Bells bring the NZ albatross back home

THE bells of St Paul’s Cathedral, Dunedin, in New Zealand, rang out this month to welcome back the albatrosses for spring. After a year-long journey circumnavigating the southern hemisphere, the toroa — the Maori name for the northern royal albatross — returned to the Taiaroa Head Pukekura at the tip of the Otago Peninsula. The Revd Dr Andrea McDougall, who rang the bells, was joined by a group of 30 locals to celebrate the unique tradition.

WCC welcomes Nobel Peace Prize for Venezuelan campaigner

THE Norwegian Nobel Committee announced this week tht the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize would be awarded to María Corina Machado, for “her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”. Ms Machado, who is Roman Catholic, was blocked from running in the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election. The World Council of Churches (WCC) said that Ms Machado exemplified “a courageous commitment to human rights and to democracy. These are values the WCC has sought to promote since its establishment, and which define the foundations of ecumenical social ethics.”

Plea made for Christians in Nigeria

THE Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has clarified its stand on the continuing violence in the country. The president of CAN, the Most Revd Daniel Okoh, confirmed “without hesitation, that many Christian communities in parts of Nigeria, especially in the North, have suffered severe attacks, loss of life, and the destruction of places of worship. We therefore renew our call on government and security agencies to take urgent, transparent, and equitable action to end the killings, safeguard vulnerable Christian communities from displacement, and ensure that perpetrators face the full weight of the law. ” His statement came after media reported as CAN’s position a rebuttal by a CAN official of the American comedian Bill Maher’s comment that Islamic jihadists were “systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria”. The pfficial had suggested that there was “no particular pattern” to the violence. Senator Ted Cruz introduced his Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Bill to the US Congress last week, seeking to sanction those enforcing blasphemy laws and to hold Nigerian officials to account.

Altar wine dropped after it goes on sale in bars

THE Roman Catholic Church in Kenya has replaced its brand of altar wine after this became popular in bars, liquor shops, and supermarkets, the BBC reports. The replacement, a South African vintage, bears the coat of arms of the Kenyan Bishops’ Conference and is not for sale commercially.

Charity reports deliberate attack on civilians

THE charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has said that military forces in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar “deliberately bombed” a crowd of about 300 civilians participating in a traditional Thadingyut Full Moon Day candlelit vigil on Monday of last week. It is reported that 40 were killed and about 50 others were severely wounded at the Buddhist festival.