Senior Catholic figures in Austria have been forced to speak out after controversial comments by an ultra-conservative pastor over the Haiti earthquake.Pastor Gerhard Maria Wagner had claimed 90 per cent of Haitians practised voodoo in an interview published in the newspaper Kurier on Sunday when he was asked if the Haitian earthquake had been Gods […]
Cardinal Schönborn to start US visit
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Vienna Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn is to start a six-day trip to the USA tomorrow (Sat).The archdiocese press service said he will give speeches and meet with politicians, economists and scientists in Kansas City, New York and Washington, D.C.His first stop will be Kansas City, Missouri, where he will visit various Church institutions at the […]
A teenage gambler has been arrested after he invited pals around for a card game and then attacked them with a baseball bat.A 49-year-old man told cops he and a 19-year-old girl had been playing with the teenager when he suddenly stopped, picked up a baseball bat and started to attack them.Police said the […]
By Lisa ChapmanA demonstration against the murder of Coptic Christians in Egypt earlier this month is to be held on Viennas Ringstraße on Thursday afternoon.Car club ÖAMTC today (Tues) issued a warning to motorists to avoid driving into the city and to use public transport instead as 700 to 1,000 people were expected to gather […]
By William GreenThe Austrian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions reported today (Fri) its membership had remained stable last year.The Church said 3,128 people had left and 839 had joined in 2009. At the end of the year, it had 325,314 members, down 0.69 per cent year on year.The number of people who […]
Catholic Church exodus
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By David RogersThe number of Catholics leaving the Church soared last year, according to Catholic press agency Kathpress.It reported today (Weds) that 53,216 people had left the Church last year – 30.9 per cent more than in 2008.The figure was 0.96 per cent of all Austrian Catholics, the agency said.The number of Catholics in Austria […]
By Thomas HochwarterA ten-year-old Russian girl is in intensive care as she collapsed minutes after a skiing accident.Officials in Sölden in Tyrols Imst district said the girl lost control of her skis on the childrens “Mini-Giggijoch” slope. She crashed into a pile of snow and probably landed on the back of her head, according to […]