The Brazilian Catholic Church continues to loose ground to the evangelists and those who declare to have no religion, according to the latest survey released by the Social policies centre from the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio.
President Raul Castro said that Cuba currently “needs more than ever the blessings from its evangelic churches” to keep advancing with the reforms to update the exhausted economic model of the last fifty years, according to reports in the official Havana media.
Pope Benedict XVI expressed yesterday that all who knew or admired John Paul II would share the joy he feels over the beatification of his predecessor, which will be held on May 1st in a ceremony which will be attended by over two million people
Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas said on Sunday that the Catholic Church notified him that Raul Castro’s regime on Monday will begin taking “preliminary steps” regarding ill political prisoners and that a meeting is scheduled for this week “to speak about releases”.
The Paraguayan organization “Somosgay” (We Are Gay) has announced for Monday May 17 a “kissing marathon” in front of the National Congress beginning 09:00 in the morning in coincidence with the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia
Brazil’s Catholic bishops rejected statements from their Porto Alegre peer, Monsignor Dadeus Grings who—in the midst of a global scandal over priests’ sexual abuse of minors—argued that modern society is naturally “paedophile”.
The Argentine Catholic Church said that the Lower House ruling that approved the bill to legalize same-sex marriage is “very serious”. The Church, through its spokespersons, said that the bill “does not constitute any kind of progress” and that “it could revolutionize the concept of society and of family.”
Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega announced Sunday he managed to convince Cuban authorities to lift the month-long ban on street protests by “Ladies in White”—the wives and mothers of political prisoners.