London, United Kingdom | AFP | The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, put on his white cleric’s collar on Sunday for the first time since cutting it up ten years ago in a highly symbolic protest at Robert Mugabe’s rule. The Uganda-born cleric, the second most senior clergyman in the …
Read More »Netanyahu slams deputy minister’s digs at US Jewry
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rapped his deputy foreign minister for “offensive” remarks in which she said US Jews were too “comfortable” to understand threats to Israel. Tzipi Hotovely of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party apologised later on Israeli public television. “I apologise from the depth …
Read More »Pope prays for peace in South Sudan and DR Congo
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis led a special prayer for peace in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, saying the mass murder of women and children is where “war shows its most horrid face”. “This evening, in prayer, we want to sow …
Read More »Pope to meet Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis will meet Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar in Dhaka when he visits the Bangladeshi capital next week, a Vatican spokesman said Wednesday. Francis, who has repeatedly spoken out over the persecution of the religious minority by the Myanmar authorities, will meet a …
Read More »Pope urges police to show ‘mercy’ in traffic stops
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Monday called on police to show “mercy” during traffic stops while standing firm against those who use the streets as their own Formula 1 race track. Meeting with representatives of the Italian traffic and railway police, the Argentine-born pontiff spoke …
Read More »US official calls on Sudan to stop ‘church demolitions’
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | A top US official Friday called on Sudan to stop demolitions of “mosques and churches” as alleged by campaign groups, insisting that Washington will push for human rights and religious freedom in the country. US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan also said that how …
Read More »Pope denounces healthcare inequality in rich countries
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Thursday took wealthy nations to task over unequal healthcare and systems which increasingly penalise all but the very wealthy. Healthcare is a particularly hot-button issue in the United States, where President Donald Trump has been fighting to scrap the Affordable Care …
Read More »Pope warns of nuclear terror threat
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Friday renewed calls for global nuclear disarmament, warning that new technology had increased the risk of deadly weapons falling into the hands of terrorists. “You only have to note that nuclear technologies are spreading, partly because of digital communications, and …
Read More »Pope admits to snoozing while praying
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis has confessed he sometimes nods off while praying and claims saints too have been known to grab some Holy shut-eye. “When I pray, sometimes I fall asleep,” he said in an episode of a Catholic TV2000 television programme published Tuesday on Youtube. …
Read More »Protestants, Catholics mark 500 years since Reformation
Wittenberg, Germany | AFP | Catholic and Lutheran leaders Tuesday asked forgiveness for violence sparked by the Reformation, as worshippers celebrated 500 years since the religious revolution that created the Protestant church. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived for a service at the church where German theologian Martin …
Read More »