Leaders paint Kamala Harris as Jezebel, who is cast out – from a window, trampled by horses, and eaten by dogs
As the sky darkened on the National Mall in DC last Saturday, evangelical pastor Ché Ahn addressed the thousands of worshippers gathered there and issued a decree.
Trump, Ahn said, was a figure akin to the biblical King Jehu, and “Kamala Harris is a type of Jezebel, and as you know, Jehu cast out Jezebel”.
Continue reading...Archbishop expresses sorrow in announcement to pay 1,353 people who alleged they were abused as children by priests
The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880m to 1,353 people who alleged that they were sexually abused as children by Catholic priests, in the largest settlement by a US diocese over decades-old abuse claims.
Archbishop Jose H Gomez expressed sorrow for the abuse in announcing the settlement on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Jenny Donnelly, leader of anti-trans Don’t Mess With Our Kids, bills first pre-election event as rallying call for mothers
Tens of thousands of Christians poured onto the National Mall on Saturday to atone, pray and take a stand for America – which, in their view, has been poisoned by secularism and must be ruled instead by a Christian god.
Summoned to Washington DC by the multilevel marketing professional-turned-Christian “apostle” Jenny Donnelly and the anti-LGBTQ+ celebrity pastor Lou Engle, they streamed onto the lawn holding blue and pink banners emblazoned with the hashtag #DontMessWithOurKids – a nod to the myth that children are being indoctrinated into adopting gay and transgender identities.
Continue reading...Ukraine-born Mikola Bychok will become the only Australian resident in the powerful Catholic church position and the youngest cardinal overall
At just 44, Ukraine-born Melbourne bishop Mikola Bychok has ascended to one of the most powerful positions in the Catholic church, where he will have a say in who becomes the next pope.
Pope Francis named him as one of 21 new cardinals, making him the only Australian resident who will don the signature red vestments, and the youngest cardinal overall.
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Continue reading...Muslim and Jewish figures join archbishop in first act of high-level solidarity
Muslim and Jewish leaders today unite around an unprecedented joint statement calling the assaults on Israel on 7 October last year “brutal Hamas terrorist attacks” that led to a “devastating war in Gaza and beyond” which together have caused “horrific” human suffering.
Joined by the archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in the first high-level act of inter-faith solidarity in the year-long conflict, they say in a letter to the Observer: “Our faiths and our humanity teach us that we should mourn for all the innocent people who have lost their lives.
Continue reading...Newlyweds nicknamed ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Italian media had both refused to resign so other could keep job
A man and woman have been fired from their jobs at the Vatican bank because they flouted a ban on marriage between employees.
The young couple, nicknamed “Romeo and Juliet” by the Italian media, got married in August, after the bank imposed a rule banning marriage between employees aimed at preventing nepotism.
Continue reading...One exercise in History of Australia, a student workbook and teaching manual, asks pupils to discuss how Aboriginal people were ‘blessed’ by the British coming
Peter Cain, the ACT’s shadow attorney general, has apologised “wholeheartedly” for a 2002 workbook he wrote which does not mention the frontier wars and paints a rosy picture of how Christian settlers helped First Nations peoples.
In History of Australia, a student workbook and teacher’s manual published by Light Educational Ministries, Cain wrote that when the British arrived, “some were afraid of the Aboriginals; some treated them badly”.
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Continue reading...Some question the appointment of an official who has worked on controversial countering violent extremism programs
The Albanese government has announced British Australian public servant Aftab Malik as the special envoy to combat Islamophobia in Australia after months of delays.
But it has also sparked criticism, with some people within the Muslim community calling into question the thinking behind the appointment.
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Continue reading...Rockville Centre diocese in New York settles with more than 530 victims after proposed deal comes close to failure
A Roman Catholic diocese in Long Island, New York, announced a new bankruptcy settlement on Thursday that would pay more than $323m to about 530 sex abuse survivors who alleged they were abused by priests when they were children.
The diocese of Rockville Centre, which serves about 1.2 million Catholics in Nassau and Suffolk counties, said earlier this year that it did not think a bankruptcy settlement would be possible after abuse survivors rejected the diocese’s previous $200m settlement offer.
Continue reading...Calls rise for Benedict Willard to be punished after recusing himself from Lawrence Hecker case on morning of trial
Court watchdogs and advocates for victims of sexual abuse are calling for a New Orleans judge to be punished and voted out of office after he controversially delayed the trial of retired Catholic priest charged with child rape and kidnapping – on the morning of jury selection.
Judge Benedict Willard’s critics say his angry outbursts have been a problem over more than two decades on the bench. But they are raising fresh concerns after Willard’s decision to remove members of the local district attorney’s office during a rape trial in August reverberated to affect the eagerly anticipated trial of Lawrence Hecker, 93, on Tuesday.
Continue reading...‘If anyone could undo … the will of Louisiana … the Catholic church can and will,’ says survivor whose case is targeted
Months after Louisiana’s supreme court upheld the constitutionality of a state law that let child molestation victims sue for long-ago abuse, despite arguments to the contrary by a Roman Catholic diocese, another church organization is asking the federal government to strike the statute down.
Behind the request in question are the Dominican Sisters of Peace and a law firm that boasts about having represented Catholic institutions in Louisiana courts for more than a century. Another of the law firm’s clients in question, the archdiocese of New Orleans, is offering clergy molestation victims less than 10% of what they are requesting in a bankruptcy settlement, in part by arguing the so-called “lookback window” law doesn’t apply to more than 600 abuse claims.
Continue reading...Commemorations of 45 people ‘experimentally’ gassed reveal dark moments in the Netherlands’ history
They call them stumbling stones – little brass plaques in the pavement marking addresses where Holocaust victims once lived.
As the Netherlands marks 80 years of liberation, a row has sprung up about placing Stolpersteine for 45 Dutch political prisoners – Jewish activists, communists, critical Christians – who were “experimentally” gassed by the Nazis at the Bernburg psychiatric clinic in Germany in 1942.
Continue reading...Zara Mohammed calls for review of Downing Street’s non-engagement policy with Muslim Council of Britain
The head of the Muslim Council of Britain has called for an explanation and a review of the government’s policy of non-engagement with the body after her appeals for contact during the summer riots were ignored.
Zara Mohammed, who was elected more than three years ago as the MCB’s youngest and first female secretary general, said there had been a “quite shocking” lack of contact with the new government at a time when mobs were targeting Muslims and mosques.
Continue reading...Report reveals how US Christians, Catholic schools and Islamists fight sex education, LGBTQ+ and equal rights
Extreme religious groups and political parties are targeting schools around the world as part of a coordinated and well-funded attack on gender equality, according to a new report.
Well-known conservative organisations aim to restrict girls’ access to education, change what is on the curriculum, and influence educational laws and policies, according to Whose Hands on our Education, a report by the Overseas Development Institute.
Continue reading...Apollo Quiboloy, who is also wanted in US on child trafficking charges, hands himself over to police after ultimatum
An influential pastor wanted in the US on child trafficking charges has been arrested in the Philippines, after a 16-day manhunt across a vast compound that included a network of underground tunnels and dozens of buildings.
Apollo Quiboloy, the founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) church, who claims to be the “appointed son of God” and was a spiritual adviser of the former president Rodrigo Duterte, is facing various charges, including in the US where he is wanted over alleged trafficking of women and girls as young as 12.
Continue reading...The pontiff visited the small town of Vanimo after delivering mass to an estimated 35,000 people in the capital of Port Moresby
Pope Francis travelled to Vanimo, on Papua New Guinea’s remote north-west coast, after celebrating a mass in the capital of Port Moresby in front of an estimated audience of 35,000 people.
The pope received an enthusiastic welcome in the town located on a peninsula close to the border with Indonesia. He was greeted by members of the small Catholic community who are served by missionaries from his native Argentina.
Continue reading...Funds will help communities living on the Codrington estate, which was home to two sugar plantations
An Anglican church group is to launch a £7m reconciliation project in Barbados to atone for the atrocities of transatlantic slavery and compensate descendants of enslaved people.
United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG), a UK-based missionary organisation created in 1701 to convert people in the colonies to Christianity, will work with local and regional partners in the Caribbean to allocate money to education and entrepreneurial grants and historical research. It will also support land ownership among descendants of enslaved people.
Continue reading...Pontiff lands in Jakarta before travelling on to Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore over 12 days
Pope Francis arrived in Muslim-majority Indonesia on Tuesday to kick off a four-nation tour of the Asia-Pacific that will be the longest and farthest of the 87-year-old’s papacy.
The head of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics touched down in the capital, Jakarta, for a three-day visit devoted to inter-religious ties, and will then travel to Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore.
Continue reading...Pontiff’s itinerary, including visits to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, reflects importance of Asia to Catholic church
Pope Francis is to embark on the longest, farthest and perhaps most challenging trip of his pontificate as he begins a 12-day Asia-Pacific tour that is expected to highlight environmental threats, emphasise interfaith dialogue and reinforce the importance of Asia for the Catholic church.
The 87-year-old will set off on Monday on a tour taking in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, a trip that will clock up more than 20,000 miles by air.
Continue reading...New examination supports claim remains are of Teodomiro, a key figure in establishing Camino de Santiago pilgrimage
Scientists believe a set of ancient bones discovered in north-west Spain almost 70 years ago are those of the bishop whose devotion to St James the Apostle paved the way for the Camino de Santiago path taken by countless footsore pilgrims over the past 12 centuries.
According to historical sources and oral tradition, Bishop Teodomiro of Iria Flavia discovered the remains of St James – who was martyred in Jerusalem between the years AD41 and 44 – in an abandoned cemetery in what is now the Galician city of Santiago de Compostela. Teodomiro is said to have received the revelation in the early ninth century after days of fasting and meditation – and with a little help from a visionary local hermit.
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