Catholic News Service

Catholic News Service

MANCHESTER, England -- Churches in England and Wales must wait until July before they may reopen, under a coronavirus recovery strategy published by the government.

BONN, Germany -- Catholic bishops have distanced themselves from a letter in which several prominent Catholic clergy warned there were attempts to use the COVID-19 pandemic to create a "world government beyond all control."

COCHIN, India -- An Indian court sentenced former sacristan Johny Vattaparamban, 54, to life imprisonment for the 2018 murder of the rector of popular St. Thomas Shrine at Malayattoor, in southern Kerala state.

MUNICH -- In a newly published biography, Retired Pope Benedict XVI said the Catholic Church is threatened by a "worldwide dictatorship of seemingly humanist ideologies." He cited same-sex marriage, abortion and the "creation of humans in the laboratory" as examples.

MANCHESTER, England -- A vaccine produced with the help of cells derived from aborted fetuses could present an ethical dilemma for Catholics and others opposed to abortion, said a senior researcher from a Catholic bioethics institute.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis asked Christians to join their love for the church with a caring concern for civil society, particularly at this time of the coronavirus pandemic.

HONG KONG -- Communist authorities in territory covered by the Anhui Diocese removed crosses from the top of two church buildings, sources told ucanews.com April 27. The sources said they fear more such actions.

AMMAN, Jordan -- Religious freedom advocates and medical practitioners have expressed concerns about the COVID-19 response in northeast Syria.

WARSAW, Poland -- Poland's Catholic bishops have urged nationwide prayers for rain, amid warnings huge areas of farmland could be ruined by drought during the COVID-19 pandemic.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis, the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses and local organizers have agreed to postpone by one year the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress, the Vatican announced April 23.