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Western Europe
Catholic feminists blame abuse in French Church on 'patriarchal structure'
In reaction to the publication of the Sauvé report, several Catholic feminist associations assert that sexual violence and lack of care for victims were possible because of the patriarchal organisation of the Roman Catholic Church. They published their statement in the French newspaper La Croix. The report itself seems to…
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Central Europe
Strict Polish law leads to 65 per cent fewer abortions
A year after Poland introduced a near-total ban on abortions, the number of legally terminated pregnancies dropped by about 65 per cent. Abortion tourism has grown instead. According to the law that was introduced in October 2020 and came into force in January 2021, women may only have an abortion…
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Western Europe
Jehovah's Witnesses will not have to go to Flemish court
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Belgium do not have to go to court for sexual abuse of minors. The Brussels council chamber has decided this. According to the council chamber, the “unilateral statements” are not supported by enough evidence, the Flemish broadcaster VRT reported last week. The cult observatory Iacsso, an independent…
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Eastern Europe
Covid-19: Latvian government reminds churches of safety rules
The Latvian Ministry of Justice reached out to religious organisations to remind them of the importance of safety precautions in connection with Covid-19. This was reported by the Baltic News Network. According to the Ministry of Justice, religious organisations should cooperate with State Police and other law enforcement institutions to…
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Eastern Europe
Virus hits again in Russia: mosques close; churches and synagogues remain open
To prevent the coronavirus from spreading, the Russian capital of Moscow has announced a week of so-called “non-working days” from October 28th to November 7th. During these days, churches and synagogues chose to remain open. Mosques, however, decided to close their doors. According to Damir Mukhetdinov, the first deputy chairman…
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Southern Europe
Pope: Don't send migrants back to inhumane camps
Pope Francis on Sunday called on countries not to return migrants to countries where it is not safe. He mentioned Libya, where many migrants face violence and inhumane conditions in concentration camp-like facilities [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/dont-send-migrants-back-unsafe-countries-pope-says-citing-libya-2021-10-24/) reports. “We must end the practice of returning migrants to countries where it is not safe,”…
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Central Europe
Austria threatens a lockdown for unvaccinated
As coronavirus cases continue to rise in Austria, the country's Chancellor announced that the government could impose tight restrictions on people who are still unvaccinated. “The pandemic is not yet in the rear-view mirror,” Alexander Schallenberg said after a meeting with state-level leaders to discuss their response to rapidly increasing…
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Northern Europe
Swedish church apologises for renting church to dictatorial regime
The Pentacostal Philadelphia Church in the Swedish capital Stockholm has apologised for renting its church to a Swedish-Eritrean network that supports the Eritrean regime. A regime that persecutes Pentecostals.On Tuesday, October 19th, the Philadelphia Church's stage was draped in Eritrea's red-green-blue colours, wrote Swedish daily Dagen. Around a hundred visitors…
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Central Europe
Will Islamic prayers soon sound over Cologne?
Will Cologne still be Cologne? Over a week ago, the city council announced that mosques could request to sound a call to prayer once a week. With its cathedral, Cologne is more than the city of the Roman Catholic Rhineland. As mayor, Konrad Adenauer refused to hang Nazi flags on…
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Central Europe
German churches don't get applause after corona
Churches and religious institutions did not make a good impression on Germans during the corona pandemic. This is the result of a representative survey by the insurance company HDI (Hanover). The German news portal IDEA reports about this. 3,700 citizens were asked by the opinion research institute YouGov to rate…
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