Global Church News

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  India draws praise for plan to end foreign surrogacy

  Oct 31, 2015

  Known as the surrogacy capital of the world, India has announced that it would like to end its practice of allowing foreigners to contract surrogate pregnancies.

  
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  Humanitarian crisis in Iraq a 'global challenge,' ambassador insists

  Oct 31, 2015

  The international community must do more to help with the humanitarian and cultural crisis in Iraq, the country’s ambassador to the United States has appealed.

  
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  India keen on inviting Pope

  Oct 30, 2015

  The India government is keen to invite Pope Francis to India in connection with possible canonization of Mother Teresa next year.

  
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  African Cardinal blocked discussion of gays, says bishop

  Oct 30, 2015

  A senior African prelate, Cardinal Robert Sarah, had blocked discussion of pastoral care of gay Catholics at the Synod, according to a leading progressive in his group, reports The Tablet.

  
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  Church, Shia leaders in Pakistan join to protect Muslim cemetery

  Oct 30, 2015

  Church leaders in Pakistan have lent their support to Shia leaders in demanding that the government not appropriate part of a historical cemetery for the minority Muslim sect to make way for a new train station.

  
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  Nuclear deterrence incompatible with UN goals

  Oct 30, 2015

  In an October 22 address to a UN committee on disarmament, the Vatican’s representative said that "nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction are irreconcilable with, and contrary to, an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and among states.”

  
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  Brazilian priest recalls prayers to Mother Teresa that led to “possible miracle”

  Oct 30, 2015

  Although some may say it was by chance, Brazilian Father Elmiran Ferreira Santos believes that God’s hands were leading him when he arrived late one afternoon at his Our Lady of Aparecida Parish and found, waiting for him, a grief-stricken parishioner, whose husband had been diagnosed with several brain tumours.

  
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  China replaces one-child policy with two-child policy

  Oct 30, 2015

  The Chinese government has moved its cap on the number of children per family from one to two, the state’s news agency reported on Thursday.

  
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  Want to implement Laudato si'? Strong families are a good start, scholars argue

  Oct 30, 2015

  Church teaching on marriage and family life is crucial to understanding Pope Francis' ecology encyclical, experts insisted at a conference on Monday.

  
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  Archbishop John Baptist Odama: Africa abuzz ahead of Pope’s visit

  Oct 30, 2015

  For Ugandan Archbishop John Baptist Odama, the upcoming visit of Pope Francis is like the visit of a spiritual ‘grandfather’ who offers encouragement and a sense of identity.