CNA—A pro-life Catholic lawmaker in the Nebraska Legislature is switching his party registration from Democrat to Republican because of the Democratic Party’s staunch support of abortion. Sen. Mike McDonnell, who had been a registered Democrat for 40 years before this week, said in a news conference that his party change was caused by the Democratic…
CNA—In a “resounding victory” for religious freedom, a court in North Dakota ruled this week that the federal government cannot compel religious employers and health care providers to pay for or perform “gender transition” procedures that go against their religious beliefs. The North Dakota District Court found that the religious beliefs of Christian Employers Alliance…
CWR/Vatican News—During Mass on Sunday morning, February 25, 2024, the pastor was among the 15 Catholic civilians killed in a Catholic Church in Essakane-Village, in the diocese of Dori, in the northeast of Burkina Faso, Africa. The diocese of Dori, which released the information in an obituary press release, invites people to pray for the…
Update on Jimmy Lai. The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C., has installed a drawing of the Crucifixion by imprisoned Hong Kong Catholic and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai. Father Robert Sirico, a supporter and friend of Lai’s, said during the installation ceremony on Thursday that the sketch is a testimony “not just of…
CNA—More than a dozen senators are demanding that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) come clean about its efforts to surveil traditionalist Catholics, with the lawmakers accusing the agency of deleting records, withholding details, and giving misleading information about those undertakings. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and 15 other Republican senators expressed their demands in a…
CNA—This past week in the Holy Land, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, a group of young people in their 20s actively participated in all various ecumenical prayer services. They were German-speaking theology students enrolled in the annual program of ecumenical studies (called “Studienjahr”), which has been offered for 50 years at the…
CNA—Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of the Diocese of Wenzhou in the eastern region of Zhejiang, China, was arrested by Chinese security forces on Jan. 2, according to a report by AsiaNews. During his arrest, the bishop was, according to an AsiaNews source, instructed to “take clothes for spring, summer, autumn, and winter,” indicating that his detention…
Jimmy Lai, the embattled Hong Kong Catholic democracy activist, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to all charges leveled against him in his national security trial there. Lai, the Chinese-born founder of the anti-government newspaper Apple Daily, entered a not-guilty plea to the charges of conspiring to collude with a foreign power. The 76-year-old Lai was…
CNA—Christmas is a time of reconciliation. God himself chose to become a man, coming into the world to save fallen humanity and reconcile it with himself. Christmas represents a dramatic break with conventional patterns and changes paradigms. Such is also the case of Zubair Simonson, a former Muslim who converted to Catholicism and shared his…
CBN News – SOUTHERN ARMENIA – While the world focuses on Israel’s war against Hamas, an ongoing conflict threatens a tiny Christian nation at the intersection of Europe and Asia. Armenia is facing a potential genocide at the hands of its militant neighbor, Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan’s army is five times larger than Armenia’s. With backing from…
CNA—At a congressional hearing on Thursday, Nov. 30, members of Congress and human rights activists urged Nicaragua dictator Daniel Ortega to immediately release imprisoned Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who they said is being mistreated and possibly tortured. U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Hearing The hearing, which was held by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global…
The city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, will be removing Christmas decorations from public areas in solidarity with Gaza as Israel continues attacks in Gaza in response to the war initiated by Hamas’ previous terrorist onslaught. Bethlehem, an ancient city located in the West Bank, declared via social media and official spokespeople that…
CNA—Beginning Aug. 4, 2022, Rolando Álvarez, the bishop of Matagalpa and the apostolic administrator of Estelí in Nicaragua, was prevented from leaving his residence by the Nicaraguan police. Two weeks later in the middle of the night, the police broke into the residence, abducted him, and took him to Managua, where he was held under…
VN—As of Saturday, hundreds of people have reportedly left the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. The hospital is the site that Israeli forces have been searching for days. Doctors insist the Israeli military ordered an evacuation, but the Israelis says it facilitated a safe route out after a request from the hospital director. Reports suggest…
CNA—When Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, was created a cardinal by Pope Francis on Sept. 30, 2023, few would have imagined that within a week, he would find himself leading his Church amid one of the bloodiest conflicts in the region’s recent history. Vocation of a Cardinal: “Even to the shedding of…
VaticanNews—Sister Nabila Saleh and 700 other Christians sheltering in the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza are now facing an outbreak of the flu virus, but say they have rediscovered the importance of community. There are 700 people taking refuge inside the Holy Family Catholic Parish in Gaza City. “There is only destruction and desolation…
William McGurn, a longtime The Wall Street Journal editorial columnist, a member of The Wall Street Journal editorial board, and a life-long Catholic, is also the godfather of now-imprisoned Hong Kong freedom activist and businessman, Jimmy Lai. Lai launched and ran the enormously popular news outlet, Apple Daily, which is now defunct due to the…
Vatican News—Jerusalem—Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, expresses his willingness to exchange himself for the kidnapped children held by Hamas and discusses the Holy See’s mediation efforts with regards to the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the Holy Land. “Anything” for their freedom and to have “those children back home” In a poignant…
Christians united in prayer and solidarity for Gaza and the Holy Land. CNA—Jerusalem—The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has arrived in the Holy Land in a solidarity visit to the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. His visit began Friday, Oct. 20. Just two days earlier, on the evening of Oct. 17, the Al Ahli Anglican Hospital…
CNA—After hitting their lowest recorded levels since the start of the pandemic in early summer, COVID-19 cases have begun to increase again, raising the specter of new mask mandates and recalling the early days of the pandemic, when fears of COVID outbreaks led much of society to shutter — including, controversially, many churches around the…
