https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Austria in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed Despite being a very religious country with plenty of Christian holidays, including Easter Monday, Good Friday is not a day off in Austria. Here's why. https://www.thelocal.at/20220411/why-is-good-friday-not-a-holiday-in-austria Mon, 11 Apr 2022 14:46:28 +0200 why-is-good-friday-not-a-holiday-in-austria Three nuns in their 80s who made headlines after fleeing their care home to take back their convent in Austria are being allowed to stay there "until further notice", church officials said Friday. https://www.thelocal.at/20251129/rebel-nuns-win-reprieve-in-austrian-convent-dispute Sat, 29 Nov 2025 11:26:06 +0100 rebel-nuns-win-reprieve-in-austrian-convent-dispute Three rebel nuns in their 80s have taken back their Austrian convent after fleeing from their care home, with supporters flocking to the nunnery Saturday in a show of solidarity. https://www.thelocal.at/20250921/finally-back-home-rebel-octogenarian-nuns-reclaim-austrian-convent Sun, 21 Sep 2025 17:42:45 +0200 finally-back-home-rebel-octogenarian-nuns-reclaim-austrian-convent Thanks to a treaty with the Vatican, the pope holds sway over areas like education, the military, and public holidays in Austria. Here's what you need to know. https://www.thelocal.at/20250423/from-schools-to-holidays-how-the-vatican-still-influences-life-in-austria Wed, 23 Apr 2025 17:43:50 +0200 from-schools-to-holidays-how-the-vatican-still-influences-life-in-austria Stricter Muslim headscarf rules, oversight of mosques and teaching Catholic traditions in schools are the centre point of Austria’s latest push for tighter integration laws. https://www.thelocal.at/20250324/austria-plans-stricter-headscarf-ban-for-young-girls-amid-tightening-of-islam-act Mon, 24 Mar 2025 14:20:41 +0100 austria-plans-stricter-headscarf-ban-for-young-girls-amid-tightening-of-islam-act The famous bells at St. Stephan's cathedral rang for almost half an hour before the priest brought peace and quiet back to Vienna's first district. https://www.thelocal.at/20220316/stephansdom-hacker-sets-vienna-church-bells-to-ring-at-2am Wed, 16 Mar 2022 18:32:23 +0100 stephansdom-hacker-sets-vienna-church-bells-to-ring-at-2am The Austrian foreign ministry said on Wednesday it would implement a vote by MPs on the topic of closing a controversial Saudi-funded centre. The facility was created for religious dialogue in the capital Vienna. https://www.thelocal.at/20190613/austria-to-shut-down-saudi-backed-interfaith-centre Thu, 13 Jun 2019 11:36:07 +0200 austria-to-shut-down-saudi-backed-interfaith-centre Austria is wrong to make Good Friday a public holiday only for members of certain Christian churches, the European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday. https://www.thelocal.at/20190123/austria-wrong-to-limit-good-friday-to-certain-faiths-eu-court Wed, 23 Jan 2019 09:59:54 +0100 austria-wrong-to-limit-good-friday-to-certain-faiths-eu-court A debate is raging in Austria after a study suggested that Islamic kindergartens in Vienna were helping to create "parallel societies" or even produce the dangerous homegrown radicals of the future. https://www.thelocal.at/20170416/study-suggests-viennas-islamic-kindergartens-create-parallel-societies Sun, 16 Apr 2017 09:32:01 +0200 study-suggests-viennas-islamic-kindergartens-create-parallel-societies The Christian cross will remain in Austrian court rooms, government ministers have said, despite a new programme of policies which says that state representatives must "present themselves as religiously neutral". https://www.thelocal.at/20170202/debate-over-cross-in-courtrooms-follows-full-veil-ban Thu, 02 Feb 2017 13:08:51 +0100 debate-over-cross-in-courtrooms-follows-full-veil-ban A 300-year-old statue of the Virgin Mary has been found hidden in a chapel next to a Catholic church in Loretto, Burgenland. https://www.thelocal.at/20161024/sensational-300-year-old-madonna-found-in-burgenland Mon, 24 Oct 2016 15:50:00 +0200 sensational-300-year-old-madonna-found-in-burgenland Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has sought to clarify a recent controversial statement he made during a church festival, in which he suggested that Europe risks falling victim to an “Islamic conquest”. https://www.thelocal.at/20160916/cardinal-schnborn-defends-islamic-conquest-warning Fri, 16 Sep 2016 17:18:34 +0200 cardinal-schnborn-defends-islamic-conquest-warning Lambach Abbey in Upper Austria has been hit by a sex scandal after a drunken monk was arrested after reportedly having sex with a minor on May 11th in Linz. https://www.thelocal.at/20150601/drunk-monk-had-sex-with-minor Mon, 01 Jun 2015 18:39:01 +0200 drunk-monk-had-sex-with-minor An Austrian priest gave his congregation a surprise during a church service on Easter Monday in Donawitz, Styria, when he announced that he was giving up the priesthood to marry a woman he’d been having a relationship with for years. https://www.thelocal.at/20150407/priest-quits-church-to-marry-secret-lover Tue, 07 Apr 2015 11:40:05 +0200 priest-quits-church-to-marry-secret-lover A sleep-deprived architect from Linz, Upper Austria, is appealing to the Pope in an effort to stop the cathedral bell near his home ringing during the night and disturbing his rest. https://www.thelocal.at/20150205/austrian-appeals-to-pope-to-stop-cathedral-bell Thu, 05 Feb 2015 11:32:00 +0100 austrian-appeals-to-pope-to-stop-cathedral-bell Defectors from a Catholic community called The Work (Das Werk), which is based in Bregenz in the west of Austria, have spoken out about abuse in the community. https://www.thelocal.at/20141110/life-in-austrian-catholic-community-was-hell Mon, 10 Nov 2014 12:55:00 +0100 life-in-austrian-catholic-community-was-hell Wendy Alec, the co-founder of the international television network GOD TV, has revealed that her husband and ministry partner of over 20 years has left her for a divorced singer in Austria. https://www.thelocal.at/20141010/god-tv-founder-left-wife-for-austrian-woman Fri, 10 Oct 2014 16:30:00 +0200 god-tv-founder-left-wife-for-austrian-woman So many men are eager to prepare for the priesthood at Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Lower Austria that they are having to be housed in temporary blue container units in the garden. https://www.thelocal.at/20141010/trainee-priests-housed-in-containers Fri, 10 Oct 2014 11:35:54 +0200 trainee-priests-housed-in-containers