The movement in Ireland to challenge Irish anti-blasphemy laws via referendum is gaining momentum after last week’s Paris attacks on Charlie Hebdo, but had already been underway for some time.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has been published for the first time in Farsi (modern Persian), the official language of Iran and Afghanistan, and includes an introduction by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
In a stinging public letter, the Catholic bishops of Venezuela have accused their government of totalitarian oppression of citizens and widespread violations of human rights.
In his interreligious meeting with more than 1,000 representatives of Sri Lanka’s four major religious communities—Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian—Pope Francis called on leaders to denounce acts of violence committed in the name of religion.
Rev. Franklin Graham is no stranger to controversy. He has been openly critical of Islamic practices, questioning whether Islam can claim to be a religion of peace and denouncing its treatment of women. “Christianity is constantly under siege from the halls of government and education, which seek to suppress any public expressions of faith,” he writes.
On arriving to Sri Lanka Tuesday morning, Pope Francis was adorned with a garland of yellow and white flowers around his neck and greeted by a children’s choir that serenaded him in English and Italian.
Learning of the massive international response to the recent Islamist attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, Ignatius Kaigama, the Archbishop of Jos, wonders whether the world has forgotten about Nigerians who suffer the ongoing assault of Boko Haram.
In his yearly address to the Vatican Diplomatic Corps on Monday, Pope Francis decried the breakdown of society “spawning violence and death.” Referencing the “tragic slayings which took place in Paris,” Francis blamed enslavement to “deviant forms of religion.” This fundamentalism, Francis said,