Vaccinate or repent, Russian church says amid hundreds of daily COVID-19 deaths
Moscow, RussiaReuters Russia’s powerful Orthodox Church admonished people refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, calling them sinners who would have to atone for the rest of their lives, as the country reported another jump in new infections and deaths. The church urged all its faithful to be inoculated as another 24,353 new COVID-19 cases were […]
Tajikistan calls up reservists to bolster border as Afghan troops, fleeing Taliban, seek refuge
Dushanbe, Tajikistan/Kabul, AfghanistanReuters Tajikistan’s President on Monday ordered the mobilisation of 20,000 military reservists to bolster the border with Afghanistan after more than 1,000 Afghan security personnel fled across the frontier in response to Taliban militant advances. The crossings on Sunday underscored the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, where foreign troops near a complete withdrawal […]
Pope alert and well a day after intestinal surgery – Vatican
Vatican CityAP The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis is “in good condition, alert” and breathing on his own, a day after he underwent a three-hour operation that involved removing half his colon. Francis, 84, is expected to stay in Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic hospital, for about seven days “barring complications,” Vatican spokesman Matteo […]
Soundbite – The TCM Update: Australia’s Hunter region a “fertile environment” for Christian artists
Newcastle’s Verses – Luke O’Dea, Joel O’Dea and Jess Clayton O’Dea. Listen to the TCM Update…
Explainer – Behind the Vatican’s London real estate scandal
Rome, ItalyAP The Vatican has set a 27th July trial date for 10 people, including a once-powerful cardinal and papal contender, on charges related to the Holy See’s €350 million investment in a luxury London real estate venture. The 487-page indictment request capped a two-year investigation that exposed how the Vatican had lost millions of […]
Major US Catholic newspaper divests from fossil fuels
RNS The National Catholic Reporter, a Kansas City-based Catholic newspaper with a readership of about a million readers a month, has divested its $US12.7 million endowment from fossil fuel companies. The National Catholic Reporter’s board ratified the move in May, 2021, and the decision went into effect on Thursday. “I’m very proud of NCR,” said […]
Thousands protest in Burkina Faso over jihadist attacks
Ouagadougou, Burkina FasoReuters Thousands took to the streets of Burkina Faso’s capital on Saturday to call for a tougher government response to a wave of jihadist attacks that has destabilised the West African country in recent years. Some had travelled hundreds of kilometres to attend the opposition-led demonstration in Ouagadougou, where protesters waved the red […]
Revisiting colonisation: Catholic bishop of Syracuse decries Doctrine of Discovery, suggests Pope do the same
JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, speaks with US Catholic Bishop Douglas J Lucia about his hopes to meet with the Vatican to discuss a series of 15th-century papal proclamations used by European Christians to rationalise the subjugation of Indigenous peoples…
Indonesia ramps up oxygen output after dozens die amid scarcity
Jakarta, IndonesiaReuters Indonesia has ordered oxygen makers to prioritise medical needs amid growing demand from COVID-19 patients, the government said on Sunday, following more than 60 deaths in a hospital where supply of the life-saving gas was almost exhausted. The world’s fourth most populous nation is battling one of Asia’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, with Saturday’s […]
Essay: The Declaration of Independence wasn’t really complaining about King George, and five other surprising facts for July Fourth
As the US celebrates Independence Day, historian WOODY HOLTON, author of the forthcoming book ‘Liberty is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution’, offers in this article first published on The Conversation, six surprising facts about the nation’s founding document…