Jerusalem: A former Melkite Greek Catholic archbishop of Jerusalem who was convicted of smuggling arms for Palestinian militants has died aged 94, a media report said on Tuesday. Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, who served two years of a 12-year sentence in Israel before the Vatican has confirmed in a statement onContinue Reading
China on Sunday launched its first freight train to London, the China Railway Corporation said. Departing from Yiwu West Railway Station in eastern Zhejiang Province, the train will travel for about 18 days and more than 12,000 kilometers before reaching its destination in Britain. Yiwu is known for producing smallContinue Reading
Dubai: The Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia said it has got “strong indications” that Father Tom Uzhunnalil, the Indian priest who was kidnapped by Islamic State terrorists in Yemen earlier this year, is alive. The church said it is making “all efforts to secure a safe release” of the priestContinue Reading
Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, with around 90,000 killed for their faith in 2016, the director of a leading religious study group has said. Massimo Introvigne, Director of the Centre for Studies on New Religions (Cesnur), told Vatican Radio that around half a billion ChristiansContinue Reading
Reversing a decision made earlier this year, the government of Nepal restored Christmas to the list of public holidays. The Government decision to reinstate Christmas as a national holiday, was reportedly taken under pressure from minority groups. Back in April this year, the government of former Prime Minister Khadga PrasadContinue Reading
By Mónica Zorita of Aid to the Church in Need This year, Christian refugees in the northern part of Iraq are twice as excited to celebrate the birth of Christ. This is because the vast majority of the villages on the Nineveh plains, which had been under occupation by theContinue Reading
Plans to hold a mass in memory of a suspected mafia boss have sparked a scandal in Italy, with a parish priest planning to appeal to Pope Francis after authorities banned the ceremony.Continue Reading
North Korea’s tubby tyrant wants the few Christians in the hermit state to spread cheer only to celebrate his grandma, Kim Jong-suk — not the birth of Jesus. Jong-suk — who was born on Christmas Eve in 1919 — was an anti-Japanese guerrilla and Communist activist, wife of North Korea’sContinue Reading
Pope Francis is trying to heal a decades-old rift with China where Catholics are divided between those loyal to him and those who are members of a government-controlled official church.Continue Reading
Bangkok: An American group of cloistered nuns has opened a new monastery to bring their contemplative spirituality to the northeast of Thailand. “Our contribution to the world’s need is prayer,” Sister Joan Claver O.Ss.R, prioress and founder of the new monastery in Thailand, told Catholic News Agency. Sr. Joan hasContinue Reading
