Kenyan President William Ruto said Monday that the starvation deaths of dozens of followers of a pastor in the south of the country are akin to terrorism. He said the pastor, Paul Makenzi, who is in police custody belongs to jail and not to any religion. “Mr. Makenzi … pretends …
Read More »Liberian stampede kills 29 people
A stampede at a Christian prayer gathering in Liberia’s capital Monrovia has killed at least 29 people, police said on Thursday, adding that the death toll may rise. The disaster occurred on Wednesday night or during the early hours of Thursday morning, according to media in the West African country. …
Read More »Pope Francis pledges to continue being a ‘pest’ in defense of the poor
Pope Francis said on Saturday he realizes some people, including within the Church, consider him to be “a pest” for defending the poor and most vulnerable, but that it won’t stop him as it is part of Christianity. “Thinking about these situations (of exclusion and inequality), I make a pest …
Read More »Vaccinate or repent, Russian church says amid hundreds of daily COVID-19 deaths
Russia’s Orthodox Church admonished people refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, calling them sinners who would have to atone for the rest of their lives, as the country reported another jump in new infections and deaths. The church urged all its faithful to be inoculated as another 24,353 new COVID-19 …
Read More »Vatican indicts 10, including Cardinal, on embezzlement, extortion, fraud charges
Influential cardinal and nine others to face trial in connection with 350m euro investment in London property venture. A Vatican judge has indicted 10 people, including a once-powerful cardinal, on charges including embezzlement, abuse of office, extortion, and fraud in connection with a 350 million-euro ($415m) investment in a London …
Read More »Thinking theologically with pandemics
Theology may be far from our minds during a pandemic in a seemingly secular age. Our interactions with the non-human world of microbial pathogens appear wholly at odds with our relations with another kind of non-human realm that we designate as divine. Yet, if the past teaches us anything, it …
Read More »Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia opens as a mosque for Muslim prayers
Thousands of Muslim faithful made their way to Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia on Friday to take part in the first prayers in 86 years at the structure that once was one of Christendom’s most significant cathedrals, then a mosque and museum before its reconversion into a Muslim place of worship. …
Read More »Turkey’s Hagia Sophia and the battle to reconvert it to a mosque : Report
From a symbol of Christendom after its establishment by Byzantine emperor Justinian I in the sixth century, to an emblem of the Muslim Ottoman Empire’s sprawling influence, the Hagia Sophia has been at the heart of a centuries-old ideological and political battle. After Fatih Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in …
Read More »Pope Francis condemns death of George Floyd, calls US unrest ‘disturbing’
Pope Francis has called the death of George Floyd at the hands of US police officers “tragic” and said he is praying for him and “all those others who have lost their lives as a result of the sin of racism.” After the eighth night of protests across the United …
Read More »Trump responds to protests with a strongman act: Report
US President Donald Trump’s made-for-TV embrace of authoritarianism’s imagery and tools at a brittle national moment risks unleashing toxic political forces that threaten America’s democratic traditions. Trump on Monday turned security forces on peaceful protesters in front of the White House, as tear gas and rubber bullets flew, before declaring …
Read More »Nigeria to relax coronavirus curbs on places of worship
Nigeria will relax coronavirus restrictions on places of worship from Tuesday, the chairman of the presidential task force for COVID-19 said. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country where Christianity and Islam are widely practiced, has recorded 10,162 confirmed cases and 287 deaths. Boss Mustapha, the country’s most senior civil servant, also …
Read More »Pope celebrates joy of Easter amid sorrow of virus pandemic
Pope Francis and Christians around the world marked a solitary Easter Sunday, forced to celebrate the most joyful day in the liturgical calendar amid the sorrowful reminders of the devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. Families who normally would attend morning Mass in their Easter best and later join friends …
Read More »Vatican urges visiting Iraqi president to promote peace and security.
The Vatican on Saturday urged Iraqi President Barham Saleh to guarantee the safety of Christians and ensure they have a future place in the war-battered country. Saleh met with Pope Francis, the Vatican secretary of state and foreign minister during back-to-back audiences Saturday, his second visit to the Vatican. The …
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