The shocking, and seemingly irreversible, destruction of the US honeybee population took a huge hit in the past year, with 44 percent of all hives collapsing between April 2015 and April 2016.This was the second worst year for colony losses since the “Beepocolypse” started a decade ago, according to The Bee Informed Partnership, the collaboration between the US Department of Agriculture, research labs, and universities that is tracking the alarming numbers. Source
In his new exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis reaffirms the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, stating, “every sign of unjust discrimination is to be carefully avoided.“ Yet, such teachings don’t seem to be applied consistently throughout the Catholic Church…
It should be noted that while a Cardinal in Argentina in 2010, Pope Francis privately signaled openness to civil unions for LGBT couples as a compromise to legalizing same-sex marriage. It was said that Francis held this stance because he thought Argentina wasn’t ready for a same-sex marriage law.
In Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis states, “It can no longer simply be said that all those in any “irregular” situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace.” Source
A slate of 111 United Methodist ministers have come out as LGBT, challenging their denomination’s ban on “practicing homosexuals” and hoping to influence a major church-wide vote on LGBT issues later this week.
On Monday morning, Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN), an LGBT advocacy group within the United Methodist Church (UMC), published a letter signed by 111 ministers openly declaring their dual identity as both clergy and LGBT persons. The effort constitutes a direct affront to existing church policy — which currently prohibits the ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” — and comes just one day before thousands of UMC leaders gather in Portland, Oregon, for General Conference, an event held every four years where delegates vote on issues of church governance and theology. Source
The document is the result of the fourth Catholic-Muslim colloquium on interreligious dialogueSenior leaders from the Catholic Church and the Muslim community have issued an eight-point joint statement reflecting their shared beliefs.
The document, which is the result of the fourth Catholic-Muslim colloquium on interreligious dialogue, includes a call for basic human rights to be protected by law, a pledge of solidarity with all those in need, a rejection of all forms of proselytism and a focus on the right of young people to an education that is “respectful of diversity”, reports Vatican Radio.
The communiqué came at the conclusion of a two-day meeting at the Vatican entitled ‘Shared values in social and political life: Christian and Muslim perspectives’. Delegates from a dozen different countries came together, organised by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and Jordan’s Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies. They were joined by Pope Francis on the concluding day. Source
WHILE some of them had earlier questioned the fitness of Rodrigo Duterte to be President, Catholic bishops were now offering his incoming administration “vigilant collaboration.”
“The greatest promise the Church can offer any government is vigilant collaboration, and that offer we make now,” Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said in a statement…
He said several critical, even spiteful, voices had asked the prelates to desist from “interfering” in politics.
“We cannot,” he said, explaining that “it would be a denial of Christ’s universal Lordship were we to desist from reminding his disciples of what fidelity to him—in all things, including political life—demands.” Source
Video: Two large food recalls continue to grow nationwide, one involving frozen fruits and vegetables sold at several local stores, and the other involving almost 10 million pounds of cooked chicken that was used in a number of products. Source
(CNN) The number of children under 6 poisoned by nicotine in e-cigarettes rose by nearly 1,500% between 2013 and 2015, and one child died, according to an analysis of calls to the National Poison Data System published in the journal Pediatrics.
The frontrunner in the Philippines election, Rodrigo Duterte, is known for saying things that many would consider unsayable.
But his outspoken style – and his record as mayor of the country’s third biggest city – have made him popular with voters. A vow to kill 100,000 criminals… Source
Facebook’s news team routinely prevented conservative news stories from appearing in the social media giant’s astronomically influential ‘Trending’ news section, according to a report.According to a Monday report from Gizmodo, a former Facebook contractor who worked as a ‘news curator’ for the social media giant said that other workers would remove right-wing topics such as Mitt Romney, Rand Paul and the Conservative Political Action Conference from making the site’s Trending news list, even though they were popular enough to qualify. Source
Five reef islands have disappeared from the Pacific’s Solomon Islands and six more have been severely damaged due to rising sea levels and coastal erosion, according to new research.Studying the relationship between sea level rise and wave exposure in the “global sea-level rise hotspot,” a team of Australian researchers found rising waters are taking a significant toll on the islands.
“At least 11 islands across the northern Solomon Islands have either totally disappeared over recent decades or are currently experiencing severe erosion,” according to the study published in Environmental Research Letters. Source