Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet with Israel’s ruling coalition heads, his office said Saturday, to discuss a political crisis that could force early elections. A meeting with leaders of two ultra-Orthodox parties was to be held later Saturday, to be followed the next …
Read More »Catholic Church ‘an empire of misogyny’: Irish ex-president
ROME, Italy | AFP | The Catholic Church is “an empire of misogyny”, Ireland’s former president said on Wednesday ahead of a conference calling for women to be included in Church decision-making. “The Catholic Church is one of the last great bastions of misogyny. It’s an empire of misogyny,” said Mary …
Read More »South Africa’s ‘Prophet of Doom’ fined for spraying insecticide on followers
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A South African court has fined a self-styled prophet who sprayed his followers in the face with insecticide as a supposed cure for illness. Pastor Lethebo Rabalago was found guilty by a court in the northwest town of Limpopo of five charges of grievous assault …
Read More »13 dead in Christian-Muslim violence in Nigeria: police
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | At least 13 people have been killed in clashes between Christian and Muslim youths in central Nigeria, police said on Wednesday, in the latest violence to hit the region. Fighting broke out on Monday in Kasuwan Magani community in Kaduna state, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) …
Read More »Christian holy site in Jerusalem ends protest shutdown
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Christian leaders in Jerusalem said that they would on Wednesday reopen the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre, closed since the weekend in protest at Israeli tax measures. The announcement came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said a “professional team” would be appointed …
Read More »Church at Jesus’s traditional burial site closed in tax dispute
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Christian leaders took the rare step on Sunday of closing Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built where tradition holds Jesus was buried, in protest at Israeli tax measures and a proposed property law. It was not clear how long the closure of the church, …
Read More »Philippine Catholics protest bill to legalise divorce
Manila, Philippines | AFP | Around 2,000 Roman Catholic Filipinos protested in Manila on Saturday against a push to legalise divorce, with church groups also using the “Walk for Life” march to slam President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drugs war. The pre-dawn protest was organised by church groups worried about the …
Read More »Pastor has faith he can unseat Maduro in Venezuela poll
Caracas, Venezuela | AFP | Despite unpopularity and a deepening economic crisis, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro seems such a certainty for reelection in April that only an evangelical pastor has found the faith to run against him. “I am the light in the darkness,” said little-known pastor Javier Bertucci, without …
Read More »Giant mosaic unveiled in world’s second largest Orthodox church
Belgrade, Serbia | AFP | A four-million-euro mosaic depicting Jesus Christ inside the world’s second largest Orthodox church was unveiled in Belgrade on Thursday. The giant mosaic, which weighs 40 tons and was worked on by 70 Serbian and Russian artists, decorates the central dome of the city’s Saint Sava …
Read More »Billy Graham: The pastor who took the Word to the North Koreans, China
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | The staunchly anti-communist Billy Graham had a record of engaging with Communist leaders in Asia as he pursued his global evangelistic mission — most notably North Korea’s Kim Il Sung. Graham, the influential US pastor who died aged 99 on Wednesday, became one of …
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