Russian Patriarch prays for quick end to Ukraine conflict but avoids criticising it
Reuters The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose backing for Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has dismayed many fellow Christians, said on Saturday he hoped it would end quickly but again did not condemn it. At an outdoor service at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral on the eve of Orthodox Easter, Patriarch Kirill […]
Easter chants echo in ancient cistern near birthplace of Christianity
Jerusalem Reuters A few steps from Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a small opening leads to an underground cistern where clerics have found the perfect place to practise chants ahead of the holiest day in the Christian calendar. As Eastern churches prepared to mark Easter one week after the Roman Catholic celebration, Barakat al-Masri […]
COVID-19 third leading cause of death again in 2021- US study
Reuters COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States for the second year in a row in 2021, with death rates rising for most age groups, a government study showed on Friday. COVID-19 was the underlying or contributing cause of 460,513 deaths in the United States last year, a nearly 20 […]
Aid groups push to feed Yemen’s hungry millions during Ramadan ceasefire
Hajjah/Al Mahra, YemenReuters A two-month ceasefire has given aid groups a chance to step up aid to Yemen’s hungry millions, but malnutrition ravaging children is projected to worsen if fighting returns or humanitarian funding does not pick up. “The benefits of the first weeks of truce are already significant,” said Erin Hutchinson, Yemen Director for […]
Missing girl found dead, fueling outrage over gender violence in Mexico
Monterrey, MexicoReuters The body of a Mexican teenager who went missing this month in the northern state of Nuevo Leon has been found submerged in a cistern inside the grounds of a motel near where she was last seen alive, according to her father. Debanhi Escobar, a 18-year-old law student, vanished on 9th April, amid […]
“You can’t run from climate change”: The climate crisis is increasingly a refugee crisis, US faith resettlement groups say
As the world marked Earth Day on Friday, EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER. of Religion News Service, reports on the connection between refugees and climate change…
Ukrainians return home from Poland for special Easter
Reuters Maria Verbyana, 19, moved to Warsaw to escape Lviv, Ukraine, a month ago amid the threat of Russian bombings. But, as Orthodox Easter approaches on Sunday, she could not imagine being away from her priest and family. Late on Thursday night, she boarded a bus back home, determined to spend her Easter volunteering to […]
Colombia court says 5,733 people killed, disappeared in campaign against left-wing party
Bogota, ColombiaReuters Some 5,733 people were killed or disappeared in Colombia as part of a campaign against the left-wing Patriotic Union party between 1984 and 2016, acts linked to paramilitaries with military backing, the country’s transitional justice tribunal said on Friday. According to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), some 4,616 of the victims were […]
In the US, Rev Al Sharpton delivers eulogy after police killing of Patrick Lyoya
RNS Rev Al Sharpton reminded mourners that Black people are created in God’s image at the funeral of 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Friday. “We were created in the image of God,” Sharpton said in his eulogy on 22nd April. “When you see us, you are seeing what God put together. And […]
“And who will come next?” warns Zelenskiy after Russian general eyes southern Ukraine
Kyiv/Mariupol, Ukraine Reuters Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russia’s invasion of his country was just the beginning and that Moscow has designs on capturing other countries after a Russian general said it wants full control over southern Ukraine. “All the nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight […]