Military pilgrimage to Lourdes is ‘experience of fraternity,’ military bishop says May 25, 2024By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: News, World News Nearly 15,000 military personnel from some 40 countries will gather at the French Marian sanctuary in Lourdes May 24-26 for the International Military Pilgrimage. After the Bastille Day celebration July 14, France’s biggest national holiday, the Lourdes military pilgrimage is the most important gathering of its kind for the army.
As cross and tower bells return to Notre Dame, firefighters’ chaplain recalls battle to save icon May 16, 2024By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Feature, News, World News The cross over Notre Dame’s choir and the eight bronze bells in the north tower can now be reinstalled in their rightful place in the iconic Paris cathedral.
Paris archbishop moved by the joy of workers, artisans involved in cathedral restoration April 19, 2024By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Feature, News, World News Archbishop Laurent Ulrich found himself taking over the Archdioceses of Paris in the spotlight — three years after the Notre Dame fire, as the world watched the cathedral being rebuilt, and waiting for the work to be completed.
Notre Dame’s reopening is ‘occasion of spiritual awakening for France,’ cathedral’s rector says April 15, 2024By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Feature, News, World News With the scaffolding removed from the newly installed spire of Notre Dame Cathedral and reconstruction work going full speed inside France’s most iconic church, the home of precious relics and a tourist site visited by millions of people yearly will be ready to reopen Dec. 8.
‘It will be breathtaking,’ Notre Dame’s chief architect says; iconic cathedral reopens Dec. 8 April 14, 2024By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Feature, News, World News Since the rebuilding work began, all those involved on site have testified to the exceptional quality of the skills and spirit of Notre Dame’s craftsmen.
French bishops call for standing in solidarity with the elderly, rather than choosing death March 20, 2024By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, World News France’s bishops issued a joint statement March 19 in response to a draft law on “aid in dying” that French President Emmanuel Macron announced March 10 as a “law of fraternity.”
Sister of murdered French priest tells story of forgiveness, friendship with killer’s mother March 9, 2024By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, World News Spending most of her life in Armentières, a northern small French town bordering Belgium, Roseline Hamel, 84, would never have expected it to take such a dramatic turn when her brother, Jacques, 86, was murdered while celebrating Mass at his little church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in France’s Normandy region on July 26, 2016.
French bishops call for fasting, prayer as abortion is enshrined in country’s constitution March 5, 2024By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, World News After several months of legislative process, the French Congress, a special body composed of both chambers of parliament, revised the country’s 1958 constitution to enshrine women’s “guaranteed freedom” to abort in Article 34, making France the first country in the world to explicitly include the right to abortion in its constitution.
France’s Catholic bishops strongly back farmers in their massive protest January 29, 2024By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Social Justice, World News France’s bishops stand in solidarity with farmers protesting across the country. After days of protests in the local provinces, farmers were determined to block the main roads leading to Paris, with spectacular traffic jams of tractors and farm vehicles they formed Jan. 29 across the French capital.
Carpenters hail end of Notre Dame roof reconstruction; rector calls it ‘a work of Joseph and Jesus’ January 16, 2024By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Feature, News, World News In a historic year for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which the French capital and the whole world will see reopen Dec. 8, milestones will be reported on regularly, but this one made Parisians shed a tear or two: Reconstruction of the roof structure is now completed.
An iconic cockerel is once again watching over Notre Dame in Paris on top of its cross December 18, 2023By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Feature, News, World News A new version of an iconic cockerel, or rooster, is once again watching over Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, symbolizing resilience amid destruction after a devastating April 2019 fire.
Dominican Father on Israel-Gaza peace possibilities: ‘too many wounds on both sides’ November 9, 2023By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, World News For Father Pérennès, the human tragedy both in Israel and in Gaza is one thing that is difficult to cope with. The other is the loss of many projects that were running in the region — particularly in Gaza, preserving the Christian legacy — which causes the priest’s “immense grief.”