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Browsing News Entries

Browsing News Entries

Lenten Traditions You Should Know From Europe and Africa

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Priest brutally murdered in DR Congo (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))

A priest was brutally murdered on February 16 in Botemola, a village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Mai-Ndombe Province, the Vatican newspaper reported.

The body of Father Jules Bontone Nkaa Yulu, “killed shortly after mediating a conflict in a nearby village, was found headless on a road regularly used by locals,” according to the report. “The province of Maï-Ndombe has been plagued by insecurity for over three years due to the activities of the Mobondo militia, in the conflict between the Yaka and Teke communities.”

Pakistani prelate: Lent and Ramadan call Christians, Muslims to interfaith harmony (Fides)

The coinciding of the beginnings of Lent and Ramadan this year “offers a unique opportunity to further strengthen interreligious harmony,” a Pakistani archbishop wrote in his Ramadan greetings to the Muslim community.

“Churches and mosques should be centers of compassion, peace, and love,” said Archbishop Joseph Arshad of Rawalpindi-Islamabad. The shared practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, he added, are “a powerful testament to the fact that faith is not a source of division but rather a means of mercy, solidarity, and unity.”

Islam is the official religion of the South Asian nation of 257 million (map), the fifth most populous in the world. 95% of Pakistan’s people are Muslim, 2% are Christian, and 1% are Hindu.

Tanzania's Cardinal Pengo dies at 81 (CWN)

Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, one of Africa’s leading prelates during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, died on February 19 at the age of 81.

Synod establishes commission to propose revisions to Eastern canon law (CWN)

The General Secretariat of the Synod announced the establishment of an Eastern Canonical Commission to propose revisions to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches in light of the synod on synodality.

4 economists, in Vatican newspaper, reflect on Pope Leo's Dilexi Te (CWN)

The Vatican newspaper marked the World Day of Social Justice by publishing four economists’ reflections on Dilexi Te, Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic exhortation on love for the poor.

Franciscan friar describes widespread suffering in Gaza, departure of Christians from Bethlehem (CWN)

A Franciscan friar who oversees 18 schools in the Holy Land described continued widespread suffering in Gaza, four months after the signing of the Gaza peace plan.

Pope fields questions from Roman priests, urges them to avoid AI in preparing homilies (CWN)

Pope Leo XIV fielded questions from four priests of the Diocese of Rome during his February 19 meeting with them in Paul VI Audience Hall. In addressing one of the questions, he urged priests to avoid AI in preparing homilies.

Full Text: Cardinal Dolan on Faith, Politics, Notre Dame, and the Future of NYC

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Dialogue Stalled: SSPX and Vatican at Impasse Over July 1 Consecrations

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