UK smoking ban for younger generations passes first parliamentary hurdle
London, UK Reuters British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to ban anyone aged 15 and under from ever buying cigarettes passed its first parliamentary vote on Tuesday, although dozens of his own lawmakers voted against it. Sunak’s plan to impose some of the world’s strictest anti-smoking rules has angered some members of his governing Conservative […]
Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament, says UK report dubbed “a charade” by ex-PM
London, UKReuters Boris Johnson deliberately misled the British parliament in an unprecedented way over rule-breaking parties at his office during COVID-19 lockdowns, a committee said on Thursday in a damning verdict that further tarnished the former Prime Minister. Almost a year ago, Johnson was talking about remaining prime minister into the 2030s. But the privileges […]
Anglican conservatives meet in Rwanda amid rift over LGBTQ
Kigali, Rwanda AP Hundreds of Anglican conservative leaders from 52 countries are meeting in Rwanda amid a rift over support within the church for same-sex unions. The conference in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, has been convened under the auspices of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, or GAFCON, a group formed in 2008 that advocates […]
Ten years of Pope Francis: As the pontiff marks a decade in the office, conservatives confront post-Benedict era
PHILIP PULLELLA, of Reuters, reports…
Cardinal leading Catholics’ churchwide consultation wrestles with tradition and change
Vatican City RNS Every summit of bishops called by Pope Francis has been ripe with expectations about the possible reforms – and novelties – that it might introduce in the over 2,000-year-old institution. The Pope’s latest effort, the Synod on Synodality, now underway and continuing through the end of 2024, has already fomented ardent debate […]
Essay: Catholic bishops punt again on ‘Faithful Citizenship’, reflecting divisions on politics
US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE, in an article first published on Religion News Service, says nothing said at last week’s Catholic bishops’ meeting indicated that they know how to deal with the post-Dobbs, post-election reality other than to say, ‘more of the same’…
Sight-Seeing: Why is the church failing in the West?
US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE explores why the Catholic Church is “failing in many Western countries”…
Sight-Seeing: Truth, justice and the torturing of tolerance
KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR, in an article published on Religion News Service, reflects on her experiences around the idea of tolerance…
Essay: Edmund Burke wouldn’t recognise evangelicals’ vaccine resistance as conservatism
In an article first published on Religion News Service, STEPHANIE A MARTIN, author of ‘Decoding the Digital Church: Evangelical Storytelling and the Election of Donald J Trump’, looks at how conservatism has changed in the US – particularly among Christians…
German Social Democrats beat conservatives in vote to decide Merkel successor
Berlin, GermanyReuters Germany’s Social Democrats narrowly won Sunday’s national election, projected results showed, and claimed a “clear mandate” to lead a government for the first time since 2005 and to end 16 years of conservative-led rule under Angela Merkel. The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) were on track for 26 per cent of the vote, ahead […]