective based on initial trial results, the drugmaker said on Monday, a major victory in the war against a virus that has killed over a million people and battered the world’s economy. Experts welcomed the first successful interim data from a large-scale clinical […]
UK prayer wall builders to give a million bricks to social housing projects
Those behind the construction of a new “prayer wall” in the UK have announced they plan to donate a million bricks to social housing projects, enough to build 100 new homes. The ‘Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer’ will be located on the outskirts of the city of Birmingham and, taking the form of a giant […]
Vatican to release McCarrick report on Tuesday
Rome, ItalyAP The Vatican on Tuesday will release its long-awaited report into what it knew about ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sexual misconduct during his rise through the church hierarchy, setting up a remarkable moment in the Vatican’s long reckoning with clergy sexual abuse and cover-up. The Vatican said Friday the report would span McCarrick’s entire life, […]
Chalkboard to app: Colombia’s Indigenous children switch to remote learning
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation Armed with tablets, dozens of Indigenous and Venezuelan migrant children in Colombia’s northern desert region are learning at home while the coronavirus pandemic keeps schools shut. Youth charity El Origen Foundation has distributed tablets to about 260 children from the Wayuu tribe in the rural, goat-herding La Guajira province bordering Venezuela. […]
Global coronavirus case total tops 50 million
AP The coronavirus has hit another sobering milestone: more than 50 million positive cases worldwide since the pandemic began. Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker reported more than 50.2 million COVID-19 cases globally as of Sunday. An activist turns on LED candles at a memorial for Israel’s victims of COVID-19, in Jerusalem, on Sunday, 8th November. […]
Sheltering the homeless: In the US, a former Catholic school-turned-Nashville swingers club is reborn
BOB SMIETANA, of Religion News Service, reports on how faith based groups in the US have repurposed buildings – like a swingers club in Nashville – to provide shelter for the homeless during the coronavirus pandemic…