Saint Ignatius of Loyola by Ermes Dovico

The matter of the desecrations in Medjugorje cannot be considered closed because wherever God manifests himself, the devil also plays his part in thwarting Heaven's plans. It is no coincidence that these events took place in the run-up to the Youth Festival, which Our Lady has addressed on multiple occasions with words of salvation.

REPORTAGE

Maaloula: the nightmare of the jihadists’ return, thirteen years after the martyrdom

Maaloula, an ancient Christian village in the Syrian mountains, was occupied by jihadists between 2013 and 2014. Now that the jihadists are in power across the country, the population is reliving the nightmare of the massacres and abductions of that time. Father Fadi’s account.

The votive offering

Poland is home to Europe’s tallest statue of the Virgin Mary

Work is nearing completion on the statue of Our Lady of Mercy (55.6 metres high, including the plinth) in the village of Konotop. The statue, funded by a Polish millionaire, will be blessed on 15 August, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

DESECRATION

Medjugorje: parish responds with prayer after affront to Our Lady

During the night of 27–28 July, the statues of Our Lady on the Hill of Apparitions in Medjugorje were defaced with blasphemous graffiti; they have since been cleaned. A fire was also set at the outdoor altar of St Jamess Church. These sacrilegious acts took place just a few days before Mladifest. The parish has responded by following the example of the Virgin Mary, through prayer, fasting and forgiveness.

The murderers of a young Pakistani Christian couple, who were wrongly accused of blasphemy and burned alive in a kiln where they worked in Lahore, have been acquitted. Zarish Neno explains the reality of daily persecution.


Lawyer Sgrò denounces the absence of even the most fundamental information required for a fair trial. The victims have not been heard and are even being denied the right to know the names of the judges. 'How can justice be guaranteed in a trial conducted in total secrecy?' Yet the facts have already been established.

On 26 July 2016, Father Hamel, an 85-year-old priest, had his throat slit at the foot of the altar by two young jihadists in the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray. Though struck at its very heart, the Old Continent has continued to slumber in the face of mounting threats. Nonetheless, his blood has not been shed in vain for French Catholics, especially the younger generation, who have experienced a renewal of faith in recent years.

COMPARISON

Euthanasia: the French bishops’ resistance is a lesson for the Italian Bishops’ Conference

For years, the French episcopate has justified its opposition to the law on euthanasia and assisted suicide. Now that the law has been passed, the French bishops have issued an unequivocal condemnation. Some bishops have even warned pro-euthanasia MPs that they will not be permitted to receive Holy Communion. This stance is very different from that of the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI), which favours a 'democratic' law

FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN

Words are important, support Daily Compass

Cardinal Sarah has denounced the manipulation of language through which Western elites seek to impose their anti-human ideologies and silence those who do not conform. Reaffirming the truth about God and humanity is an increasingly difficult battle, one that the Daily Compass can continue to fight thanks to your support. DONATE NOW!

Misunderstandings

China–Écône: who is forcing regularisation and who is rejecting it?

Why not recognise the bishops of the Fraternity in the same way as those imposed by Beijing? The latter, in effect, invite themselves into communion with Rome, whilst the former exclude themselves from it in order to operate independently. The Chinese government’s appointments remain questionable, but they do not justify the Lefebvrian schism.

the challenge

Gender and new rights: Sarah denounces the EU’s blackmail of Africa

Invited by the ECR Group in the European Parliament, the cardinal does not mince his words; on the contrary, he exposes the distorted use of such language to convey and impose – even outside Europe – an anthropological vision that runs counter to faith and reason, one that has been artificially created in the ‘corridors of Brussels’. It is a message that also resonates within the Church itself.

- Europe is changing the language to destroy man and the family by Robert Sarah