Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso is encouraging the US Congress to create more avenues to legal employment authorisation for those with pending asylum claims, arguing that communities across the United States would “grind to a standstill” without the labour of undocumented immigrants. “Without their contributions, American communities would grind to a standstill,” Seitz said in a 15 April statement. “Not only are they working in some of the most arduous conditions but frequently with limited legal protections, and they are more susceptible to human trafficking and other forms of exploitation.” The ..read more

War in Gaza has become a “way of life,” says a Franciscan priest in the Holy Land. “The Holy Land has been at war for almost seven months,” said Franciscan Father Ibrahim Faltas, Vicar of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. “It is a way of life, or rather an obligation to live the evil of war that no one can get used to,” he told Italian news service Agenzia Fides. “For years, the international community has turned a deaf ear to the need and possibility of ending hostilities in this tormented Middle East,” he said. He referred to the United Nations Security Council resolution approve ..read more

Half of the men scheduled to be ordained as priests in the United States in 2024 are 31 years old or younger, according to the latest research from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. The Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) commissioned the annual survey of ordinands to the priesthood. A total of 392 ordinands completed the survey. CARA says four in five respondents (83 per cent) were from a diocesan or eparchy, and one in six respondents (17 per cent) was a religio ..read more

War in Gaza has become a “way of life,” says a Franciscan priest in the Holy Land. “The Holy Land has been at war for almost seven months,” said Franciscan Father Ibrahim Faltas, Vicar of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. “It is a way of life, or rather an obligation to live the evil of war that no one can get used to,” he told Italian news service Agenzia Fides. “For years, the international community has turned a deaf ear to the need and possibility of ending hostilities in this tormented Middle East,” he said. He referred to the United Nations Security Council resolution approve ..read more

The news that Richard Dawkins has declared for “cultural Christianity” has excited many Christians. One wonders why. Like other cultural Christians such ashistorian Tom Holland and activist and erstwhile New Atheist Ayaan Ali Hirsi, the professor is warm in his praise of Christian values. He says that Christianity is the best religion, though he is not a believer, adding that there is an important distinction to be drawn between accepting what Christianity tells us about the nature of God and His relationship with humankind, and accepting Christianity as a place holder for values such as toler ..read more

Support for assisted suicide in Scotland has declined significantly, according to recent polls and research. The Journal of Medical Ethics Forum has posted an article by Prof. David Albert Jones, Director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, showing that support for assisted suicide in Scotland has lost momentum and could even be waning. Meanwhile, three polls conducted by the pro-assisted suicide group Dignity in Dying Scotland found that the number of Scots who “strongly supported” legalising assisted dying fell from 55 per cent in 2019, to 45 per cent in 2023, and to 4 ..read more

A screaming pro-abortion mob forced local police to intervene at the University of Manchester to provide an escort to a pro-life speaker, who also had to take transport to a different location to her accommodation because of concerns about her safety. For the second time this year, on the evening of 11 April police had to be called to protect pro-life students from a barrage of abuse and physical intimidation by pro-abortion student protestors at the university after Madeline Page, CEO of the Alliance of Pro-life Students (APS), delivered a talk titled “Grill the pro-lifer”. As Page ..read more

The Vatican press conference to introduce Dignitas Infinita was that rare thing in the history of Vatican press conferences – it was interesting. Not thanks to the document itself, which was a hodge-podge of things-we-already-knew, but because it was the first press conference given by Cardinal Victor Fernandez, known as Tucho, the new head of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith. Fernandez is perhaps Pope Francis’ closest collaborator and long-time friend who has had a hand in writing many of the Pope’s documents. This was Vatican journalists first chance to see him in action ..read more

The National Conservatism conference in Brussels has had two venues cancel on hosting the event after facing significant opposition from so-called anti-fascist groups and left-wing politicians. After settling on a third venue, the conference began on 16 April, though there are still doubts as to whether the two-day conference will be able to run normally and to completion at the end of 17 April. Figures due to appear include German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, alongside leading European political figures and intellectuals. The include former MEP and Brexit Party founder Nigel Farage, the pr ..read more

An Orthodox Assyrian Bishop was stabbed while giving a sermon that was being broadcast live in the second knife assault to have happened in Australia’s capital in three days. A second man was stabbed and injured during the attack at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Sydney on the night of 15 April. The suspected attacker, a 16-year-old boy, was arrested at the scene, and his victims are expected to survive. Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher called the stabbings of Orthodox Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and Father Isaac Royel “shocking”, with the attack causing “distress to many ..read more