Faith – Winnipeg Free Press

The Law Courts in Winnipeg (John Woods / The Canadian Press files)

Man sues The Pas archdiocese, alleges sexual abuse

Erik Pindera 3 minute read Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

A man who alleges he was sexually abused in The Pas by an unknown Catholic priest in the mid-1980s is suing the archdiocese.

British Columbia lawyer Tyler Dennis filed the lawsuit in the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench last month on behalf of the man, now about 50, who resides in Vancouver. The claim names the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas as defendant.

The unknown priest is referred to as John Doe in the court filings. He was at one time the priest at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in The Pas, the lawsuit claims.

When the man was around nine years old, he alleges the priest “used his position of power granted by the (archdiocese) to prey upon the plaintiff, and sexually assault the plaintiff,” the claim said.

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As Israel advances in Gaza, many exhausted families flee again. Some can’t bear it

Fatma Khaled And Mohammad Jahjouh, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

As Israel advances in Gaza, many exhausted families flee again. Some can’t bear it

Fatma Khaled And Mohammad Jahjouh, The Associated Press 6 minute read Updated: 12:37 AM CDT

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — As Israel orders wide new evacuations across the Gaza Strip, Palestinians say they are crushed by exhaustion and hopelessness at the prospect of fleeing once again. Many are packing a few belongings and trudging off in search of new shelters. Some say they just can’t bear to move.

When ordered out of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, Ihab Suliman and his family could only grab some food and blankets before making their way south March 19. It was their eighth time fleeing over the past 18 months of war.

“There is no longer any taste to life," said Suliman, a former university professor. "Life and death have become one and the same for us.”

Suliman is among the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have fled temporary shelters since Israel shattered a 2-month-old ceasefire on March 18 with renewed bombardment and ground assaults.

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Updated: 12:37 AM CDT

FILE - Displaced Palestinians arrive in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

Middle East latest: Israeli defense minister says military is expanding its operation in Gaza

The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Middle East latest: Israeli defense minister says military is expanding its operation in Gaza

The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: 4:00 AM CDT

Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize “large areas,” the defense minister said Wednesday, as airstrikes on the southern city of Khan Younis killed 17 people overnight, according to hospital officials.

Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory was “expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a written statement.

Israel’s security perimeter, which runs along the border with Israel in northern and eastern Gaza, has been a crucial part of the country’s defense for decades, used as a way to protect its citizens living near the territory.

Katz called on Gaza residents to “expel Hamas and return all hostages.” The militant group still holds 59 captives, of whom 24 are believed to still be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

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Updated: 4:00 AM CDT

FILE - Displaced Palestinians carry their belongings on the outskirts of Gaza City, Friday March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

Israel’s military operation in Gaza Strip expanding to seize ‘large areas,’ defense minister says

The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Israel’s military operation in Gaza Strip expanding to seize ‘large areas,’ defense minister says

The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: 4:14 AM CDT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize “large areas,” the defense minister said Wednesday.

Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory was “expanding to crush and clean the area" of militants and "seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a written statement.

The Israeli government has long maintained a buffer zone just inside Gaza along its security fence and has greatly expanded since the war began in 2023. Israel says the buffer zone is needed for its security, while Palestinians view it as a land grab that further shrinks the narrow coastal territory, home to around 2 million people.

Katz didn't specify which areas of Gaza would be seized in the expanded operation, which he said includes the “extensive evacuation” of the population from fighting areas. His statement came after Israel ordered the full evacuation of the southern city of Rafah and nearby areas.

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Updated: 4:14 AM CDT

FILE - Displaced Palestinians carry water in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)

A man wielding an axe wounds 3 people at the Assyrian Christian new year parade in Iraq

Stella Martany, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

A man wielding an axe wounds 3 people at the Assyrian Christian new year parade in Iraq

Stella Martany, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 11:56 PM CDT

DOHUK, Iraq (AP) — The annual parade by Assyrian Christians in the Iraqi city of Dohuk to mark their new year was marred Tuesday when an axe-wielding man attacked the procession and wounded three people, witnesses and local officials said.

The parade, held every year on April 1, drew thousands of Assyrians from Iraq and across the diaspora, who marched through Dohuk in northern Iraq waving Assyrian flags and wearing colorful traditional clothes.

Witnesses said the attacker, who has not been officially identified, ran toward the crowd shouting Islamic slogans.

He struck three people with the axe before being stopped by participants and security forces. Videos circulated online showed him pinned to the ground, repeatedly shouting, “Islamic State, the Islamic State remains.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 11:56 PM CDT

CORRECTS TO TUESDAY, NOT THURSDAY - Assyrian revellers dressed in traditional clothing attend

UN agency closes its remaining Gaza bakeries as food supplies dwindle under Israeli blockade

Wafaa Shurafa And Sam Mednick, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

UN agency closes its remaining Gaza bakeries as food supplies dwindle under Israeli blockade

Wafaa Shurafa And Sam Mednick, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 2:00 PM CDT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. food agency is closing all of its bakeries in the Gaza Strip, officials said Tuesday, as supplies dwindle after Israel sealed off the territory from all imports nearly a month ago.

Israel, which later resumed its offensive to pressure the Hamas militant group into accepting changes to their ceasefire agreement, said enough food had entered Gaza during the six-week truce to sustain the territory's roughly 2 million Palestinians for a long time.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Israel’s assertion was “ridiculous,” calling the food shortage very critical. The organization is “at the tail end of our supplies” and a lack of flour and cooking oil are forcing the bakeries to close, Dujarric said Tuesday.

Markets largely emptied weeks ago. U.N. agencies say the supplies they built up during the truce are running out. Gaza is heavily reliant on international aid because the war has destroyed almost all of its food production capability.

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Updated: Yesterday at 2:00 PM CDT

Palestinian girls dressed for Eid al-Fitr celebrations walk next to destructions in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Pope’s work during convalescence includes clearing path for saints from Venezuela, Papua New Guinea

Colleen Barry, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Pope’s work during convalescence includes clearing path for saints from Venezuela, Papua New Guinea

Colleen Barry, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:28 AM CDT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis spends part of his days at his desk working and concelebrates Mass daily in his private chapel, the Vatican said Tuesday, in signs of continued improvements during his convalescence at the Vatican after beating life-threatening double pneumonia.

“The pope is continuing physical and respiratory therapy, with the expected results, which means his voice is also improving," the Vatican said. “There is obviously also time for work, which the pope does partly sitting at a desk.”

That included clearing the path to canonization for the first saints to hail from Venezuela and Papua New Guinea, as well as an archbishop killed during the massacres of Armenians in 1915.

The decrees were approved last Friday in coordination with the curia, or Vatican hierarchy, from Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel where the 88-year-old pope's apartment is located.

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Updated: Yesterday at 9:28 AM CDT

Pope Francis appears at a window of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, March 23, 2025, where he has been treated for bronchitis and bilateral pneumonia since Feb. 14. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

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Miami’s Haitian community gathers in prayer as crises escalate in homeland and US

Giovanna Dell'orto, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

Miami’s Haitian community gathers in prayer as crises escalate in homeland and US

Giovanna Dell'orto, The Associated Press 7 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:31 AM CDT

MIAMI (AP) — Packed pews, rollicking singing and emotional devotions have marked Lent worship services at Notre Dame d'Haiti, the Catholic church at the heart of the largest Haitian diaspora in the United States. For a community caught in the crossfire of growing violence in their island homeland and disappearing humanitarian protections in the U.S., clinging to faith in God is one of the few lifelines left.

“We believe in him. We pray for possibilities,” said Kettelene Fevrier. She fled Haiti two years ago under a temporary humanitarian program created by the Biden administration and canceled by Trump's, effective later in April.

At the weekend Mass closing a Lent revival program, Fevrier sang with the choir that kept more than a thousand congregants dancing in the aisles well past midnight. Singing is praying, she said, and she has two main intentions.

“First, that I stay here,” she said. “Second, that God will lead me on the right path.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 9:31 AM CDT

Members of the choir at Notre Dame d'Haiti, the Catholic church that's the spiritual center of the Haitian diaspora, sing during a Lent revival Mass, March 29, 2025 in Miami. (AP Photos/Giovanna Dell'Orto)

Most immigrants at risk of deportation from US are Christian, report finds

Peter Smith, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Most immigrants at risk of deportation from US are Christian, report finds

Peter Smith, The Associated Press 5 minute read Yesterday at 4:49 PM CDT

As many as four in five immigrants at risk of deportation from the United States are Christian, according to a new report that calls on their fellow believers to consider the impact of the Trump administration's aggressive deportation policies.

The report says about 10 million Christians are vulnerable to deportation and 7 million U.S. citizens who are Christian live in households where someone is at risk of deportation.

The report, under the auspices of major Catholic and evangelical organizations, draws on a range of data, including percentages of religious affiliation in various migrant and national populations and on an advocacy group's analysis of U.S. census data on migrants.

“Though we’re deeply concerned about fellow Christians, we’re not exclusively concerned with immigrants who happen to share our faith,” said Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, an evangelical humanitarian organization that cosponsored the report.

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Yesterday at 4:49 PM CDT

FILE - The Rev. W. J. Mark Knutson, right, walks with an El Salvadoran immigrant at the Augustana Lutheran Church on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Portland, Oregon. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

A Jesuit priest prefers prison over a fine to draw attention to climate change

Kirsten Grieshaber, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

A Jesuit priest prefers prison over a fine to draw attention to climate change

Kirsten Grieshaber, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:18 AM CDT

BERLIN (AP) — A Jesuit priest says he prefers going to prison than paying a 500-euro ($541) fine for participating in a climate activists' street blockade in the southern German city of Nuremberg.

The Rev. Jörg Alt started serving his nearly monthlong prison sentence on Tuesday in Nuremberg.

“Today, I am starting my 25-day alternative custodial sentence in Nuremberg prison,” he said before entering the prison. “I don’t like doing this, especially as my health is no longer the best at the age of 63. But I see no alternative, because it’s the last form of protest I have left in this specific case to draw attention to important issues” such as climate change.

In November, Alt said that "as a priest, I have no income and no bank account due to my vow of poverty and that I do not want to harm the order and my fellow brothers by paying my fine,” German news agency dpa reported.

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Updated: Yesterday at 7:18 AM CDT

FILE - Priest Joerg Alt addresses supporters prior to the beginning of his trial at a court in Munich, Germany, May 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

Middle East latest: Palestinians struggle to find food in Gaza; Israeli strike in Beirut kills 4

The Associated Press 11 minute read Preview

Middle East latest: Palestinians struggle to find food in Gaza; Israeli strike in Beirut kills 4

The Associated Press 11 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 1:39 PM CDT

The Israeli military struck a building in Beirut’s southern suburbs early Tuesday, killing at least four people in an attack it said targeted a member of the Hezbollah militant group. The airstrike came just days after Israel launched its first attack on the Lebanese capital since a ceasefire ended fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in November.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, report finding it harder to find food as bakeries were closing due to lack of flour and fuel. Israel says enough food entered Gaza during a six-week ceasefire with Hamas to sustain the territory’s roughly 2 million Palestinians for “a long period of time,” but the U.N. says its stockpiles are critically low.

For the past month, Israel has not allowed food, fuel or humanitarian aid to enter Gaza to pressure Hamas — a tactic that rights groups say is a war crime.

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Updated: Yesterday at 1:39 PM CDT

FILE -Vice Adm. Eli Sharvit arrives on board the Israeli Navy Ship Atzmaut in the Mediterranean Sea, Sept. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

Venezuela will have its first female saint after approval from Pope Francis

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Venezuela will have its first female saint after approval from Pope Francis

The Associated Press 2 minute read Monday, Mar. 31, 2025

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela is set to have its first female saint following approval from Pope Francis.

On Monday, he paved the way for the canonization of Blessed María Carmen Rendiles by authorizing a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to her, the founder of the Congregation of the Handmaids of Jesus.

A date for her canonization has not been set.

Who was Carmen Rendiles?

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Monday, Mar. 31, 2025

An image of Blessed MarÌa Carmen Rendiles is at the entrance of her museum in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, March 31, 2025. Pope Francis approved the canonization of Venezuela first female Saint Maria Carmen Rendiles today. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Supreme Court seems likely to side with Catholic Charities in religious-rights case

Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Supreme Court seems likely to side with Catholic Charities in religious-rights case

Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press 4 minute read Monday, Mar. 31, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court appeared Monday to be leaning toward a Catholic charitable organization pushing back against the state of Wisconsin in the latest religious rights case to come before the court.

In a case that could have wide-ranging effects, the justices suggested the Catholic Charities Bureau should not have to pay unemployment taxes because the work of the social services agency is motivated by religious beliefs, and the state exempts religious groups from the tax.

“Isn't it a fundamental principle of our First Amendment that the state shouldn't be picking and choosing between religions?” Justice Neil Gorsuch said.

The dispute is one of three cases involving religion under consideration this term by the justices who have issued a string of decisions siding with churches and religious plaintiffs. The others involve religious objections to books read in public schools and public funding for religious schools.

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Monday, Mar. 31, 2025

FILE - The U.S. Supreme Court is seen near sunset in Washington, Oct. 18, 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

UAE court sentences 3 people to death in killing of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan

Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

UAE court sentences 3 people to death in killing of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan

Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press 3 minute read Monday, Mar. 31, 2025

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A court in the United Arab Emirates has sentenced three people to death for the killing of Israeli-Moldovan Zvi Kogan, state media reported Monday.

The state-run WAM news agency announced the verdicts of the three after a trial in Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals’ State Security Chamber. It said a fourth person who aided the killing received a life sentence.

It did not identify those charged. However, three Uzbek nationals had been arrested in Turkey and brought back to the UAE over the killing in November.

“The defendants had tracked and murdered the victim,” the WAM report said. “The evidence presented by the State Security Prosecution to the court included the defendants’ detailed confessions to the crimes of murder and kidnapping, along with forensic reports, post-mortem examination findings, details of the instruments used in the crime and witness testimonies.”

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Monday, Mar. 31, 2025

FILE - A rabbi delivers an eulogy next to the coffin containing the remains of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Monday Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)

Israeli military orders the evacuation of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah

Wafaa Shurafa And Fatma Khaled, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Israeli military orders the evacuation of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah

Wafaa Shurafa And Fatma Khaled, The Associated Press 5 minute read Monday, Mar. 31, 2025

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel's military on Monday issued sweeping evacuation orders covering Rafah and nearby areas, indicating it could soon launch another major ground operation in the Gaza Strip's southernmost city.

Israel ended its ceasefire with the Hamas militant group and renewed its air and ground war earlier this month. At the beginning of March it cut off all supplies of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to the territory's roughly 2 million Palestinians to pressure Hamas to accept proposed changes to the truce agreement.

Israel's military ordered Palestinians to head to Muwasi, a sprawl of squalid tent camps along the coast. The orders came during Eid al-Fitr, a normally festive Muslim holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Last May, Israel launched a major operation in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, leaving large parts in ruins. The military seized a strategic corridor along the border as well as the Rafah crossing with Egypt, Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world that was not controlled by Israel.

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Monday, Mar. 31, 2025

Hassan Abu Sultan mourns over the body of her son Jehad, who, along with his wife and three children, was killed when an Israeli army strike hit their tent, as heir bodies lie on the floor at a hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, awaiting burial on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Middle East latest: Israel prepares to move deeper into Gaza and orders Rafah evacuated

The Associated Press 9 minute read Preview

Middle East latest: Israel prepares to move deeper into Gaza and orders Rafah evacuated

The Associated Press 9 minute read Monday, Mar. 31, 2025

The Israeli military indicated on Monday it could soon launch another major offensive in Rafah and ordered most of the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip evacuated.

Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas and renewed its air and ground war earlier this month. At the beginning of March it cut off all supplies of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to the territory’s roughly 2 million Palestinians to pressure Hamas to accept changes to the truce agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nominated a new domestic security chief, after he moved to fire the current one over a crisis of confidence that critics say was politically motivated.

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Monday, Mar. 31, 2025

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