VATICAN – On Sunday Pope Francis announced that Friday the first full week of Lent would be a day of prayer and fasting for peace given the many ongoing conflicts throughout the world, particularly those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.
Published in International
There has been some positive news on the global religious freedom front over the last two years, but it is still far from peaceful.
Published in International

Canada’s Catholic bishops say the government’s new Canada Summer Jobs policy infringes on freedom of religion and freedom of conscience.

Published in Canada
OTTAWA – Faith-based groups and pro-life organizations are mobilizing to fight a new federal government policy to only give summer job grants to employers who endorse abortion.
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Canada’s former ambassador for religious freedom sees recent punitive changes to Ottawa’s Canada Summer Jobs program as the epitome of anti-faith hostility.

Published in Peter Stockland
KINSHASA, Congo – Congolese church leaders, including the nation's cardinal, condemned security forces' attacks on Catholic protesters that left at least eight dead and 120 people detained.
Published in International
OTTAWA – Religious freedom and conscience rights will continue to be top agenda items for Catholic and other faith groups in 2018 as challenges play out in the courts and in the public arena.
Published in Canada
WASHINGTON, D.C., – A federal court has denied relief to the Archdiocese of Washington, in its request for an injunction that would have allowed it to run metro ads encouraging riders to discover the true meaning of Christmas.
Published in International
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court seemed equally divided in the long-anticipated oral arguments Dec. 5 about the baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because of his religious beliefs.
Published in International
Quebec’s new anti-niqab law, which bans a small minority of Muslim women from public sector jobs and from receiving government services because they cover their faces in public, fails the basic test of justice, says the Canadian Council of Churches.
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Most Canadians respect religion, believe it is relevant and think it benefits society, according to a new Angus Reid Institute poll.
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VATICAN CITY – Christians and Muslims believe that freedom of conscience and religion are the most important human rights and, "therefore, our collective duty demands that we respect, preserve and promote such rights," said members of the Catholic-Muslim Forum.
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Catholics and people of all religions should be troubled by a new Quebec law that is an obvious affront to religious freedom. 
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OTTAWA – If the government is going to confront anti-Muslim hatred it should also address hatred against other religious groups and minorities, said Canada’s former Ambassador of Religious Freedom.
Published in Canada

OTTAWA – A religious freedom advocate whose brother was murdered for his Catholic beliefs told a parliamentary committee that legislation on Islamophobia could bring Canada the type of religious violence many people came here to escape.

Published in Canada