Recent World News

Friday July 16, 2010 Brazilian President Seeks to Outlaw Spanking By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, Latin America Correspondent BRASILIA, July 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Brazil’s socialist President Luiz Lula da Silva is proposing changes to the nation’s Children and Adolescents Statute that will prohibit parents from spanking their children or applying any other form of corporal punishment. In accordance with the proposed law, parents caught spanking or pinching their children, after a warning, could be required to receive psychological treatment. The case could also be turned over to child protective services, according to the AP. “The proposed definition is applicable not […]

Friday July 16, 2010 HLI Asks Prayers for Kenya as it Faces Referendum on Pro-Abort Constitution By Fr. Tom Euteneuer July 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In less than three weeks, on August 4, the East African country of Kenya will be holding a referendum of the people to vote on a revision of their national Constitution (Americans use radical Justices of the Supreme Court to amend our Constitution – but that’s another matter). The problem with this “revision” of the Kenyan Constitution is that it would de facto legalize abortion on demand in that land and perhaps even lead to […]

Thursday July 15, 2010 Indonesia Gvmt Vows to Block All Porn in 2 Months By Patrick B. Craine JAKARTA, Indonesia, July 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Indonesian government has pledged to have all porn websites blocked in the country within the next two months as it works to implement the country’s strict anti-pornography laws. “We should not wait for too long to close down these sites because otherwise more will people copy and disseminate this material,” said Tifatul Sembiring, the Minister for Communication and Information Technology, on Wednesday, according to the Jakarta Globe. Tifatul noted that pornography was already prohibited […]

By Hilary White GARDONE RIVIERA, July 19, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The roots of the anti-life and anti-family movement in law around the world go deep into the history of philosophical errors of the 18th century, a pro-life legal expert told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) recently. “Legal positivism,” or the idea that “the law is whatever is posited,” is an idea that is divorced from 3000 years of the legal philosophy of the west, said Christopher Ferrara. It is also an idea that has resulted, inevitably, in legalized abortion, contraception and “gay marriage.” Ferrara, whose New Jersey-based American Catholic Lawyer’s Association focuses on […]

By James Tillman July 19, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Seventh Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals has ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals to review Qiu Ping Li's request for asylum in the United States because of her resistance to China's one-child policy – and subsequent punishment by Chinese authorities. In denying her asylum, Judge Richard Posner said, the Board of Immigration “overlooked the critical facts, and then it unconvincingly denied having overlooked them.” When she lived in China, Qiu Ping Li had opposed the one-child policy, as did her mother, who had been forcibly sterilized.  So when […]

Wednesday July 14, 2010 N. Ireland Withdraws Controversial Abortion Guidelines By Patrick B. Craine BELFAST, Northern Ireland, July 14, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Northern Ireland’s Department of Health has withdrawn controversial abortion guidelines, which have been criticized by pro-life groups as an attempt to bring in abortion through the back door, after having reissued them in violation of a court order. The Department of Health made the announcement in a letter to Jim Wells, the chairman of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s health committee. It also announced that it will be launching a public consultation on the guidelines. Both of the country’s […]

Wednesday July 14, 2010 Spanish Archbishop Urges Defiance of New Abortion Law: ‘This Law is no Law’ By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman BURGOS, Spain, July 14, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Archbishop of Burgos, Francisco Gil Hellín, has issued a call to Spanish Catholics to resist the country’s new abortion law, which he says is no law at all. In a statement published on the bishops’ Catholic Information Service, Gil Hellín laments the recent promulgation of the law, an “evil law which is directly opposed to right reason and the most elemental justice. Such is the law that establishes that the Spanish […]

Tuesday July 13, 2010 Bishops Urge New Philippine President to Shun ‘Contraceptive Mentality’ By James Tillman MANILLA, July 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a statement issued at the conclusion of their 101st Plenary Assembly, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has urged the new government of President Benigno Aquino III to shun a “contraceptive mentality” and has reiterated the Church’s stand against contraception and abortion. Immoral educational and medical practices, the bishops told President Aquino, will “not bring about a people that is God-fearing, holding on to the sacredness of sexuality, life and the family.” Br. Armin Luistro, […]

Monday March 8, 2010 Care for the Poor is the Work of Individuals, not the State: Pope Benedict By Hilary White ROME, March 8, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Care for the poor and vulnerable is the concern of individuals, motivated by genuine charity, rather than the exclusive concern of the state, Pope Benedict XVI has said in a pair of addresses this weekend. In an address to a group of bishops from Uganda, the pope praised their efforts to defend the sacredness of human life and of the family, and urged them to help their flocks resist the “seductions” of materialism. […]

Monday April 19, 2010 Sex Abuse Victims in Malta ‘Impressed’ and ‘At Peace’ After Meeting Pope By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman LA VALETA, Malta, April 19, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Victims of clerical sexual abuse in Malta are expressing strong approval of Pope Benedict XVI following a private meeting with him yesterday, according to the Times of Malta, the Sydney Morning Herald, and other international news outlets. According to the victims, who say they were abused during their childhood at a Maltese orphanage, the pope listened to their individual stories, thanked them, and cried with them. Holding back tears, Lawrence Gretch, one […]