Poland’s bishops pledge dialogue with new government; others see conflict ahead for church January 10, 2024By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, World News Poland’s bishops have pledged dialogue with their country’s new liberal government, but leading Catholics warned that government plans for rapid secularizing change could spark conflict as the ruling coalition plans to limit religious classes in public schools and abolish the state Church Fund.
Ukraine’s war-torn Christians look ahead to first Christmas shared with West December 17, 2023By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Christmas, Feature, News, War in Ukraine, World News When Ukraine’s embattled citizens gather this Christmas, their rich festivities will feel symbolically different — as the festival is celebrated for the first time on Dec. 25, in line with the Western calendar.
Ukraine churches remember Moscow’s campaign of ‘death by hunger’ November 28, 2023By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, War in Ukraine, World News Ukrainian church leaders have joined anniversary commemorations of the 1932-1933 Holodomor, or Great Famine, in which millions died in a disaster deliberately engineered by Soviet Union rulers.
Polish archbishop urges pope to resist German church demands November 16, 2023By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Synodality, World News The president of the Polish bishops’ conference has bitterly criticized demands for liberal change by the church in neighboring Germany and urged the pope not to allow them to dominate the Rome Synod on Synodality.
Norway Catholics welcome Nobel Prize for writer-convert October 16, 2023By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Arts & Culture, News, World News Church leaders in Norway have welcomed the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Jon Fosse, a Catholic convert, predicting the honor could raise Catholicism’s profile in the traditionally Protestant country.
Participants in Synod on Synodality say they seek ‘new vision’ for church from assembly October 3, 2023By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Synodality, Vatican, World News As Catholic delegates arrived in Rome from across the globe for the Synod of Bishops on Synodality Oct. 4-29 and continued their retreat ahead of the assembly, hopes were high that the upcoming discussions will set the church on a secure path for the future, despite today’s multiple competing perspectives and priorities.
C.S. Lewis’ work continues to gain popularity 60 years after his death September 24, 2023By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Books, Feature, News, World News When Clive Staples Lewis bought The Kilns, a former brick factory, in 1930, he used its quiet remoteness to produce a stream of literary and spiritual masterpieces that are still quoted with reverence today.
Bishops’ commission voices ‘deep concern’ over proposed EU ethics law September 19, 2023By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, World News A commission representing the European Union’s Catholic bishops has expressed “deep concern” over a draft EU law on the use of embryos, cells and “substances of human origin,” warning it could facilitate genetic and gender interference across the bloc’s 27 member-states.
Mercenary leader’s death stirs Catholic reflections in Russia and Ukraine August 28, 2023By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, War in Ukraine, World News A Ukrainian Catholic bishop has urged Russians to learn lessons from the fate of mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, and choose “true democracy” rather than “an unstable dictatorship.”
Three years after disputed election, Belarus church is urged to speak up for the persecuted August 23, 2023By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Religious Freedom, World News A Christian campaigner has urged Catholic church leaders and the Vatican to condemn worsening human rights abuses in Belarus, after another Catholic priest was arrested in front of his parishioners for spreading “extremist material.”
Polish, Ukrainian churches push for reconciliation, unity on 80th anniversary of massacre July 17, 2023By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, War in Ukraine, World News Church leaders in Ukraine and Poland have urged “reconciliation and unity” between their countries in the face of Russian aggression as they marked the anniversary of a wave of wartime massacres in Volhynia region.
Following Wagner Group’s now-halted march on Moscow, bishop sees ‘hope and danger’ ahead for Ukraine June 26, 2023By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, War in Ukraine, World News While a Catholic bishop in Ukraine warned current events presented “both hope and danger” for his own country, leaders of Russia’s Orthodox Church backed President Vladimir Putin’s rule and welcomed the apparent defusing of a military rebellion.
