Pope cites new book on nun abuse in warning to superiors
Rome, ItalyAP Pope Francis on Saturday drew attention to a problem that the Vatican has long sought to downplay: the abuses of power by mother superiors against nuns who, because of their vows of obedience, have little recourse but to obey. During an audience with members of the Vatican’s congregation for religious orders, Francis cited […]
Guatemalan migrants make up majority of 55 dead in Mexico truck crash
Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico Reuters Most of the 55 people killed and the dozens who were injured when a truck packed with migrants flipped over in southern Mexico on Thursday were Guatemalans, authorities said on Friday, as survivors recounted the horror of the accident. People spilled from the truck carrying an estimated 166 travellers after it […]
Bah! Humbug! Italy bishop apologises after Santa comments
Rome, ItalyAP A Roman Catholic diocese in Sicily publicly apologised to outraged parents after its bishop told a group of children that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. In a Facebook post and subsequent comments Friday, the diocese of Noto insisted that Bishop Antonio Stagliano didn’t mean to dash the dreams of the youngsters two weeks before […]
From teacher to shoe shiner: Afghan economic crisis spares few
Kabul, AfghanistanReuters In the biting cold of a Kabul autumn, Hadia Ahmadi, a 43-year-old teacher who lost her job after the Taliban seized the Afghan capital in August, sits by the roadside trying to earn the equivalent of a few cents polishing shoes. The abrupt withdrawal of foreign aid following the Taliban victory has sent […]
US Supreme Court won’t stop Texas abortion ban, but lets clinics sue
Washington DC, USAP The US Supreme Court on Friday left in place Texas’ ban on most abortions, offering only a glimmer of daylight for clinics in the state to challenge the nation’s most restrictive abortion law. The decision, little more than a week after the court signaled it would roll back abortion rights and possibly overturn its […]
COVID in Nigeria: Armed gangs raise risks in vaccinating people in rural areas
CHINEDU ASADU, of Associated Press, reports on the key role community health workers are playing in getting the COVID-19 vaccines out to rural areas in Nigeria…
“No warning”: Indonesian village caught off guard in volcano disaster
Penanggal, Indonesia Reuters In the wake of the deadly Semeru eruption on Indonesia’s Java island, the entwined bodies of a mother and daughter encased in molten ash have come to symbolise what many living in the shadow of the volcano feel went wrong. “There was no warning. If there had been, there wouldn’t have been […]