Political events and news in effecting Catholics and Catholic concerns in Europe.
July 25, 2019
Un-Canadian uniform
In May our Knights of Columbus assembly held its last meeting of the 2018-19 Columbian year. Among the discussions, the most important one concerned the new Fourth Degree regalia.
A Vatican decision to ban single-use plastics won’t by itself empty landfills or save the planet’s oceans, but it sends a message the world needs to hear.
July 24, 2019
When school let out in June, all my teachers could talk about was, “Don’t waste your summer” and “keep up with the world around you.” But the most notable thing I heard on the final day of class came from a friend. “It sucks, but the sucky things in life don’t stop just because we’re out (of school).”
Maria Pham has been going to summer camp with St. Thomas Thiện’s chapter of the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement for 11 years, but she couldn’t help feeling a little like a rookie this year.
July 22, 2019
BANGKOK, THAILAND -- A plea has been issued for Canada to rescue a Pakistani Christian refugee who is in hiding after a viral video calling on jihadi fighters to kill him swept through Bangkok's refugee community.
VATICAN CITY -- During a search for the remains of a young Italian woman missing for more than 30 years, workers discovered an enormous number of bones inside two ossuaries in a building next to a Vatican cemetery.
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to put an end to his country's eight-year-long conflict and seek reconciliation for the good of the nation and its vulnerable people.
WASHINGTON -- The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston announced July 19 sanctions from the Vatican -- including taking away the faculties of celebrating Mass -- against a former West Virginia bishop who stepped down last year under a cloud of allegations of sexual and financial misconduct.
MANCHESTER, England -- Italian medics should be given a chance to help a London girl who British doctors believe should die, a bishop said.
WASHINGTON -- A few hundred Catholic activists, including dozens of women religious, gathered outside at the foot of the U.S. Capitol July 18 urging politicians to stop its "inhumane treatment" of immigrant children at the border and reminding people of faith to take a stronger stand against current U.S. border policies.