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The minister also identified the victim of the attack as 52-year-old Turkish national Tuncer Cihan in a post on the social media platform X. The Turkish bishops’ conference has asked for prayers for the victim and his family in a statement released on Jan. 28. “We firmly condemn this act of violence against humanity,” said the statement signed by Archbishop Martin Kmetec of Izmir. “We trust that the Turkish state security forces will find those responsible and that justice will be done,” he said. “We firmly demand that the truth be revealed and that greater security be guaranteed to our communities and churches.” The Turkish bishops also urged people “not to spread the culture of hatred and religious discrimination.” The attack took place at 11:40 a.m. local time as Mass was being offered ...

Six nuns of the Congregation of Saint Anne who were taken hostage by armed men on 19 January have been released, along with two abducted laypeople, according to Haitian Archbishop Max Leroy Mésidor of Port-au-Prince. By Salvatore Cernuzio and Deborah Castellano Lubov The six sisters of the Congregation of Saint Anne who were kidnapped on 19 January in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, have been released. The two laypeople – reportedly their bus driver and a niece of one of the nun – were also released. Unidentified armed men had stopped the bus on which they were travelling, demanding a ransom of 3.5 million dollars, according to local media reports. The President of Haiti’s Bishops Conference, Archbishop Max Leroy Mésidor, confirmed their release to Vatican Media. Archbishop M...

The cardinal asked that if Cardinal Fernández, as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, ‘is committing a heresy by claiming a serious sin as ‘good,’ then shouldn’t the prefect resign or be dismissed?’ HONG KONG — Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun said Pope Francis’ recent declaration allowing the blessing of same-sex couples under certain conditions “creates confusion” and has suggested that its author, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, should resign or be dismissed.  In a statement published Jan. 23 on his blog, Cardinal Zen said the declaration Fiducia Supplicans contains numerous passages in need of clarification and “leaves many questions unanswered,” according to an unofficial translation. The 92-year-old Hong Kong cardinal emeritus highlighted in particular how...

Belgian Church fights order to erase baptismal entry Skip to content The Catholic Church in Belgium has said it will fight an order to erase an entry in a baptismal register, amid a reported rise in “debaptism” requests. The interior of St. Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium. Sailko via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).  A spokesman said that the Church had appealed a Dec. 19 decision by Belgium’s Data Protection Authority requiring the Diocese of Ghent to comply with an unnamed person’s request to have the record of their baptism deleted. Share When a Catholic asks to be “debaptized” in Belgium, the request is noted in the margin of the baptismal register of the parish where they were baptized, but the baptismal entry is not deleted. The Catholic Church teaches that “baptism seals the Christ...

The pope said that the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization will publish resources to help Catholic communities to more fully participate in the Year of Prayer. The Holy See Press Office has also announced that a press conference on the Year of Prayer will take place on Jan. 23. The Vatican and the city of Rome are expecting an estimated 35 million people to flock to the Eternal City for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope — the first ordinary jubilee since the Great Jubilee of 2000. A jubilee is a special holy year of grace and pilgrimage in the Catholic Church. It typically takes place once every 25 years, though the pope can call for extraordinary jubilee years more often, such as in the case of the 2016 Year of Mercy or the 2013 Year of Faith. Jubilees have biblical roots. The Book of Levi...

Second Argentine bishop in row resigns before installation Skip to content An Argentine see fell vacant again Wednesday after a second bishop in a row resigned before he was installed as head of the diocese. Bishop Gustavo Larrazábal, auxiliary bishop of San Juan de Cuyo, Argentina. Scout408 via Wikimedia (CC0). Pope Francis accepted the resignation Jan. 17 of 62-year-old Bishop Gustavo Larrazábal, 35 days after he appointed him as Bishop of Mar del Plata, in eastern Argentina, and just three days before Larrazábal’s installation. The pope had nominated Larrazábal on the day that he accepted the resignation of 65-year-old Bishop José María Baliña, 22 days after he had named him as the head of the diocese serving around 774,000 Catholics. The Vatican did not provide reasons for the res...

Embrace the purity of love, and resist lust, which leads to emptiness and enslaves, urges Pope Francis at his weekly General Audience, as he continues his catechesis series of virtues and vices. By Deborah Castellano Lubov Beware of lust which enchains rather than embraces, and live the purity of love. Pope Francis gave this admonishment during his Wednesday General Audience held in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall. Continuing his catechesis series on virtues and vices, the Pope focused this week on the sin of lust. Pure love, not polluted by vice The Holy Father recalled that Christian doctrine does not condemn the sexual instinct, saying that falling in love is one of the most beautiful and tender experiences. “If it is not polluted by vice, falling in love is one of the pures...

Räsänen’s alleged crime, according to prosecutors, stems from a 2004 pamphlet she wrote about the Lutheran teaching on sexuality, including the prohibition on homosexual activities. She then defended that teaching in a radio debate in 2019 and later posted a Tweet that criticized Lutheran participation in a gay pride parade and cited a Bible verse. Pohjola’s alleged crime is publishing the original pamphlet in 2004. The prosecutors allege in their charges that the speech is “likely to cause intolerance, contempt, and hatred toward homosexuals.” A district court dismissed the charges in March 2022, finding that it is not the judges’ job “to interpret biblical concepts.” In November 2023, an appellate court ruled it “has no reason … to assess the case in any respect differently from the Dist...