Category Archives: Religion

The Monlam great prayer festival in Tibet – a photo essay

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Monlam, or the great prayer festival, is the most important prayer event for many Tibetans. It was banned during the Cultural Revolution in China but is now celebrated in many areas.

Considered the most important event for Tibetan Buddhists, the Monlam great prayer festival starts three days after the lunar new year in western China’s ethnic Tibetan region and is held for almost two weeks. During Monlam, millions of pilgrims travel to monasteries to pray for good fortune in the new year and make offerings to their late relatives.

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Xinjiang detention camps may be phased out, governor suggests

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Top Uighur official says there will be fewer and fewer students at centres thought to house a million people

Top officials in Xinjiang have hinted that the system of internment centres used to hold a million Muslim minorities may one day be phased out.

Researchers say huge numbers of people, mostly Uighurs, are being held in detention and re-education camps in the far western territory as part of a huge security crackdown in the name of counter terrorism efforts.

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Cardinal George Pell to spend nearly four years in jail for child sexual assault

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Chief judge calls Pell’s crimes ‘breathtakingly arrogant’ as he sentences Pell to six years in jail, with non-parole period of three years and eight months

• George Pell sentenced to six years in jail – live updates

Cardinal George Pell may spend at least three years and eight months in jail after being convicted of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in 1996, with the judge describing his offending as “brazen and forceful” and “breathtakingly arrogant” because he believed the victims would never complain.

The 77-year-old was sentenced to six years, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months.

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The Guardian view on the Israeli elections: Netanyahu debases his office – again | Editorial

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Next month’s poll is a referendum on a prime minister who has triumphed by fuelling divisions

Israel is not a state of all its citizens, Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu declared on Sunday. His words should be shocking, but in truth they made explicit the message of last year’s nation state law, rendering Palestinians in Israel second-class citizens. They would be shameful if he were capable of shame. Mr Netanyahu’s campaign for re-election in the face of a bribery and fraud indictment shows he is not. He has prospered by fostering division.

This latest act of cynical bigotry is simply par for the course. The same is true of Mr Netanyahu’s awful turn to far-right parties for support. Mr Netanyahu orchestrated the merger of the racist anti-Arab Jewish Power and the pro-settler Jewish Home parties to help them pass the electoral threshold and him put together a coalition. Jewish Power includes followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kach party was outlawed in Israel and is designated by the US and EU as a terror organisation.

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French cardinal found guilty of covering up sexual abuse

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Philippe Barbarin handed six-month suspended sentence after surprise verdict

A French archbishop has been found guilty of covering up child sexual abuse by a priest in his diocese in yet another crushing blow to the Catholic church’s credibility on the most damaging issue it has faced in recent history.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence on Thursday for failing to report to the authorities accusations made against the priest.

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George Pell to be sued over alleged 1970s sexual abuse in Ballarat

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Man was a complainant against disgraced cardinal in a second trial that was abandoned, and says ‘when I was told they had withdrawn the case I felt empty’

A man who says he was molested by George Pell when he was a boy in the 1970s will file a lawsuit against the disgraced cardinal in the supreme court in Melbourne, the Herald Sun reports.

The suit to be lodged on Monday is reported to name Pell, the trustees of Nazareth House, (formerly St Joseph’s), the State of ­Victoria and the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.

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Robert Richter apologises for describing George Pell’s abuse as ‘vanilla sex’

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After a ‘sleepless night reflecting’, barrister says sorry for his ‘terrible choice of phrase’

Robert Richter has apologised for his “terrible choice of phrase” in describing George Pell’s sexual abuse of a 13-year-old choirboy as “vanilla sexual penetration”.

The queen’s counsel has been widely criticised for the remark, which came during a plea hearing for the cardinal who is now behind bars awaiting sentence for orally raping the boy, and molesting him and another 13-year-old after a Sunday mass in 1996.

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‘Take him away, please’: George Pell hadn’t dressed for prison, but that’s where he went

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The only question on the agenda today was how long the man who once bestrode the Catholic world will be living behind bars

The script was bare. “Take him away, please,” said Judge Peter Kidd at 3.10pm and Cardinal George Pell picked up his stick, nodded to the guards fore and aft and walked through a blank door at the end of the dock into the underworld.

Nothing his barrister, Robert Richter, argued could have saved Pell from this fate.

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Resurrection Challenge – South Africans mock pastor for ‘resurrection stunt’ on social media – video

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A pastor in South Africa who claimed to have performed a resurrection has sparked a social media craze as users took to the web mockingly mimicking his miraculous powers. A video of Alleluia Ministries International pastor Alph Lukau ‘reviving’ a supposedly dead man emerged over the weekend and quickly went viral. Within hours, the hashtag ResurrectionChallenge was trending on Twitter as users posted wry images of their own dramatic ‘revivals’ alongside screenshots of Lukau’s supposed miracle.


‘Resurrection’ pastor sparks storm of parody on Twitter

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George Pell loses position as Vatican treasurer after guilty verdict

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Holy See says convicted child abuser will remain a cardinal at least until appeal is heard, but he is no longer prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy

The Vatican has confirmed that Cardinal George Pell’s position as the prefect of its Secretariat for the Economy has not been renewed, with the role one of the highest in the Catholic hierarchy.

In December Pell was found guilty of one charge of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16 and four counts of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16. The verdict could not be widely reported until Tuesday owing to a suppression order.

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George Pell: Vatican to await cardinal’s appeal before taking any action

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Close associate of Pope Francis faces jail sentence for child sexual abuse crimes

The Catholic church’s already shaky credibility on sexual abuse was dealt another hammer blow on Tuesday, with its third most powerful figure and a close associate of Pope Francis facing a jail sentence for crimes committed against two choirboys in the 1990s.

The news that Cardinal George Pell – who until the weekend was in charge of the Holy See’s finances and of rooting out corruption at the heart of the church – had been found guilty on five charges of sexual abuse was painful and shocking, said the Vatican.

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Decathlon drops French sports hijab after politicians threaten boycott

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Retailer faced outrage from some of Macron’s ministers against Muslim head-coverings

The French sports store Decathlon has cancelled a plan to put a sports hijab on the market in France after several politicians, including one from Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, called for a boycott.

The retailer’s plain, lightweight running headscarf, which covers the hair but not the face, is already on sale in Morocco and was to be extended to France and worldwide. But after a social media storm and outrage from some politicians against Muslim head coverings, the company backtracked and said the garment would not go on sale “at the present time” in France.

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Cardinal Pell guilty: Vatican treasurer convicted on child sex abuse charges – latest news

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George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two 13-year-olds in 1996 and 1997 at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne. Follow live updates
• Full report: Pell found guilty of child sexual assault
• Explainer: what has Pell been convicted of?
• Five times guilty: how Pell’s past caught up with him
• Journalists accused of breaking suppression order may face jail
• ‘Disgraceful rubbish’: the moment Pell reacted to child abuse allegations

Some detail on the process behind stripping someone of the Order of Australia.

in what circumstance could George Pell's Order of Australia be rescinded? per the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General

-Council for the Order of Australia investigates
-recommends action to the GG
-process can't be finalised until end of court proceedings pic.twitter.com/eUlOXYL5v9

Another blow.

Richmond Football Club has today removed Cardinal George Pell as a Club Vice Patron. While acknowledging his right to appeal, the Club has formed a view that his association is no longer tenable or appropriate.

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Pope Francis beset by global sexual abuse scandal after George Pell’s conviction

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Pontiff talks of ‘remorse’ and ‘never again’ but the church’s culture is impervious to change, and there will be more horrors to come

• Follow live updates on the reaction to Cardinal George Pell’s conviction
• Full report: Pell found guilty of child sexual assault
• Explainer: who is Pell and what has he been convicted of?

Pope Francis must have hoped that last week’s unprecedented summit in Rome of senior bishops and church figures from around the world would mark a turning point for his papacy on sexual abuse. The world would see that the Vatican was finally getting a grip on the issue that has caused such grave damage to the church for the past 20 years.

Such hopes have been dealt a devastating blow by the news that Cardinal George Pell, until recently the third most senior figure at the Vatican, is facing a prison term for the sexual abuse of minors in the 1990s.

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China says ‘preventive’ work in Xinjiang detention camps should be applauded

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Government steps up outreach to foreign envoys, explaining its achievements in the region home to Muslim minorities

China’s counter-terrorism and de-radicalisation efforts in its far western region of Xinjiang should be applauded for creating a new method of tackling the problem, a senior diplomat told foreign envoys last week.

China is stepping up its diplomatic outreach over controversial detention camps in the heavily Muslim region, inviting more foreign diplomats to visit as it seeks to head off criticism from Muslim-majority nations and at the United Nations.

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Cuba’s evangelical alliance leads crusade against gay marriage

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Conservative Christianity becomes a political force in referendum on state’s new constitution

A thousand parishioners gathered in the Methodist church in the Vedado district of Cuba’s capital on a recent Sunday morning. After the revival music and conga drums had faded, the dancers had come off stage and the faithful had lowered outstretched arms, Pastor Lester Fernández rounded off his sermon on the ruinous consequences that the legalisation of gay marriage would bring.

“The Cuban church, as an essential part of society, is worried, and therefore has a right to a public voice,” he hollered into his microphone. “Amen,” replied the flock.

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‘Why did we keep silent for so long?’: Nun condemns Catholic church over clerical abuse – video

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A Nigerian nun uses her speech to the Vatican's summit on clerical sexual abuse to condemn the church's hierarchy for its 'mediocrity, hypocrisy and complacency' in handling the scandal. Sister Veronica Openibo is softly spoken but delivers a strong rebuke to the gathering. 

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Catholic nun condemns church hierarchy over failure to tackle abuse

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Sister Veronica Openibo says leaders must accept they have brought disgrace upon church

A nun has condemned the Catholic church’s hierarchy for its failure to tackle the scourge of clerical sexual abuse, saying leaders must concede that their “mediocrity, hypocrisy and complacency” has brought the church to a “disgraceful place”.

In her speech, delivered at the Vatican’s unprecedented summit on the issue, , Sister Veronica Openibo from Nigeria said the church was in a state of “crisis and shame”.

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Church of England urged to make land available to Gypsies

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Synod to vote to protect Roma, Gypsies and Travellers from ‘institutional racism’

The Church of England is being urged to make land available for Gypsies and travelling communities who face institutional racism and ostracisation.

It may also appoint chaplains to provide pastoral care to Gypsies and Travellers, and to encourage them to become part of the church.

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Vatican reveals it has secret rules for priests who father children

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Spokesman says guidelines for those who break celibacy vows will not be made public

The Vatican has acknowledged for the first time the existence of secret guidelines for priests who break their vows of celibacy and father children.

However, it declined to make its advice public, saying it was an internal matter. Alessandro Gisotti, a Vatican spokesman, told the New York Times that the “fundamental principle” of the 2017 document was the “protection of the child”.

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