World News
Pope Francis makes it mandatory for clergy to report sex abuse
December 27, 2019 · By BBC News for www.bbc.com
Pope Francis has made it mandatory for Roman Catholic clergy to report cases of clerical sexual abuse and cover-ups to the Church. In an Apostolic letter, which is set to become Church law, he makes clear that any sexual advance involving the use of power will now be considered abusive. The clarification is being seen […]
Read More...Schoolgirl ‘rape’ in India sparks parent protest
December 27, 2019 · By UCAN Reporter, New Delhi for www.ucanews.org
Angry parents in northern India have demanded action against the management of a Catholic school after an eight-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted in her classroom on Dec. 13 by an older boy. The police later arrested the boy and sent him a to juvenile home following a complaint from the principal of the Sacred […]
Read More...Funding restrictions cripple Church agencies in Pakistan
December 20, 2019 · By Pakistan for www.ucanews.org
Government has revoked licences of thousands of non-governmental agencies, including Christian groups, stopping their foreign funding Christian groups in Pakistan are trying to stop the government closing their bank accounts as part of a process it says is intended to throttle foreign funding to terrorist organizations. The government has revoked the licenses of thousands of […]
Read More...Double burden of obesity, undernourishment stalks world: report
December 19, 2019 · By Mariëtte Le Roux for www.ctvnews.ca
PARIS, FRANCE — Low- and middle-income countries risk seeing their development progress slashed by the double-edged sword of obesity and undernutrition, both caused by a lack of access to affordable healthy food, a report in The Lancet warned Monday. This “double burden of malnutrition”, or DBM, affects more than a third of some 130 countries classed […]
Read More...Sotto law allows Rappler to protect source in cyber libel case
December 19, 2019 · By Lian Buan for www.rappler.com
MANILA, Philippines – Republic Act No. 11458 or the Sotto law allows Rappler to keep its source confidential in the cyber libel trial at the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC). Complainant Wilfredo Keng’s lawyer Ryan Cruz asked Rappler witness, investigative head Chay Hofileña, who Rappler’s source was for the intelligence report cited in a 2012 story that linked his client […]
Read More...Proclaim the Gospel in every language, in every land, pope tells Filipinos
December 19, 2019 · By Cindy Wooden for cruxnow.com
ROME – “Continue being ‘smugglers’ of the faith,” Pope Francis told thousands of Filipino migrants living and working in Italy. Starting the Italian Filipino community’s “Simbang Gabi,” a novena of nighttime or pre-dawn Masses in preparation for Christmas, the pope praised the community for not only keeping their faith alive, but for enlivening the faith […]
Read More...Aung San Suu Kyi tells court: Myanmar genocide claims ‘factually misleading’
December 18, 2019 · By Owen Bowcott in The Hague for www.theguardian.com
The Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has defended Myanmar’s government against accusations of genocide at the international court of justice, calling the allegations an “incomplete and misleading factual picture of the situation”. Addressing a bench of 17 judges from around the world, the 74-year-old leader dismissed reports of state violence against Rohingya Muslims and blamed the […]
Read More...Pope Francis lifts secrecy rule in sexual abuse cases
December 18, 2019 · By Chico Harlan for www.washingtonpost.com
ROME — Pope Francis has lifted the Roman Catholic Church’s highest form of confidentiality in sexual abuse cases, a move designed to increase transparency and open the door to information sharing with civil authorities. The abolition of the “pontifical secrecy” rule does not mean that the documents and testimony from the church’s abuse […]
Read More...Rohingya rights group’s office shut in Bangladesh
December 18, 2019 · By Stephan Uttom, Dhaka for www.ucanews.org
Bangladesh’s government has allegedly ordered the closure of the office of a Rohingya rights group in a move that rights campaigners have condemned as “unacceptable” and the “muzzling of freedom of speech” of the beleaguered community. The operational office of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), based in Kutupalong refugee camp […]
Read More...Indonesian Papuans call on all Christians to recognize their plight
December 17, 2019 · By Ryan Dagur, Jakarta for www.ucanews.org
Papuans in Indonesia have called on Christians around the world, including Pope Francis, to include human rights abuses on their land in their Advent prayer intentions to “show humanitarian solidarity” with them. The call was made on Dec. 8 as Papuans marked the shooting deaths of five Catholic students in Papua’s Paniai district five years […]
Read More...
