Canada Religion & Spirituality

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  Oscar Romero, assassinated during El Salvador's civil war, to be made Catholic saint

  No one has ever been prosecuted for Romero's death, although a new inquiry was reopened last year Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, a champion of the poor who became a human rights icon in Latin America when he was killed by a right-wing death squad in 1980, will be made a Roman Catholic saint. A statement on Wednesday said Pope Francis had given final approval to several sainthood causes, including Romero, and the late Pope Paul VI, who reigned from 1963 to 1978   Read More ...

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  While you were sleeping: A church's salvation drive; crickets in your flour

  A little crunch to your diet: One of the country’s biggest retailers is betting bugs are the next big thing in Canadian cuisine. Loblaw Companies Ltd. is adding cricket powder to its lineup of President’s Choice products. In a statement Monday, Loblaw says the flour is high in protein and packed with vitamins and minerals. It also has a “neutral flavour,” making it a versatile ingredient for many kinds of recipes   Read More ...

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  Pope approves sainthood for slain Salvador Archbishop Romero

  VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has cleared the way for slain Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero to be made a saint, declaring that a churchman who stood up for the poorest of the poor in the face of right-wing oppression should be a model for Catholics today. The Vatican announced Wednesday the previous day, during a meeting with the head of the Vatican's saint-making office, Francis had approved a decree confirming a miracle attributed to Romero's intercession   Read More ...

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  London man convicted of trying to build child jihadist army

  LONDON — A London man was convicted Friday of trying to recruit children to carry out Islamic State group-inspired attacks across the British capital. Prosecutors said 25-year-old Umar Haque “was fascinated by the warped and extreme ideology” of IS and identified multiple attack targets, including Big Ben, Heathrow Airport, banks and shopping centres. Haque also was accused of radicalizing children at a mosque and two schools, getting them to act out scenarios and showing them beheading videos   Read More ...

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  WATCH LIVE: Funeral for evangelist Rev. Billy Graham

  Mourners and U.S. President Donald Trump are gathering to pay respects to the Rev. Billy Graham at a funeral that marks the culmination of more than a week of tributes to "America's Pastor." For more info, please go to Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: Like Global News on Facebook HERE: Follow Global News on Twitter HERE:   Read More ...

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  #MeToo meets the Catholic Church as Vatican magazine slams treatment of ‘exploited’ nuns

  VATICAN CITY — A Vatican magazine has denounced how nuns are often treated like indentured servants by cardinals and bishops, for whom they cook and clean for next to no pay. The March edition of Women Church World, the monthly women’s magazine of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, hit newsstands Thursday. Its expose on the underpaid labour and unappreciated intellect of religious sisters confirmed that the magazine is increasingly becoming the imprint of the Catholic Church’s #MeToo movement   Read More ...

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  Trump honours Billy Graham as evangelist's body lies in repose inside Capitol

  U.S. President Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell remembered Rev. Billy Graham who died Feb. 21 at the age of 99. Graham will lie in honor beneath the iconic dome before a funeral Friday near his home in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more info, please go to Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: Like Global News on Facebook HERE: Follow Global News on Twitter HERE:   Read More ...

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  Thousands pay their respects to the Rev. Billy Graham

  CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Thousands of people from all walks of life - including a former president - filed slowly past the casket of the Rev. Billy Graham on Monday to pay their final respects to a man who reached millions with his message of salvation through Jesus Christ. A light drizzle greeted mourners on hand at 8 a.m. when the doors opened to Graham's boyhood home, but it had tapered by the late afternoon when former President George W   Read More ...

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  Months after exodus began, Rohingya see no end to suffering

  COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh - Their houses are often made of plastic sheets. Much of their food comes from aid agencies. Jobs are few, and there is painfully little to do. The nightmares are relentless. But six months after their horrors began, the Rohingya Muslims who fled army attacks in Myanmar for refuge in Bangladesh feel immense consolation. “Nobody is coming to kill us, that's for sure,” said Mohammed Amanullah, whose village was destroyed last year just before he left for Bangladesh with his wife and three children   Read More ...

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  Iceland considers banning most circumcisions, upsetting religious leaders

  Icelandic lawmakers are considering a law that would ban the circumcision of boys for non-medical reasons, making it the first European country to do so. Some religious leaders in Iceland and across Europe have called the bill an attack on religious freedom. It is seen as a particular threat by Jews and Muslims who traditionally embrace the practice. Under the proposed law, the circumcision of boys – removing the foreskin of the penis, usually when the child is a newborn – would be viewed as equal to female genital mutilation and punishable by up to six years in prison   Read More ...

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  Admirers line streets, overpasses to pay tribute to evangelist Billy Graham

  The procession is part of more than a week of mourning that culminates with his burial March 2 Related Stories Motorists pulled aside and well-wishers lined freeway overpasses to see the Rev. Billy Graham's motorcade barrel through his beloved home state of North Carolina on Saturday in a running tribute to "America's Pastor." Adults and children stood behind wooden barricades and yellow tape as police officers saluted and admirers captured the moment on cellphones   Read More ...

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  Billy Graham's body begins 209-km journey to North Carolina hometown

  Evangelist Rev. Billy Graham's body began its 209-kilometre procession on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018 to his North Carolina hometown. For more info, please go to Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: Like Global News on Facebook HERE: Follow Global News on Twitter HERE:   Read More ...

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  Elephant injures Rohingya Muslims after trampling through refugee camp

  A number of people were injured when an elephant trampled through Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on Feb. 22. For more info, please go to Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: Like Global News on Facebook HERE: Follow Global News on Twitter HERE:   Read More ...

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  Rohingya refugees injured after elephant tramples through camp

  A number of people were injured when an elephant trampled through the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on Thursday.Local media reported that there may have been a fatality but this has not yet been confirmed with authorities.Around 700,000 members of the persecuted ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority have fled violence in Myanmar since last August.Negotiations are underway to have the Rohingya return to Myanmar, but there is extreme concern that their safety and well-being is not guaranteed   Read More ...

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  Myanmar bulldozes what is left of Rohingya Muslim villages

  BANGKOK -- First, their villages were burned to the ground. Now, Myanmar's government is using bulldozers to literally erase them from the earth -- in a vast operation rights groups say is destroying crucial evidence of mass atrocities against the nation's ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority. Satellite images of Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state, released to The Associated Press by Colorado-based DigitalGlobe on Friday, show that dozens of empty villages and hamlets have been completely levelled by authorities in recent weeks -- far more than previously reported   Read More ...

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  'It's not a concentration camp': Bangladesh defends plan to house Rohingya on island with armed police

  'No one in the humanitarian community we spoke to … thought this was a good idea,' rights advocate says Related Stories Bangladesh is racing to turn an uninhabited and muddy Bay of Bengal island into home for 100,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar, amid conflicting signals from top Bangladeshi officials about whether the refugees would end up being stranded there   Read More ...

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  Billy Graham spokesperson provides details on death, funeral arrangements

  Mark DeMoss, spokesperson for evangelist Billy Graham, provided details Wednesday about Graham's death, how family were notified, and upcoming public and private events to remember Graham.   Read More ...

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  Billy Graham remembered for drawing big crowds in Canada

  CALGARY -- The Rev. Billy Graham is being remembered in Canada for drawing big crowds to evangelical campaigns he led across the country over four decades. The celebrated preacher who was a confidant to U.S. presidents died Wednesday at 99 at his North Carolina home. Fred Weiss was 12 years old when he attended a few days of a week-long crusade at Calgary's McMahon stadium in 1981   Read More ...

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  Evangelist Rev. Billy Graham dies at age 99

  Rachel Zoll, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. MONTREAT, N.C. — The Rev. Billy Graham, who transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counsellor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, died Wednesday. He was 99. Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina, according spokesman Mark DeMoss   Read More ...

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  Christian evangelist Billy Graham dead at 99

  One of the most widely heard Christian televangelists in history, Billy Graham, has died at age 99. The Southern Baptist minister provided special counsel to U.S. presidents, from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. Spokesperson Mark DeMoss said Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on Wednesday morning. Graham reached more than 200 million through his appearances and millions more through his pioneering use of television and radio   Read More ...

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  Billy Graham, American evangelist, dies at age 99

  Billy Graham, American evangelist, has died at his home in North Carolina at age 99. © 2018 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.   Read More ...

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  Hungarian PM targets 'advance of Islam,' calls Christianity 'Europe's last hope'

  BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Hungary's prime minister says that "Christianity is Europe's last hope" and that politicians in Brussels, Berlin and Paris favouring migration have "opened the way to the decline of Christian culture and the advance of Islam." Viktor Orban said Sunday during his 20th annual state of the nation speech that his government will oppose efforts by the United Nations or the European Union to make migration acceptable to the world   Read More ...

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  Report: 4 dead in Russia church shooting

  MOSCOW -- Russian news agency Tass is reporting that a gunman opened fire on people leaving a church service in Russia's Dagestan region, killing four and wounding four others. Tass said the Sunday shooting occurred outside a church in the town of Kizlyar. The agency cited Mayor Alexander Shuvalov as the source for the number of people killed and wounded.   Read More ...

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  Myanmar tells Bangladesh it's ready for Rohingya to return

  DHAKA, Bangladesh -- A Myanmar minister told Bangladesh's president that Myanmar is ready to take back Rohingya Muslims who fled violence, though Bangladesh said it wanted the hundreds of thousands of refugees to have a safe and dignified return. Myanmar's Home Minister Kyaw Swe, on a three-day visit to Bangladesh, told President Abdul Hamid that Myanmar was ready to take back Rohingya under a deal the countries signed late last year, presidential spokesman Joynal Abedin said Friday   Read More ...

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  Quebec mosque shooting victim thanks donors who raised more than $400,000

  Aymen Derbali, left permanently paralyzed in the wake of last year’s attack on a Quebec City mosque, has expressed his thanks to the thousands of donors who raised more than $400,000 to allow him to purchase an accessible home. The money was raised by on online campaign launched last December by DawaNet, a Muslim, non-profit community organization in Toronto. The campaign raised $416,335 from 4,800 donors from 40 countries, 3,765 coming from Canada and 1,004 from Quebec   Read More ...

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  Fundraiser for mosque shooting survivor surpasses $400,000 goal

  A crowdfunding campaign to raise money to pay for a wheelchair-accessible home for Aymen Derbali, who was paralyzed after being shot repeatedly during the January 2017 attack on a Quebec City mosque, has surpassed its goal of $400,000. DawaNet, a Muslim non-profit organization, announced Friday morning on its crowdfunding site that it had reached its goal. By late afternoon, the site showed $411,000   Read More ...

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  Fundraiser for mosque shooting survivor reaches $400,000 goal

  A crowdfunding campaign to raise money to pay for a wheelchair-accessible home for Aymen Derbali, who was paralyzed after being shot repeatedly during the January 2017 attack on a Quebec City mosque, has reached its goal of $400,000. DawaNet, a Muslim non-profit organization, made the announcement on its crowdfunding site on Friday. The father of three small children was one of five men who were critically or seriously injured in the attack on the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec mosque on Jan   Read More ...

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  Bound together, shot to death: Myanmar massacre report prompts calls for independent probe

  Reuters report marked 1st time soldiers and paramilitary police have been implicated by testimony A Reuters investigation into the killing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has prompted a demand from Washington for a credible probe into the bloodshed there and calls for the release of two journalists who were arrested while working on the report. The special report, published overnight, lays out events leading up to the killing of 10 Rohingya men from Inn Din village in Rakhine state who were buried in a mass grave after being hacked to death or shot by Buddhist neighbours and soldiers   Read More ...

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  Rohingya say Myanmar military cutting off their food supply

  Refugees arriving in camps show signs of severe malnourishment, humanitarian workers say Related Stories Abdul Goni said the Myanmar government was starving his family one stage at a time. First, soldiers stopped the Rohingya Muslim from walking three hours to the forest for the firewood he sold to feed his family. Then Buddhist neighbours and seven soldiers took his only cow, which he rented out to fertilize rice fields   Read More ...

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  Hunger used to target Rohingya: ‘We’ll starve you out’

  Abdul Goni says the Myanmar government was starving his family one stage at a time.First, soldiers stopped the Rohingya Muslim from walking three hours to the forest for the firewood he sold to feed his family. Then Buddhist neighbours and seven soldiers took his only cow, which he rented out to fertilize rice fields. Next, he says, they killed his uncle and strung him up on a wire for trying to stop the theft of his buffalos   Read More ...

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  Televangelist Pat Robertson is recovering after suffering a stroke

  VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Televangelist Pat Robertson is recovering after suffering an embolic stroke. In an online news release, The Christian Broadcasting Network, which Robertson founded, says he was rushed to the nearest stroke centre Friday after a family member recognized the onset of symptoms. The release says that within minutes of receiving clot-busting drugs, Robertson was awake, responsive and able to move all his limbs   Read More ...

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  QUIGGIN: The Quebec mosque story has many layers

  By Tom Quiggin. The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau requesting that January 29 be designated as a “National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia.” This was the first anniversary of the attack on the or CCIQ. Alexandre Bissonnette is charged with having killed six and wounded eight. In the letter, NCCM Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee says that this horrific act of violence occurred “solely because the victims were Muslims”   Read More ...

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  Man convicted of murder in van attack near London mosque

  1 person was killed, 9 others injured in June attack Related Stories External Links VIDEO | June 19, 2017 incident in London | Metropolitan Police (Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.) A man who drove a van into a crowd of worshippers near a north London mosque after expressing far-right and anti-Muslim opinions was convicted Thursday of murder and attempted murder   Read More ...

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  More Rohingya mass graves found in Myanmar, lending weight to genocide claims

  WARNING: This story contains graphic details Related Stories The faces of the men half-buried in the mass graves had been burned away by acid or blasted by bullets. Noor Kadir could only recognize his friends by the colours of their shorts. Kadir and 14 others, all Rohingya Muslims, had been choosing players for the soccer-like game of chinlone when the gunfire began   Read More ...

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  Indian Muslim cleric says women watching soccer un-Islamic

  LUCKNOW, India -- A senior cleric at an influential Islamic seminary in northern India has issued a religious decree saying that Muslim women should not watch men playing soccer. Mufti Athar Kasmi said that watching men "playing with bare knees" violated the tenets of Islam and was forbidden for women. Kasmi is a cleric at Darul Uloom, Asia's largest Sunni Muslim seminary in the northern town of Deoband   Read More ...

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  People gather to mark one-year anniversary of Quebec City mosque shooting

  QUEBEC -- People are gathering in Quebec City for a vigil to mark the one-year anniversary of a mosque shooting where six men died. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard and other opposition leaders are also be in the city to honour the six men and 19 others who were injured when a gunman fired into an Islamic cultural centre during evening prayers   Read More ...

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  Vigil to mark one year anniversary of Quebec City mosque shooting

  A vigil will be held in Quebec City on Monday to mark the one-year anniversary of the mosque shooting where six men were killed. Related Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard are both expected to attend.It was on Jan. 29, 2017, that a shooter entered the Islamic cultural centre of Quebec City and killed six while injuring 19 others, five seriously   Read More ...

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  Vigil to mark one-year anniversary of Quebec City mosque shooting

  QUEBEC -- A vigil will be held in Quebec City on Monday to mark the one-year anniversary of the mosque shooting where six men were killed. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard are both expected to attend. It was on Jan. 29, 2017, that a shooter entered the Islamic cultural centre of Quebec City and killed six while injuring 19 others, five seriously   Read More ...

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  Quebec mosque shooting: Interfaith prayer meeting bridges divides

  QUEBEC — Religion has divided Quebecers in the past, but it brought people together Sunday night at an interfaith prayer meeting to commemorate the six men killed in last year’s attack on a Quebec City mosque. There were Muslim prayers, a First Nations poem, a Jewish chant, a song by a Catholic bishop and a canticle by an Anglican quartet. The emotions transcended religious and cultural boundaries in the moving ceremony, which opened with testimonies by families and friends of the six victims   Read More ...

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  Quebec City mosque hosts emotional gathering to mark anniversary of massacre

  QUEBEC - Widows and loved ones of the victims of a Quebec City mosque shooting fought back tears on Saturday as they attended an emotional gathering in the place where six Muslim men lost their lives last January. Almost one year after the trragedy, many of those who gathered at the Islamic cultural centre said they're still struggling to move on   Read More ...