Europe

Up to one in five abortion clinics in the U.K. are breaking the law, an official investigation ordered late last month by the Health Secretary revealed, prompting sharp criticism from government authorities and pro-life groups.

The raids on more than 250 private and National Health Service abortion clinics found that a "shocking" number of abortion facilities may not operating legally, the Telegraph revealed. The most common breaches of law doctors were committing involved falsifying consent forms for patients, meaning they were pre-signing the forms in bulk and ignoring the legal requirement that ensures patients hoping for an abortion must be counseled by at least two different doctors.

The findings, revealed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), have been described as "shocking" by Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary. If the charges are proven to be true, many of these clinics may be stripped of licenses allowing them to perform abortions. more >>

British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservative-led coalition government are pushing strongly to grant same-sex couples the option of entering into civil marriages, causing protests from British clergy.

Among the most vocal critics of the proposal is Cardinal Keith O'Brien, head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, who recently called the proposal "grotesque,'' and consequently caused a controversy because of his strong language. Still, the cardinal re-affirmed his stand in a recent interview with BBC.

"I think I'm just handing on the teaching of the Christian Church almost 2,000 years, for over 2,000 years, since Christ was on Earth, handing on his same teaching and doing my best to hand it on in a way that many people can hear it," he said. more >>

The Conference of Irish Catholic Bishops has written a 12-page letter to the Irish people pleading with them not to follow the example of secularists across Europe by turning away from Christ in their lives.

"Europe in our time is a culture, almost unique in history, in which God appears to be silent and unmissed in the lives of many. There are many spheres of life in which even believers rarely recognize the relevance of the Gospel," the bishops' message, titled "Repent and Believe the Good News," begins. 

"None of us remains unaffected by our culture. It takes a real effort in a busy and noisy world to take time to reflect, to ask the fundamental questions about what our lives mean and where they are leading. It is a world in which we need to make space to recognize the challenge of turning our lives around and to putting our priorities right," it continues. more >>

A Christian doctor was purportedly fired after emailing a prayer to his colleagues at Walsall Manor Hospital in western England, according to the Derby Telegraph.

David Drew, a pediatrician from Derbyshire, claims unfair dismissal from his hospital after having issues – one of which included his prayer email – with his managers.

The prayer by St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, was sent to his colleagues in order to try and motivate his department. more >>

The Shroud of Turin, the ancient 14-foot long piece of burial cloth which many believe holds the imprint of the face of Jesus Christ, continues to be an important artifact when it comes to examining the Christian faith, as a new book proposes that it was this very robe that convinced Christ's apostles that he had risen from the dead.

The controversial claim, which positions that the apostles never actually saw the resurrected Christ as Scripture records, is made in The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection by art historian Thomas de Wesselow, who is based in King's College in England.

Although the contents and methodology of the book, which is set to be released on April 3 in the U.S., have mostly been kept a secret, the Telegraph shares de Wesselow's conclusion from the book: more >>

The Church of England has voted down a "unity covenant" that was intended to help keep together the Anglican Communion, which is experiencing fierce divisions over theological differences among its member churches.

First proposed in 2004 amid the controversy surrounding some member churches' acceptance of homosexuality and female clergy, the covenant laid a process to deal with any church seen as possibly disrupting the unity of the 77 million member Anglican Communion.

Championed by outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, the covenant was declared defeated after the 23 nay votes had been cast out of the 44 Dioceses of the Church of England. more >>