As hostility toward immigrants in Europe and the United States is on the rise, Spain stands out as one of the few states that remains welcoming to migrants.
Bridget Ryder
Bridget Ryder is a freelance writer based in Spain.
Posted inDispatches
Spain plans to include right to abortion in Constitution—and build a list of medical conscientious objectors
Objectors to the law, including many doctors, consider the registry a “black list” meant to intimidate and eventually discriminate against medical professionals who refuse to participate in abortions.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Spain’s Holy Week confraternities celebrate the Jubilee year in Rome
Spain’s confraternities often make headlines in the foreign press as their Holy Week processions have become a tourist attraction, demonstrating the complex reality of their fame.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
In Germany, the Catholic Church grapples with the growing appeal of the far-right AfD
German Catholic bishops say that even where the party has not tipped into extremism, it has failed to reform itself of such tendencies. They charge that a nationalism incompatible with Christianity has become the AfD’s animating ideology.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
The rise of legalized euthanasia in Spain
“Just don’t open the door. They can’t enter without a court order,” Ms. Castellanos recalled her advice to Maricarmen. “If she had opened the door that day her daughter would be dead.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Europe was a world leader in A.I. regulation. Will Trump change that?
E.U. regulations on artificial intelligence may not be global in scope, but they affect 450 million consumers and companies will have to implement E.U. rules and adopt them for other territories for cost-saving reasons.
Posted inArts & Culture, Dispatches
The sound of the Christmas season: A history of the lost art of bell-ringing
Bell ringing has a rich history, integrated into daily and liturgical life year-round, a tradition being rediscovered and appreciated by anthropologists, academics, musicians and an increasing number of ordinary people.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Why does the French government—and not the Catholic Church—own Notre-Dame Cathedral?
Notre-Dame, and many churches in France, are owned by the state and merely used by the church. That gave the French government, and President Macron, a big voice in the restoration project.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Europe wants to deport Syrian refugees. Is their homeland ready for them?
Many Syrians would return voluntarily to their homeland, Father Benedict Kiely believes, “but it’s a question of what they are returning to.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Italy broadened its ban on surrogacy. Will other European states do the same?
Pope Francis has condemned surrogacy as a form of “false compassion.” Now, in Italy, engaging in surrogacy in another country, even where it may be legal, will be a criminal offense for Italian citizens.