European Politics

BERLIN -- German bishops are concerned that a decision guaranteeing German health insurers will pay for pregnant women's blood tests to detect Down syndrome will lead to abortion.

VATICAN CITY -- U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke remains hospitalized, on a ventilator, "in serious but stable condition" with COVID-19, a spokesman said late Aug. 17.

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Two Catholic nuns were shot and killed along a highway in South Sudan Aug. 16 as they were returning home to Juba. Seven other sisters survived the attack.

VATICAN CITY -- Hours before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, Pope Francis expressed his hope for the peace and safety of the country's citizens.

LES CAYES, Haiti -- The magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Haiti collapsed the bishop's residence in Les Cayes, killing one priest, leaving one missing and injuring Cardinal Chibly Langlois.

Dollar-a-meal lunches and suppers are back on at St. Francis Table in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood come Sept. 1, when there will be fully vaccinated cooks and wait staff ready to serve up meals to sit-down customers inside the restaurant.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug. 22 (Year B) Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17,18b; Psalm 34; Ephesians 4:32-5:1-2, 21-32; John 6:53, 60-69

Each day, billions of people on this planet make choices. Some of them are quite mundane — what to have for dinner or what to wear. For far too many, these are not choices — it is a matter of having something, anything, to eat or wear.

One of my favourite sights when driving along the increasingly paved landscape of Calgary is an ospreys’ nest that has been built atop the metal girder that supports a ubiquitous piece of highway signage. My children and I have marvelled for many years at the site of this large nest, perched out in the open on unprotected steel, which has supported generations of fledgling hawks. So imagine my disappointment driving past the spot recently only to discover that workers had covered the nest with a wooden pyramid. It is impossible not to personify the forlorn hawk, who sat miserably beside this intervention, appearing lost and confused.

Fr. Ivan Nachachewsky is taking some vacation time this month, well-earned after completing a gruelling 2,000-kilometre bike ride to raise money for wheelchairs to those in need in Ukraine.

My most recent conversation with an avid COVID-denier came during one of my frequent walks in Edmonton’s North Saskatchewan River Valley. According to my interlocutor, the COVID pandemic is a hoax and a mysterious “they” are hiding data which would show that tens of thousands of people have died from anti-COVID vaccines.