The former archbishop of Westminster has called on British Catholics to vote to remain in the EU in the upcoming ‘Brexit’ referendrum. Pointing out that the Church has always been broadly supportive of the European Union, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor noted how recent Popes have challenged the union to renew itself by returning to its…

Electricity could go a long way to stemming violence often attributed to religion, Nigerian’s bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto has said. Violence in Nigeria is attributed to religious conflicts, the bishop said, but “more often it is just a battle for survival and a battle over resources”. Without electricity, he argued, many people cannot…

No ban on female prime ministers for the Vatican There is no reason why a woman could not become the Vatican’s “Prime Minister”, the current holder of that position has said at a press conference. “A woman could become Secretary of State, in the sense that the role of the Secretary of State is evidently not bound to the sacraments or the priesthood,”…

School children from Our Lady of Vietnam Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, perform a liturgical dance for the call to prayer during the US’s 14th annual Asian and Pacifi c Island Catholics Marian Pilgrimage at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. Photo: CNS

Michael O’Loughlin With the general election matchup coming into focus, some Catholic leaders in the US find themselves scrambling to figure out what to make of a race between one candidate whose views on immigration clash with decades of Catholic pro-immigration work, and another who supports same-sex marriage and expanded access to abortion and contraception. Whereas…

The Church reacts to a long-predicted crisis, writes Paul Keenan