WASHINGTON -- The unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on group gatherings and recent court rulings are part of a growing challenge to religious liberty, said participants in an online symposium June 22.

Is the closure of churches and the suspension of the public celebration of Holy Mass a religious liberty issue?

VIENNA -- As people spent more time online during the coronavirus lockdown, negative remarks and even the incitement of hatred based on national, cultural or religious identity increased, a Vatican representative said.

AMMAN, Jordan -- Religious freedom advocates and medical practitioners have expressed concerns about the COVID-19 response in northeast Syria.

WASHINGTON -- A priest who serves as director of the Justice, Development and Peace Commission in his diocese in northern Nigeria cited an ongoing series of religious freedom violations in his region of the country, which is majority Muslim.

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Ethiopian Cardinal Berhaneyesus Souraphiel and his delegation were barred from entering neighboring Eritrea, a development that underlines the souring relations between the church and the Eritrean authorities.

A second attempt to have the anti-religious symbols provisions of Quebec’s controversial Bill 21 suspended until court challenges to the legality of the bill are determined has failed.

OTTAWA -- Opposition to Quebec’s controversial Bill-21 continues to grow, with Quebec teachers and the Ontario government being the latest groups to denounce what is being called a violation of fundamental rights. 

An emphatic defence of religious freedom by Ontario politicians was almost enough to set bells ringing at churches — and mosques, synagogues and temples — across the province. 

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis warned that violence against Jewish people, which reached a state of horror during World War II, is on the rise again.

QUEBEC CITY -- Many experts fear new Quebec government legislation on education will further diminish religion and spirituality from the province’s schools.

WASHINGTON -- In light of continued attacks on houses of worship and holy sites around the world, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom held an Oct. 23 hearing at the Capitol to learn ways to deter such attacks.

OTTAWA -- Catholics and others of faith who have been stunned by the anti-religious freedom nature of a recently enacted Quebec law are not getting much support from Canada’s federal party leaders.

SYDNEY -- The Australian government said it will make changes to religious freedom legislation concerning religious hospitals and aged-care facilities, after the Catholic Church pushed for changes to a recently released draft legislation package.

CORNWALL, Ont. -- Religious persecution always has a starting point, a trajectory and like cancer it needs early detection and diagnosis, an Evangelical leader told Canada’s Catholic bishops.