Mixed group to take over duties of Escolania choir at Montserrat monastery one weekend a month
Women and girls are to be admitted to a choir at the Montserrat monastery near Barcelona, home to the famous Escolania all-boys choir, for the first time in its 700-year history.
The new chamber choir, made up of a mix of about 25 boys and women and girls aged 17 to 24, will be separate from the Escolania, which comprises 45 boys aged nine to 14.
Continue reading...Powerful voting bloc looking to back pro-Israel politicians in hopes of dictating policy that fits their theological views
When Israel’s former ambassador to the US said his country should worry less about what American Jews think and concentrate on Christian evangelicals as the “backbone” of support for the Jewish state, he had in mind the Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee.
Hagee founded Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a group that claims 11 million members, who have had a significant influence on Republican party politics and in hardening Washington’s already strong support for Israel.
Continue reading...Oil has been created using olives from two groves on Mount of Olives, and a formula dating back centuries
The fragrant chrism oil that will be used to anoint King Charles during his coronation in May was made sacred in Jerusalem on Friday.
A ceremony took place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the holy oil was consecrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, and the Anglican archbishop in Jerusalem, Hosam Naoum.
Continue reading...Submission says agency’s push to enable LGBTQ+ role models ‘preferences one worldview over another’
The Sydney Anglican church has accused the Australian Law Reform Commission of a “double standard” for seeking to give LGBTQ+ students role models while limiting the ability of religious schools to hire by faith.
The church’s submission to a review of exemptions for religious schools from discrimination law is part of a broader conservative backlash that has prompted the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to recommit the government to allowing schools to select staff based on faith.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...Company accepted money from groups such as the Australian Christian Lobby, who labelled a drag queen event as an ‘attempt to sexualise innocent toddlers’
Meta has accepted thousands of dollars from Australian groups promoting anti-LGBTQ+ messages on Facebook, despite the social media company having a float in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras to show its support for the community.
Meta staff and Instagram influencers are preparing to march on Sydney’s Oxford Street on Saturday under the theme of “Connect with Pride, by Instagram, Powered by Meta” as one of more than 200 floats in the parade.
Continue reading...Independent commission reaches conclusion after hearing evidence from over 500 survivors last year
Catholic clergy in Portugal have abused nearly 5,000 children since 1950, an independent commission said on Monday after hearing hundreds of survivors’ accounts.
Thousands of reports of paedophilia within the church have surfaced around the world, and Pope Francis is under pressure to tackle the scandal.
Continue reading...Survey also finds that 29% of white evangelical Protestants qualify as nationalism adherents while 35% qualify as sympathizers
Two-thirds of white evangelicals and most Republicans are sympathetic to Christian nationalism, a new survey has found.
According to a national survey released on Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute and Brookings Institution, 29% of white evangelical Protestants qualify as Christian nationalism adherents while 35% qualify as sympathizers.
Continue reading...Two nuns told they ‘disobeyed the church’ by trying to stay at seven-centuries-old site in Ravello
The Vatican has expelled two cloistered sisters from the nunhood after the pair disobeyed a request to leave a seven-centuries-old monastery along Italy’s Amalfi coast.
Known in the clifftop town of Ravello as “the rebel nuns”, Massimiliana Panza and Angela Maria Punnackal left the Santa Chiara monastery on Saturday after receiving a letter signed by Pope Francis telling them they were being relieved of “the obligations of sacred ordination”.
Continue reading...Pontiff says on peace mission that religious leaders ‘cannot remain neutral’ amid abuses of power
Pope Francis has said churches in South Sudan “cannot remain neutral” but must raise their voices against injustice and abuse of power, as he and two other Christian leaders conducted a peace mission to the world’s newest country.
On his first full day in South Sudan, Francis addressed Catholic bishops, priests and nuns in St Theresa Cathedral in the capital, Juba, as the archbishop of Canterbury and the head of the Church of Scotland held services elsewhere.
Continue reading...An open letter, backed by opinion poll, urges the UK to restore aid budget on eve of a three-day ‘pilgrimage for peace’ in the east African country
The British government’s financial support for Ukraine must not be at the cost of aid to other areas of the world in crisis, three faith-based charities have warned, on the eve of an unprecedented joint pilgrimage to South Sudan led by Pope Francis.
The organisations are calling on the government to restore the 59% cut in the UK’s aid budget to South Sudan, and invest in peacebuilding, conflict management and reconciliation.
Continue reading...Head of Anglican church in South Sudan said archbishop of Canterbury was ‘failing to defend biblical truth’
Pope Francis and the archbishop of Canterbury will begin a historic joint visit to South Sudan on Friday against the backdrop of potential tensions over LGBTQ+ rights.
The leaders of the global Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, whose numbers are growing in sub-Saharan Africa in contrast to the west, will be joined on their “pilgrimage of peace” by the leader of the Church of Scotland.
Continue reading...Comedian says C of E’s position is ‘untenable’ after meeting archbishop of Canterbury
Sandi Toksvig has said the Church of England’s position on same-sex marriage is “untenable” after a meeting with the archbishop of Canterbury.
The comedian met Justin Welby after she expressed her dismay last year that he had reaffirmed the church’s 1998 declaration that gay sex is a sin.
Continue reading...Archbishops of Canterbury and York say ‘national care covenant’ needed with stronger role for state
England’s most senior church leaders want tax rises to fund a new NHS-style universal social care system that could cost an extra £15bn a year.
In a challenge to the government to overhaul support for 1 million elderly and disabled people, the archbishops of Canterbury and York have called for a “national care covenant” with a stronger role for the state and citizens delivering more care.
Continue reading...Move follows bishops’ refusal to back gay marriage while blessings to be on voluntary basis for clergy
Sandi Toksvig has said she will be meeting the archbishop of Canterbury for coffee, after bishops this week refused to back gay marriage but said civil partnerships could be blessed in church.
“Quick update – I will be meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury for a long promised coffee next week,” the broadcaster and author, who is gay, tweeted on Saturday.
Continue reading...Journalist who published the anonymous memo criticising ‘politically correct’ decisions reveals cardinal was its author
Cardinal George Pell was the author of an anonymous memo condemning the papacy of Pope Francis as a “catastrophe” where political correctness held sway while global wrongs were ignored, says the journalist who published it.
Released last year under the pseudonym Demos, the document accuses the pope of silence on moral issues, including the German Catholic church’s openness to the LGBTQ community, female priests and communion for the divorced.
Continue reading...Un-redacted report released in 2020 revealed how archbishop failed to take proper steps to act on complaints about dangerous priests
The child sexual abuse royal commission in 2020 released a bombshell un-redacted report examining the failings of George Pell during his time as an assistant priest, bishop, auxiliary bishop and cardinal in Australia.
The report found he both knew about child abuse, particularly within the Victorian diocese of Ballarat, and failed to take proper steps to act on complaints about dangerous priests.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...Clerical leaders hope for ‘lasting legacy’ to serve places affected by past slavery trade, but fund may spread thinly across all of west Africa and Caribbean
The Church of England’s decision to set up a £100m fund for communities adversely affected by historic slavery is the latest – and biggest – step it has taken over the past few years to “address past wrongs” relating to its links to the slave trade.
The report on the origins of the C of E’s healthy £9bn-plus endowment fund correctly describes the 17th century slave trade as “abhorrent” and a source of misery and injustice.
Continue reading...Vandals’ clothing leads to claims they are Jewish extremists who have desecrated over 30 Christian graves
Security camera footage of men wearing Jewish religious clothing smashing a stone cross in a historic Jerusalem cemetery has prompted claims that Israeli extremists are responsible for the desecration of more than 30 Christian graves.
The vandalism at the Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion, conducted in broad daylight on Sunday afternoon, has shocked church leaders and led to calls for Israel to crack down on racist far-right settlers.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands gather to see Pope Francis bury his predecessor
An estimated 100,000 Catholics have descended on St Peter’s Square for the funeral of the former pope Benedict XVI.
Benedict died on Saturday, aged 95, almost a decade after becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign. He will become the first former pontiff in the modern history of the Catholic church to be buried by an incumbent pope, Francis, who arrived outside St Peter’s Basilica in a wheelchair on Thursday.
Continue reading...Benedict’s body displayed in chapel of the Vatican monastery and will lie in state at St Peter’s Basilica
Thousands of people are expected to pay their respects to former pope Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday, in the days leading up to his funeral this week.
Benedict’s body was displayed on Sunday in a chapel of the Vatican monastery where he lived, and will lie in state at St Peter’s Basilica from Monday until Thursday. His funeral in St Peter’s Square will be a simple, solemn and sober ceremony in keeping with his wishes, the Vatican said.
Continue reading...