Pope recognises Spanish Civil War martyrs
NEW papal decrees recognise the “martyrdom, offering of life, and heroic virtues” of several men and women, advancing their causes for canonisation, Vatican News reports. Among them is recognition of the martyrdoms of Stanislao Ortega García (born Lorenzo) and 48 members of the Institute of the Brothers of Christian Instruction of St Gabriel, and Fr Emanuel Berenguer Clusella, all killed in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War. Also recognised is the martyrdom of Pietro Emanuele Salado Alba, a layman, in 2012, in Ecuador. The decrees recognise heroic virtue in Maria Eletta of Jesus, a Discalced Carmelite, d.1663; Maria Teresa of the Most Holy Trinity, a Sister of the Carmelites of the Divine Heart of Jesus, d.1926; and Maria Raffaella De Giovanna, founder of the Congregation of the Tertiary Minim Sisters of St Francis of Paola, d.1933.
Premier League refuses to join CSW handover event
THE Premier League declined to send a representative on Tuesday to receive at its London headquarters a petition, with more than 2500 signatures, started by Christian Solidarity Worldwide. The signatories call on the football League to raise the United Arab Emirates’ involvement in the Sudan conflict with the owner of Manchester City FC, who is the Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (News, 17 April).
End fossil fuels, says World Council of Churches
THE World Council of Churches (WCC) has joined a coalition of governments, faith communities, and civil-society organisations, in calling for a global end to fossil-fuel use. The First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, convened by Colombia and the Netherlands, opened in Santa Marta, Colombia, last Friday, in response to the Belém Declaration on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, which 24 countries have backed. It aligns with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target and follows an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice that states have a legal obligation to manage how much coal, oil, and gas they extract. The WCC is one of the faith organisations that helped to draft a multi-faith call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty before the conference.