Aid must still reach poor, World Vision tells Government
THE charity World Vision has urged the Government not to cut overseas aid to the most needy. The International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, announced on Monday that the UK would no longer give “when others should be putting their hands in their pockets”. Its focus would “increasingly be on helping developing countries stand on their own feet”. World Vision UK’s head of policy, advocacy and campaigns, Gavin Crowden, said: “Aid must always reach the most poor and vulnerable — and they should not be made to pay for their government’s failures.”
Christian groups decry Trump policy on Salvadorans
THE Episcopal Church in the United States and ecumenical partner organisations have urged the US Congress to act if President Trump refuses to reconsider removing immigration protections (Temporary Protected Status) for nearly 200,000 Salvadorans, many of whom are longstanding US residents, ENS reports. Central American bishops are to hold a crisis meeting this month in which one of the matters will be the lack of preparation for the regional impact of US immigration policy.
Students write MU liturgy for Mothering Sunday
THE Mothers’ Union has made available new resources for Mothering Sunday (11 March), including a Common Worship-based eucharistic liturgy written by students at St Mellitus College, in London. www.themothersunion.org
Priest speaks of international ‘conspiracy’ over DRC
A SENIOR priest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has accused the West of deliberate inaction regarding the extreme violence in that country. Fr Apollinaire Cikongo, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Kananga, which covers part of the DRC, said that Western powers were guilty of “a conspiracy of silence that is very profitable economically”.
Iranian Christians receive eight-year sentences
TWO Christians of the diocese of Iran, Suroush Saraie and Eskandar Rezaie, have been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran after being convicted of crimes related to national security, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported last week. Their sentences were seven years for “creating a group that works against national security”, plus one year for “propaganda against the state”.