Vatican City: Pope Francis issued an apostolic letter May 11 formally instituting the new lay ministry of catechist. The Vatican released the papal letter, Antiquum ministerium (“Ancient ministry”), on May 11 in eight languages, including Italian Sign Language. The pope said that the institution of the new lay ministry wouldContinue Reading
Alexandria: Wael Saad, a former monk of the Coptic Orthodox Church, was executed on May 9 for the 2018 murder of Bishop Epiphanius, the abbot of St. Macarius Monastery. Saad’s brother told Reuters the family was told to receive his body from a morgue in Damanhour, 40 miles southeast ofContinue Reading
By Matters India Reporter New Delhi: The Church in northern India has mourned the death of a Vincentian priest who opened new mission areas in Agra archdiocese and Meerut diocese in Uttar Pradesh state. Father Thomas Emprayil died of Covid-19 at 9:55 am on May 8 in St Joseph’s HospitalContinue Reading
Vatican City: The Vatican’s human development office has created a working group on the topic of the expulsion of criminal organizations from the Catholic Church. The group was created in honor of Rosario Livatino, a Catholic judge killed by the mafia in Sicily in 1990, who was beatified in theContinue Reading
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
