Stem cell research

A Vatican-sponsored congress on the ethical use of stem cells in scientific research was canceled because of a lack of funding, organizers said. The Third International Congress on Responsible Stem Cell Research was to be held April 25-28 at the Vatican and was being organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life with the collaboration of the Vatican-based International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, the Jerome Lejeune Foundation and the Bioethical Consultative Committee of Monaco… Read more »

Gay Couples and child adoption

A new family law in Slovenia that would have allowed same-sex partners to adopt children in some circumstances was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in a nation-wide referendum on Sunday.

Last week, the nation’s Catholic bishops joined with Orthodox and Muslim leaders to urge Slovenians to vote against the law.

The referendum result is legally binding and prevents the enforcement of the law… Read more »

Church collections on Holy Thursday

Pope Benedict XVI has decided the collection taken up at his Holy Thursday evening Mass will be used to offer humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees.

The Pontifical Mission for Palestine — the Vatican’s emergency relief agency for the Middle East — estimates it would cost $20 million to care for all the Syrian refugees now in Jordan… Read more »

Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs

Cuba’s foreign minister said his government was looking forward to welcoming Pope Benedict XVI and exchanging points of view with him, even after the pope used his in-flight news conference to criticize Marxist ideology.

Bruno Rodriguez, the foreign minister of Cuba’s communist government, was asked about the pope’s remarks March 23 during the opening of the Havana press center for the papal visit… Read more »

Pope during mass in Cuba

Celebrating an outdoor Mass on his first day in Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged the struggles of the country’s Catholics after half a century of communism and described human freedom as a necessity for both salvation and social justice.

The pope spoke March 26 in Antonio Maceo Revolution Square, in Cuba’s second-largest city. He had arrived in the country a few hours earlier, after spending three days in Mexico… Read more »

The Church Secretariat for Social and Charitable Action is organizing a Week of Sacrifice between Friday 30th March, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows and 6th April, Good Friday.  The theme for this year is The Joy of Giving.  The Secretariat has selected this theme to signify that when one gives from the heart, it brings happiness.  On the contrary, self-centeredness causes one to suppress the good in oneself and life loses its meaning… Read more »

On Friday, 23rd March 2012, Archbishop Paul Cremona O.P. attended the Annual General Meeting of the Cana Movement. The meeting was attended by a number of members who offer their voluntary services within the Movement. In their addresses, both the President, Dr Anna Vella and the Director, Rev Dr Joseph Mizzi, stated that it is important that Cana is not just viewed as a service-provider, an agency which offers several different services to families; rather it should retain its full identity as a Movement… Read more »

Pope Benedict in Mexico

Pope Benedict XVI has condemned drug-trafficking and corruption at a huge open-air Mass in central Mexico. He urged Catholics to look to their faith in response to poverty and crime and to reject violence and revenge.

More than 500,000 people gathered to hear his message beside the Christ the King monument in Silao – one of the most important symbols of Mexican Catholicism… Read more »