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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican’s directive banning the blessing of same-sex unions has sparked defiance among some priests in Europe and left bishops perplexed on how to minister to gay Catholics.
FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis listens to Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle (not pictured) during a mass to mark 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines, in St. Peter s Basilica at the Vatican, March 14, 2021. Tiziana Fabi/Pool via REUTERS/
Conservatives praised the ruling, issued on Monday by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but it greatly disappointed gay Catholics, who felt their Church was becoming more welcoming under Pope Francis.
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PARIS (Reuters) - A year to the day since France entered its first lockdown, Paris residents reflected on what they have lost and in some cases gained over 12 months when the COVID-19 pandemic turned daily life upside down.
FILE PHOTO: French Gendarmes patrol in front of the Eiffel tower in Paris as a lockdown is imposed to slow the rate of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread in France, March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Summer Arend, from the United States, came to Paris four years ago and worked as a sommelier in a restaurant, an industry forced to close because of the pandemic.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday in preparation for a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden next month, becoming the country's first government official to be publicly inoculated.
The Vatican said on Monday that priests cannot bless same-sex unions and that such blessings are not valid, in a ruling that greatly disappointed gay Catholics who had hoped their Church was becoming more welcoming under Pope Francis.
Thailand held a fruit banquet for dozens of elephants in the ancient capital Ayutthaya on Saturday, continuing an annual event which has been a big draw for foreign tourists in the hope they will return soon and revive the key tourism industry.