2+ day, 14+ hour ago (351+ words) The Vatican has warned Catholics against polygamy, insisting that real marriage is a lifelong and exclusive union of one man and one woman. In a new doctrinal note backing monogamy signed by Pope Leo XIV and released on Tuesday, the Vatican rejected both polygamy and polyamory, saying these practices rely on "the illusion that the intensity of the relationship can be found in the succession of faces." The document said that "various public forms of non-monogamous unions " sometimes called "polyamory" " are growing in the West." It argued that every genuine marriage is a union of two people "of exactly the same dignity and the same rights" and therefore demands exclusivity. It framed both polyamory and polygamy as incompatible with the equal dignity and mutual belonging that the Catholic Church considers essential to marriage. The Vatican said the note responds to…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (227+ words) The Russian Orthodox Church has begun building its first church in Nigeria, the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa said on Tuesday. Construction is underway in Ugbaikyo, a village in Benue State, where a church dedicated to St. George the Victorious is being developed with support from the Russian-Chinese cultural center Firebird. The Exarchate said this is the Russian Orthodox Church's (ROC) first construction project in Nigeria and noted that a parishioner donated the land. The site will also include a small farm to help support parishioners and boost local agriculture. Father Daniel Agbaza, the ROC's dean in Nigeria, visited the site on Thursday, held a prayer service and blessed the land and those present, the statement said. Data released in August showed the Exarchate oversaw about 350 parishes in 36 African countries, with permanent clergy serving in 25 of them. Also in August, a…...