The first day of Lent looked a little different this year as Christians took part in the holy day
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Reprieve for Alabama death row inmate requesting pastor
Willie B Smith III’s lethal injection was called off after the US supreme court says state cannot proceed without pastor present
An Alabama inmate won a reprieve from a planned lethal injection after the US supreme court said the state must allow his personal pastor in the death chamber.
Thursday’s scheduled execution of Willie B Smith III was called off by Alabama officials after the justices maintained an injunction issued by the 11th US circuit court of appeals, saying he could not be executed without his pastor present in chamber.
Continue reading...I found peace in an unexpected corner of the internet: nun Twitter
Religious Twitter brings together nuns, monks, bishops and rabbis too and it may have something to teach us
There is a Rumi poem – it is my favourite. “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,” writes the 13th-century mystic, “there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
I feel this way about religious Twitter.
Continue reading...Europe’s oldest person survives Covid and set to celebrate 117th birthday
French nun Sister Andrée tested positive in her retirement home in Toulon but had no symptoms
A French nun who is Europe’s oldest person has recovered from Covid-19 after it swept through a nursing home in the south of France, and will celebrate her 117th birthday this week.
Sister Andrée, born Lucile Randon in 1904, tested positive for the coronavirus last month at the Sainte-Catherine Labouré home near Toulon where 81 of the 88 residents contracted the virus – 10 of whom died.
Continue reading...Actor’s homophobia made her commercially toxic, tribunal told
Seyi Omooba is suing Leicester theatre and talent agency after being sacked for Facebook post on homosexuality
A sacked actor who would have refused to play the role in which she had been cast as a lesbian because it was against her Christian beliefs made herself “commercially toxic” and her continued employment would have forced the show’s cancellation, a tribunal has heard.
Seyi Omooba was due to play Celie in a production of The Color Purple at the Curve theatre, Leicester, but was removed from the show in March 2019 after the emergence of a Facebook post from 2014 in which she said homosexuality was not “right”.
Continue reading...‘A door has opened’: Pope Francis appoints first woman to senior synod post
France’s Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of synod of bishops, is first woman to hold the rank which gives voting rights
Breaking with tradition, Pope Francis has appointed Frenchwoman Nathalie Becquart as an undersecretary of the synod of bishops, the first woman to hold the post and have voting rights.
The 52-year-old is one of the two new undersecretaries named to the synod, the body of bishops that studies major questions of doctrine and where she has been a consultant since 2019.
Continue reading...Orthodox Church under fire in Romania after baby dies following baptism
Six-week-old suffered cardiac arrest during ceremony, which involves three immersions in holy water
The Orthodox Church in Romania is facing growing pressure to change baptism rituals after a baby died following a ceremony which involves immersing infants three times in holy water.
The six-week-old suffered a cardiac arrest and was rushed to hospital on Monday but he died a few hours later, the autopsy revealing liquid in his lungs. Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation against the priest in the north-eastern city of Suceava.
Continue reading...‘Is it OK to eat during online mass?’: how the faithful handle lockdown
From streamed baptisms to the impossibility of hajj, it’s been a tricky time for religious people to stay observant. But many have some holy hacks
Well before places of worship were closed during the first lockdown, we hectored my father to remain indoors and stay safe. He rebelled. One frigid Sunday last March, through the silence of a sleeping household, he slunk down the hall and to the kitchen, careful not to rouse his house guests.
We don’t know if his plan was dependent on my siblings being hungover but, since this was the case, it worked a charm. A little after 9am, they were stirred from sleep by the tell-tale crunch of gravel as he spun slowly away to his local church. His intention: to defy the orders of his slovenly children and go to mass amid the coughs and handshakes of his fellow parishioners. We had witnessed one of the more unexpected struggles of lockdown life – the strange, rebellious instincts of God-fearing society, and the paradox of coming together in His name at a time when you must remain apart.
Continue reading...Jesuit order in Spain apologises for decades of sexual abuse by members
Society of Jesus admits 81 children and 21 adults were sexually abused by 96 of its members since 1927
The Jesuit order in Spain has admitted that 81 children and 21 adults have been sexually abused by 96 of its members since 1927, and has apologised for the “painful, shameful and sorrowful” crimes.
In a report released on Thursday, the Society of Jesus, whose members often work as teachers, said most of the abuse had taken place in schools “or was related to schools”.
Continue reading...Pope’s adviser says Covid has highlighted ‘existential’ climate risk
Focus must be on justice for those fleeing impact of extreme weather events, says new scientific adviser to Vatican
The pope’s newly appointed scientific adviser said the coronavirus pandemic has forced world leaders to face up to the “existential risk” of the climate crisis.
Prof Ottmar Edenhofer said rich countries now had a moral duty to compensate poor countries already suffering the impacts.
Continue reading...Light brigade: the Christmas holdouts keeping their decorations up
English Heritage and Church of England back extending traditional January deadline to brighten gloom of lockdown
In other years, the threat of bad luck if you fail to take your Christmas decorations down by Twelfth Night might have meant something.
In 2021, the idea that things could get any worse seems blackly comic. And so it is that for some people, baubles, lights, and trees are staying in place this year.
Continue reading...Pope condemns travelling abroad to escape coronavirus lockdowns
Pontiff uses video address to urge public to ‘take care of each other’
Pope Francis has condemned people who had gone abroad on holiday to escape coronavirus lockdowns, saying they needed to show greater awareness of the suffering of others.
Speaking after his weekly noon blessing, Francis said he had read newspaper reports of people catching flights to flee government curbs and seek fun elsewhere.
Continue reading...Irish state broadcaster apologises over TV comedy depicting God as rapist
RTÉ New Year’s Eve show included mock news report about God implicated in sexual harassment case
Ireland’s state broadcaster, RTÉ, has apologised after an outcry over a television comedy sketch that depicted God as a rapist.
A countdown show on New Year’s Eve included a mock news report about God being the latest prominent figure implicated in a sexual harassment scandal.
Continue reading...Coronavirus global report: Christmas curtailed as UK arrivals face tougher measures
Pope addresses fewer than 200 people in St Peter’s; China and US take action against UK amid concerns about new variant; South Korea reports daily case record
- Staff at UK coronavirus testing lab hit by outbreak
- Johnson refuses to rule out national lockdown as UK death toll rises by 574
- Trump claims to be ‘working tirelessly’ but leaves Covid relief in disarray
The coronavirus pandemic cast a pall over Christmas celebrations worldwide, with the pope holding a reduced St Peter’s mass, and further restrictions imposed on arrivals from the UK and South Africa amid concerns about potentially more transmissible variants of the virus.
China said it would halt UK flight arrivals indefinitely, deciding to follow the example of dozens of countries that introduced bans this week following the emergence of a new mutation in the virus. There are currently eight weekly flights between mainland China and Britain, including two by British Airways.
Continue reading...George Pell says ‘some evidence but no proof’ Vatican officials conspired to ‘destroy’ him
Comments to Italian media are the strongest cardinal has made alleging abuse charges may be linked to Vatican corruption investigation
Cardinal George Pell has told an Italian current affairs program that there is “some evidence but no proof” that figures within the Vatican conspired to “destroy” him, the strongest comments he has made to date that allege the charges against him may be linked to Vatican corruption.
Pell claimed all senior figures within the Vatican who had taken charge of reforming the finances of the Holy See “with very few exceptions, has been attacked by the media on the level of reputation in one way or another”.
Continue reading...Senior faith leaders call for global decriminalisation of LGBT+ people
UK conference brings together more than 60 leaders, demanding an international ban on conversion practices
Senior faith leaders from around the world are coming together at an event backed by the UK government to call for an end to the criminalisation of LGBT+ people and a global ban on conversion practices.
More than 370 figures from 35 countries representing 10 religions have signed a historic declaration ahead of a conference on 16 December in a move that will highlight divisions within global religions.
Continue reading...Huge blaze engulfs New York church housing Liberty Bell – video
Firefighters in New York battled a large blaze in the early hours of Saturday morning that gutted a historic church in lower Manhattan. The Middle Collegiate Church in the East Village caught fire before dawn after a blaze spread from an adjacent five-storey vacant building about 5am. Video posted on Twitter showed flames shooting from the roof and the church’s stately front window glowing from the conflagration inside. The church houses New York’s Liberty Bell and its congregation dates from the earliest days of the city’s settlement.
Continue reading...Suspected militants kill four Christians in remote Indonesian village
International rights groups called attack ‘a serious escalation’ against Indonesia’s Christian minority
Police in Indonesia were on Saturday hunting suspected militants accused of killing four people said by rights groups to be Christians, beheading one and burning down their homes.
Ten militants linked to a “terrorist” group beheaded one victim and slit the throats of the others on the island of Sulawesi on Friday, national police spokesman Awi Setiyono quoted a witness as saying.
Continue reading...Non-Christian faiths welcome Christmas easing of Covid rules
Religious leaders pleased that Christians will not experience ‘same disappointment’ they did
Representatives of faiths that have been unable to gather for religious festivals this year because of the pandemic have welcomed the fact that Christians will not have to experience “the same disappointment and deflation” they did.
The Muslim festivals of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, the Jewish holy days of Passover, Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year) and Yom Kippur, and Diwali festival of lights celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains were among those hit by lockdown restrictions, with people forbidden to worship together or join family and friends to mark the occasions. Easter was also affected last spring.
Continue reading...Pope says for first time that China’s Uighurs are ‘persecuted’
Francis mentions plight of Muslim minority in China, alongside Rohingya and Yazidi, in new book
Pope Francis has for the first time called China’s Muslim Uighurs a “persecuted” people, something human rights activists have been urging him to do for years.
In the wide-ranging book Let Us Dream: the Path to a Better Future, he said: “I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya, the poor Uighurs, the Yazidi” in a section where he also talks about persecuted Christians in Islamic countries.
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