Reflections on life, meaning and purpose

Pope sends message of condolence to victims of deadly earthquake in Japan

Firefighters inspect collapsed wooden houses in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 2, 2024, a day after a major 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck the Noto region in Ishikawa Prefecture. / Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images CNA Staff, Jan 2, 2024 / 12:56 pm (CNA). Pope Francis was “deeply saddened” to learn of a devastating earthquake that […]

Same-sex couples applying for papal blessings (Catholic World Report)

Since the release of Fiducia Supplicans, the Vatican has reportedly seen a sharp increase in the number of same-sex couple making requests for blessings from Pope Francis. Requests for parchment documents conveying a papal blessing can be made by mail, and are vetted by Vatican officials. Such a blessing would not seem to qualify as […]

Twenty missionaries killed in 2023 (Fides)

Twenty Catholic missionaries were killed in 2023, the Fides news service reports. In an annual accounting of the Catholics who died while working for the faith, Fides lists one bishop, eight priests, one seminarian, one religious novice, and nine lay people. Nine missionaries were killed in Africa, including four in Nigeria. Six were killed in […]

Jimmy Lai Pleads Not Guilty in Hong Kong National Security Trial…

Jimmy Lai, the embattled Hong Kong Catholic democracy activist, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to all charges leveled against him in his national security trial there. Lai, the Chinese-born founder of the anti-government newspaper Apple Daily, entered a not-guilty plea to the charges of conspiring to collude with a foreign power. The 76-year-old Lai was […]