Tag Archives: Religion

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 …

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 …

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. …

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 …

  Montreal, Canada | AFP |  Canada’s Quebec province Wednesday prohibited government workers and anyone receiving government services from covering their face, in a move critics say unfairly targets Muslim women who wear a niqab veil. The legislation applies to bureaucrats, police officers, teachers, and bus drivers, as well as …

Rome, Italy | AFP | An Italian priest has been kidnapped by gunmen in southern Nigeria, church officials in both countries have said. Maurizio Pallu was snatched on Thursday in broad daylight by armed men just outside of Benin City, Italian media reports said. “Pope Francis has been informed about …

Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Pope Francis will push for peace during his visit to mainly-Buddhist Myanmar, a church official said Thursday, a trip that plunges the pontiff into the centre of a simmering religious conflict which has sparked an exodus of Muslim Rohingya. Myanmar’s western Rakhine state has been torn …

Rome, Italy | AFP | Two prisoners who were invited to meet Pope Francis for lunch on his recent visit to Bologna took advantage of the occasion to escape, local media reports said Wednesday. The two men, who were being held in a rehabilitation facility for drug addicts and prisoners, were …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Wednesday urged people across the world to open their arms to migrants, as Catholic charity Caritas launched its “Share the Journey” campaign on migration. “With open arms … that is exactly how to welcome (migrants), with arms wide open,” Francis …

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | AFP | A Malaysian man has been reprimanded by Islamic authorities for “indecent dressing” after he was caught wearing shorts in public on the way to a football match, officials and reports said Wednesday. The case in Kelantan, a state ruled by an influential Islamist party, sparked …