A German Catholic group appealed Saturday to the country’s bishops to unite with Rome amid a day of protest at the Vatican’s “no” to same-sex blessings. The initiative “Maria 1.0” called on the bishops to stop the blessing celebrations for same-sex partnerships planned by some priests for May 10. InContinue Reading
A catastrophic second wave of COVID-19 has overwhelmed India’s already creaky health infrastructure, with hospitals running out of beds and oxygen, while critical drugs are being sold on a thriving black market. Social media platforms have been flooded with SOS messages from people pleading for oxygen cylinders and hospital admissionsContinue Reading
Mumbai: Till the end of last month, 27-year-old Ashish Avhad had to field non-stop telephone calls from COVID patients seeking beds, ambulances and guidance on home isolation. Avhad works as a telephone operator in one of the 24 COVID response “war rooms” in India’s financial capital Mumbai, home to moreContinue Reading
Jerusalem: Hamas militants fired a large barrage of rockets into Israel on May 10, including one that set off air raid sirens as far away as Jerusalem, after hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at a flashpoint religious site in the contested holy city. The earlyContinue Reading
By Matters India Reporter Melbourne: Pope Francis has brought New Zealand and the countries of Oceania under the jurisdiction of the Melbourne Syro-Malabar eparchy, says a statement from vicar general Monsignor Francis Kolencherry. The decree to expand the eparchy’s boundary was signed on March 29 by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, PrefectContinue Reading
Bhopal: A man was forced to carry his daughter’s body on a cot for post-mortem for 35 km, walking for almost seven hours to reach the hospital in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh. A video surfaced online which showed the man, along with a few villagers, mounting his 16-year-old daughter’sContinue Reading
On Sunday, 9 May, the French Catholic association Œuvre d’Orient will hold its Fourth International Day of Solidarity with Eastern Christians. On this occasion, Catholics are invited to join in prayer with Eastern Churches in communion with the Bishop of Rome, including the Armenian Catholic, Chaldean, Coptic Catholic, Ethiopian andContinue Reading
Operation Blessing, an international organization dedicated to partnering with people “to demonstrate God’s love by alleviate human suffering,” is bringing medical oxygen to COVID-hit patients in India. CBN News said that Operation Blessing will be donating “150 critical cylinders of medical oxygen” to India’s Philadelphia Ambala Mission Hospital that isContinue Reading
Baghpat: Seven people have been arrested in Baghpat in western Uttar Pradesh for stealing clothes of the dead from crematoria and burial grounds, said police on Sunday. The arrests come at a time when social media and the national dailies have been cataloguing an ever growing number of dead bodiesContinue Reading
After dipping into his savings to weather India’s snap pandemic lockdown last March, Manoj Kumar was just getting his head above water again earning 600 rupees ($8) a day as a construction worker in the tourist hotspot of Goa. He’d squirreled away enough for a trip last month to hisContinue Reading
