A British soldier turned priest who risked his life to rebuild the Church’s presence in Algeria following a spate of attacks against Christians has been appointed by Pope Francis as a bishop in the overwhelmingly Muslim country.
Catholics in southern Japan are remembering when two of their hidden communities discovered each other 150 years ago during a time of persecution. In March 1865, while Christianity was still banned in Japan, a French missionary discovered hidden Catholics in Nagasaki. For more than 200 years they had kept their faith in secret and lived without any priests.
Catholic pilgrims hoping to visit the original gravesite of St. Francis Xavier on China's Shangchuan Island on his feast day Dec. 3 will find the site closed for renovation as part of a bid for the UNESCO World Heritage listing. Pope Pius X declared Francis Xavier as a patron saint of all foreign missions.
Pope Francis has chosen a focus on Mary for the next World Youth Day celebrations, which will be held in dioceses in 2017 and 2018 and with an international gathering in Panama in 2019. The Pontiff said that the Mother of Jesus is 'a role model to be imitated'.
Mongolia's first native priest speaks about his mission Catholicism has a patchy history in Mongolia but Father Enkh Baatar wants to change that It was a historic moment for the Mongolian Catholic Church when the country's first native priest was ordained on Aug. 28. Father Joseph Enkh Baatar, 29, could be the first local to be ordained in a millennium.
Assailants shot 64-year-old Father Piero Parolari from the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions on Nov. 18 in Dinajpur while he was riding a bicycle. Bishop Sebastian Tudu of Dinajpur expressed hope that justice could be delivered.
Father Parolari Piero, 50, a Catholic missionary and trained doctor from the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions was shot several times as he cycled from his morning prayers at the Suihari Catholic Mission to work. Three men who rode past him on a motorcycle are reported to have carried out the attack.
Gyaltsen Norbu, the Panchen Lama installed by the Chinese government, has called for tighter controls over monks to ensure they follow Buddhist precepts in what is already among the most strictly managed Buddhist societies. Roaming monks not based at any one temple are particularly prone to breaking precepts, Norbu said in rare public comments on Oct. 25 at the Fourth World Buddhist Forum in Wuxi, near Shanghai.
In the Philippines, the Claretians specialize in weaving back together the shattered lives of residents, immersing themselves in communities, and focusing on service rather than just evangelizing. The beatification of Romero, a cleric killed by right-wing thugs for his support of the poor and oppressed of El Salvador, comes at a time when the Philippines is polarized by a proposed law that seeks to cement the peace agreement signed between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
More than 3,000 people joined 210 Jesuits in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday for the climax of yearlong celebrations marking the arrival of the first Jesuits in Vietnam 400 years ago. Bishop Cosmas Hoang van Dat, the Jesuit bishop of Bac Ninh diocese near Hanoi in Vietnam’s north, celebrated the Mass at the main Jesuit compound in Thu Duc, a suburb of Ho Chi Minh City
O Clarim, the local newspaper of Macau in one of its November issues carried an interview of Fr. Alberto Rossa, Claretian Missionary. Here are the excerpts. "Catholics want to preserve the culture and accept people as they are. Even the government officials find that the moral values of the people are encouraged by the Catholic Church."
St. Francis Xavier is noteworthy for his missionary work, both as organizer and as pioneer. His unique passion: to give to God-Trinity a glory always greater and to work for the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ to the peoples who had been ignored.
In the town of Tungawan, in the hinterlands of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, missionaries live and work with the people in a "journey to discover Jesus Christ in everyday life."
A Dutch priest who had refused to leave the besieged Syrian city of Homs in solidarity with its residents, was on Monday beaten and then shot dead in his monastery by a masked gunman. During more than three years of war, Jesuit Father Francis Van der Lugt, 75, had insisted on remaining in Homs, risking starvation and near constant shellfire, until every last civilian could be evacuated from the district.
Officials say two Italian priests and a Canadian nun working as missionaries in northern Cameroon have been abducted. Italy's foreign ministry said the abduction occurred during the night between Friday and Saturday about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border with Nigeria.
Asia is known for a multiplicity of little cultures, even under the shadow of our great and ancient civilizations. Therefore, our eagerness to share God’s Message will need to pay attention to the cultural assets of even smaller ethnic groups and tribes, just as we take into account the civilization heritage of the larger societies.
As the only white European present I felt so deeply guilty. You may think it strange to hear that I felt guilty at this moment. I wasn’t alive when these things happened. I've married a Ghanaian woman. I am vehemently opposed to xenophobia and racism. I get really angry when I witness it. I’ve had altercations with immigration removal officials.
The 79-year-old, lived in Whitburn in his later years. As a member of the Mill Hill Missionary, one of the largest in Britain, he helped build schools, churches and hospitals in the diocese of Ngong in Kenya and also developed a following of his beloved club, the Sunderland AFC, in the communities he worked with.
Before and after the Mass, I had the chance to speak to many of the participants; from Puerto Rico, from Ecuador, Bolivia, Panama and Brazil. Why are they here? To rekindle that missionary flame; to share our faith; to recharge our missionary batteries.
