OTTAWA -- Changes that would open up Canada’s legally-sanctioned euthanasia system have been approved by a two-to-one margin by MPs in the House of Commons, but some MPs who voted against the changes say the government unfairly maligned religious Canadians during debate over the contentious issue.

Truer words have never been spoken than Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix’s methodical castigation of the Quebec government failure to consult the province’s religious believers on COVID-19 planning.

WASHINGTON -- In a 5-4 decision issued just before midnight Nov. 25, the Supreme Court lifted the pandemic restrictions on congregation sizes at houses of worship imposed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

OTTAWA -- Religious and human rights groups have applauded a parliamentary committee’s condemnation of the Chinese government for its “genocide” on religious minorities.

MANCHESTER, England -- Catholic leaders in England are appealing to the government to reverse its decision to ban public Mass during a second national lockdown.

ROME -- Catholic bishops in Malta said that while they support equality and are against discrimination, they are concerned that two new bills meant to protect people's rights would instead threaten personal freedoms.

MANCHESTER, England -- The Catholic Church has failed to defend Christians effectively, partly because it historically accepted persecution as part of its "community story," a Vatican official said.

WASHINGTON -- The unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on group gatherings and recent court rulings are part of a growing challenge to religious liberty, said participants in an online symposium June 22.

Is the closure of churches and the suspension of the public celebration of Holy Mass a religious liberty issue?

VIENNA -- As people spent more time online during the coronavirus lockdown, negative remarks and even the incitement of hatred based on national, cultural or religious identity increased, a Vatican representative said.

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

WASHINGTON -- A priest who serves as director of the Justice, Development and Peace Commission in his diocese in northern Nigeria cited an ongoing series of religious freedom violations in his region of the country, which is majority Muslim.

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Ethiopian Cardinal Berhaneyesus Souraphiel and his delegation were barred from entering neighboring Eritrea, a development that underlines the souring relations between the church and the Eritrean authorities.

A second attempt to have the anti-religious symbols provisions of Quebec’s controversial Bill 21 suspended until court challenges to the legality of the bill are determined has failed.

OTTAWA -- Opposition to Quebec’s controversial Bill-21 continues to grow, with Quebec teachers and the Ontario government being the latest groups to denounce what is being called a violation of fundamental rights.