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Browsing News Entries

Browsing News Entries

Following factory explosion, Indian bishops call for protection of workers (Fides)

Following a chemical factory explosion that left 42 dead, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India called for a transparent investigation and respect for workers’ dignity.

“The explosion at a chemical factory in the state of Telangana once again raises the serious problem of exploitation and disregard for the dignity of workers,” said Father Stephen Alathara, the conference’s deputy secretary general.

Father Alathara noted that “the victims are mostly poor people, members of tribal communities, migrant workers, and daily laborers, who are the most vulnerable.”

Virginia court halts enforcement of state's ban on 'conversion therapy' (Virginia Mercury)

Citing state constitutional rights to freedom of religion and freedom of speech, a Virginia court halted enforcement of the state’s 2020 ban on “conversion therapy” for minors.

“This is a major victory for free speech, religious freedom, and parental rights in Virginia,” stated the Founding Freedoms Law Center, which filed the challenge. The law “silenced licensed counselors from speaking the truth about gender and sexuality, and effectively prevented minors from getting the help they and their parents were seeking to resolve unwanted feelings of same-sex attraction or gender confusion.”

'Take action against Christianophobia,' Vatican diplomat urges UN Security Council (Holy See Mission)

During a recent UN Security Council discussion of children in armed conflict, a Vatican diplomat strayed from the topic at hand to plead for international action against the persecution of Christians.

After offering several considerations related to the plight of children in armed conflict, Msgr. Marco Formica said:

The Holy See cannot remain silent in the face of the terrorist attack that took place at the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus on 22 June 2025, and expresses its profound concern and unequivocal condemnation of the attack. The Holy See calls on this Council to address the persecution of Christians and take action against Christianophobia.

Reacting to new IRS stance, USCCB emphasizes that Church does not endorse, oppose candidates (CWN)

A spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops emphasized that “the Catholic Church maintains its stance of not endorsing or opposing political candidates,” following a new IRS interpretation of the Johnson Amendment.

New superior general for Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (AsiaNews)

Participants in the 16th general assembly of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) have elected Father Francesco Rapacioli, a missionary in Bangladesh, as their new superior general.

Founded in 1850 by Venerable Angelo Ramazzotti, the institute has 400 missionaries in 20 countries. The institute also publishes AsiaNews.

Bombs, machine gun fire draw closer to Gaza's Catholic parish (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))

Writing “from the parish of the Holy Family in a Gaza that is now totally destroyed,” a young local Catholic said that “every day and every night, we continue to hear the terrifying noise of bombs and the crackle of machine guns.”

“They are ever closer to us,” said Suhail Abo Dawood. “And inevitably, fragments from these explosions also fall on the roof of our church and in the compound where we are barricaded.”

“We all live in fear, but especially the children are terrified,” he added. “Despite this constant suffering, which has become a horrible routine, only one thing continues to give us some consolation: prayer.”

Look at world from children's perspective, Vatican spokesman counsels (Vatican News)

Alessandro Gisotti, a vice director of the Editorial Directorate of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, has written an article, “Pope Leo XIV and a world in the measure of children,” to mark the two-month anniversary of the Pontiff’s election.

Recalling a photograph of Pope Leo with a child, Gisotti mused:

Why is this image so striking? Because in that simple act of bending down, the Pope points us toward a direction that all people—especially those who hold the fate of the world in their hands—should follow: to meet children at their level, to look at the world through their eyes.

“Imagine, just for a moment, if children from the nations of the Great Powers sat on the UN Security Council,” Gisotti added. “Who knows how international relations might change.”

French-Iranian author pens front-page Gospel commentary for L'Osservatore Romano (CWN)

The Vatican newspaper has published a front-page commentary on the parable of the Good Samaritan by Lila Azam Zanganeh, a French author whose parents were exiles from Iran.

Nickel mining threatens Philippine island's ecosystem, Vatican newspaper warns (CWN)

L’Osservatore Romano devoted the most prominent front-page coverage in its July 8 edition to the “deforestation, heavy metal contamination, and health problems” that are “the main effects of nickel mining” on the Philippine island of Palawan.