The British Government’s order to the Northern Ireland health service that it must commission a widespread abortion regime by next spring is “unjust”, “gravely disquieting” and threatens the Good Friday Agreement, Catholic bishops have said.

In a joint statement, the Primate of All-Ireland Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, and four other bishops in the North, also criticised politicians who have welcomed the “unilateral imposition”.

The bishops urged church-goers to push abortion as a key election issue ahead of next year’s polls for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

“As our society prepares in coming months to engage in the ultimate expression of democratic participation — the election to our local Assembly — we encourage all Catholics, and those share our view on the inviolability of all human life, to reflect carefully on the issues raised by this succession of unilateral impositions by the Westminster government,” they said.

Two Cuban pastors who were detained amid unprecedented nationwide protests in Cuba on 11 July were released after nearly two weeks in detention. A third pastor remains imprisoned and has been held incommunicado for 15 days.

Pastors Yéremi Blanco Ramírez and Yarian Sierra Madrigal were released into house arrest on the evening of 24 July. They had been held incommunicado for two weeks in the women’s prison in Matanzas and in a state security facility.

During their detention, both pastors’ wives issued multiple statements calling for their release, and the family of Pastor Sierra were evicted from their home after their landlord faced pressure to do so from Cuban State Security. They remain homeless despite the pastor’s release.

Elsewhere, Protestant pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo has now been detained incommunicado in a State Security facility in Santiago de Cuba for 15 days. His wife, Maridilegnis Carballo attempted to visit him in prison on 24 July, but was not allowed to see or speak to him.

The Czech Constitutional Court rejected the proposal of a lower court which would have brought registered partnerships closer to the level of marriage.

The district court proposed annulling a Civil Code passage that generally stipulates which areas of rights and obligations related to marriage also apply to registered partnerships. The adoption of the child of a registered partner, which was primarily the subject of the proposal, is not among these rights.

The constitutional judges were not united in their opinion on the case. Most of them agreed that the proposal should concern more concrete parts of the Civil Code that concern adoption and do not mention registered partners.

Religion is often covered in the media through a political prism that distorts it, according to the Catholic Archbishop of Tuam.

Dr Michael Neary was speaking at Mass in Westport last Saturday night, which would normally have heralded the annual climb of Croagh Patrick on the last Sunday of July, “Reek Sunday”.

“It is not uncommon to find the coverage of religion per se and religious affairs generally viewed through a political prism and treated in political terms,” he said.

“The great organs of news and information in society are, it seems, being managed to serve distorted and sometimes questionable ends, which are calculated to deprive us of our critical faculties.  Forces are endeavouring to reshape our values, fears and dreams in ways that are quite literally opposed to the joy of the Gospel”.

A former Muslim who converted to Christianity has been slashed with a knife at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park, police have said.

Hatun Tash was stabbed on her hand and face by a young man wearing black, who later fled the scene as some of the other 30 people there confronted him. The knife used in the attack was recovered.

Detective Superintendent Alex Bingley (Central West Command Unit), said: “This was clearly a very distressing incident for the woman involved and officers have spent time with her, whilst she was being treated for her injury, to get an account of what happened”. He asked for members of the public who had video recordings of the attack to share them with the police.

Hatun Tash leads DCCI ministries, which “seeks to preach the Gospel to Muslims using apologetics and polemics (…) Our motivation is a love for Muslims to bring them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ in order to attain eternal life”.

France’s largest Protestant church has celebrated its first wedding of same-sex pastors, authorities said.

Emeline Daude and Agnes Kauffmann, both in their early thirties, tied the knot in the southern city of Montpellier on Saturday.

The United Protestant Church of France (EPUdF) has about 250,000 members.

While heterosexual marriages have long been the norm for Protestant pastors, the church synod’s 2015 decision to also allow same-sex unions among clergy remains controversial, and gives officials wide discretion on how to apply the rule.

In general, Protestant doctrine does not consider marriage to be a sacrament, but the church does give its blessing in civil ceremonies to both heterosexual and homosexual couples.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210726-in-french-first-same-sex-protestant-pastors-get-married

The Dutch public prosecutor has questioned new rules to extend euthanasia to people with dementia who cannot consent.

Five regional euthanasia review Committee’s in the Netherlands had agreed to rules that said in giving euthanasia to a patient who is no longer mentally competent as a result of advanced dementia, “it is not necessary for the doctor to agree with the patient the time or manner in which euthanasia will be given… (since) this kind of discussion is pointless because such a patient will not understand the subject.”

The public prosecution department chief Rinus Otte says this goes too far. He said that this is not in line with the law and doctors can still face prosecution for murder.

Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition said the dispute will likely cause Netherlands physicians to refuse to do euthanasia for incompetent people with dementia in order to avoid a possible prosecution.

Former Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has questioned recommendations in a draft report on electoral reform saying they would be a “nightmare” to enforce.

Proposals for the development of standards for political debate during elections include sanctions for parties and candidates involved in “discriminatory actions or rhetoric”.

In a Twitter post, Fine Gael TD Mr Flanagan said the recommendations would be “a recipe for chaos and disarray during already heated campaigns”.

He said implementing them would be “challenging enough” and enforcement would be “a nightmare”.

Mr Flanagan also suggested it could lead to election campaigns being conducted through the courts which he said would be a “grim prospect”.

A Christian rights group has expressed concerns about the safety of a Vatican-approved bishop, 10 priests and an unspecified number of seminarians arrested two months ago for violation of religious rules. Their fate and location remain unknown.

The arrests came after the diocese decided to use an abandoned factory building as a seminary and assigned priests for religious formation.

International Christian Concern (ICC), a US-based Christian group monitoring persecution of Christians across the globe, issued a statement on July 16 calling for the release of the bishop, priests and seminarians.

Earlier, ICC reported that those arrested were subjected to “political lessons” that are brainwashing sessions designed to inculcate the principles of ‘religious freedom’ granted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Bishop Zhang, 63, has been leading the diocese since 1991 following his secret ordination but he faced constant pressure from Chinese authorities and was barred from observing duties as a bishop.

The Presbyterian Church has repeated its “total opposition” to Westminster imposing a radical abortion regime on Northern Ireland. It fully decriminalises abortion and is more permissive than the regime in England.

Yesterday, the Northern Secretary issued an order compelling the Department of Health to make the procedure widely available, despite the opposition of some Stormont Ministers.

Brandon Lewis said he had a “moral obligation” to do so.

A statement from the Presbyterian Church said there is nothing ‘moral’ about his order, nor indeed the original legislation that he previously inflicted on the people of Northern Ireland.

The DUP has said that the Westminster direction to Stormont “undermined” devolution.

But Sinn Féin, the Alliance Party and Green Party have welcomed the move.