Pope Francis has recommended jettisoning life’s “useless baggage” in 2018, including what he called “empty chatter” and banal consumerism, and focusing instead on building a peaceful and welcoming world, particularly for refugees and migrants. Francis offered his reflections on paring down non-essentials as he celebrated New Year’s Day Mass MondayContinue Reading
Bangladesh wants to send up to 100,000 Rohingya back to Myanmar in the first batch of repatriations of Muslim refugees who fled ethnic violence this year, officials said today.Continue Reading
Vatican City: Lamenting “the winds of war” blowing around the world, Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on December 25 called for a two-state solution to find peace in the Middle East and prayed that confrontation can be overcome on the Korean Peninsula. The pope took particular aim atContinue Reading
Abu Dhabi: There is no snow fall yet in the UAE. But the breezy, chilly weather make it quite apt for Christmas celebrations in the country. Homes, shops, malls are decorated with Christmas trees, cribs, bells, lights, and glitter. And Christian expats in the UAE are in high spirits toContinue Reading
Richet(Nepal), Dec 23 (AFP) More than two years after an earthquake flattened the Nepali village of Richet, most residents are still living in makeshift shelters. Only the church has been rebuilt — paid for by Christian missionaries whose influence in the mainly Hindu country is growing. Despite strict laws thatContinue Reading
Vatican City: Pope Francis has once again used a Christmas greeting to dress down Vatican colleagues, denouncing the “cancer” of cliques and how bureaucrats can become “corrupted” by ambition and vanity. “Reforming Rome is like cleaning the Egyptian sphinxes with a toothbrush,” Francis told cardinals, bishops and priests who workContinue Reading
The Philippine president has declared a Christmas truce with communist guerrillas and urged them to reciprocate the goodwill gesture after recently scrapping peace talks with the insurgents and declaring them terrorists. President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision, made public by his spokesman Harry Roque Jr. on Wednesday, reflects the contrasting moves theContinue Reading
By Matters India Reporter Chiang Mai (Thailand): The Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) condemned the terrorist attack against the worshippers during a Sunday (December 17) worship service in Pakistan which killed at least nine people and wounded up to 56. The attack by two suicide bombers on a packed BethelContinue Reading
Buckinghamshire,UK: A Christian toyshop owner faces losing £2.3 million by shutting his stores on Christmas Eve, as it is on a Sunday. Gary Grant, whose chain The Entertainer has 149 branches, will give his 1,700 staff the day off on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. IndustryContinue Reading
Bagan (Myanmar): Riding elephants and horses in heavily bejewelled costumes, thick eyeliner and rouged lips, boys in central Myanmar parade through their village as ancient princes in a ceremony to mark their passage to monkhood. The whole village of Myinkabar, nestled among the centuries-old pagodas of Bagan city, turns outContinue Reading