Global Church News

Sunda Strait, 351 thousand people hit by the tsunami

Dec 29, 2018

The search and rescue operations for victims will continue until the state of emergency is lasted. The toll of the disaster has been updated: 426 victims, more than 7 thousand injured and over 40 thousand displaced persons.
How Vatican Christmas Concert helps refugees in Uganda

Dec 29, 2018

Funds raised during the Vatican’s annual Christmas concert will help refugees in Uganda through the Salesian Fathers who took up residence earlier this year in the Palabek refugee camp.
Austria Commemorates 200th Anniversary of Silent Night

Dec 28, 2018

Austria is commemorating the 200th anniversary of the famous Christmas carol "Silent Night". The peaceful song about the birth of Jesus that became a crucial part of Christmas celebrations, was sung publicly for the first time in December 1818 in an Austrian town.
The deep roots of Portugal's Marian devotion

Dec 28, 2018

When the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima in 1917, Portugal had already acclaimed Mary as their reigning Queen for hundreds o
Vatican court hands down historic money laundering verdict

Dec 28, 2018

The Holy See Press Office announces that the first person in the Vatican’s history has been tried and found guilty of money laundering.
Parolin: True message of Christmas is peace, goodness for all

Dec 28, 2018

Continuing his visit to Iraq during the Christmas season, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin celebrates Mass in the Chaldean Cathedral of St Joseph in Ankawa.
Christmas in Mongolia amid signs of consumerism and the memory of Mgr Padilla

Dec 28, 2018

Mongolia’s Catholic community got ready to relive "the great mystery of Incarnation" through a moment of retreat and reconciliation. Consumerism and untrained relationship to money are new dangers.
North Korea sends Christmas wishes to the South

Dec 28, 2018

The North Korean Council of Religionists, which includes all officially recognised religions, sent a video with a message of peace and prosperity to its South Korean brothers and sisters, walking “hand in hand towards peace and unification, filled with blessings by Christ the Lord.”
Hanoi invites Card Parolin to visit the country 'in the near future'

Dec 28, 2018

The prime minister noted the “important progress in the process of developing relations between Vietnam and the Holy See” as well as the “positive and effective contributions of Vietnamese Catholics to the development of our country.” Citing Pope Francis, Mgr Camilleri calls on Catholics to "live the Gospel in the heart of the nation.”
Christmas becomes a statutory holiday in Iraq for Christians and Muslims

Dec 28, 2018

The cabinet has amended the national holiday law following an appeal by Patriarch Sako for whom the birth of Jesus is "for all". The Vatican Secretary of State is in Iraq where he has called on people to be “seeds of peace". The government is clamping down on fake property sales that have especially affected Christians.