Be a voice for society’s unwanted Pope tells media Catholic media have a responsibility to be “spiritual antennas” that connect the world to the sufferings of the poor and the unwanted in society, especially prisoners on death row, Pope Francis has said. During an audience with journalists and collaborators of Telepace, an Italian Catholic television and radio station, the Pope encouraged them to…
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has performed a U-turn and will now file a complaint against religious sisters who have been accused of embezzling from a Catholic school at which they had worked for more than a decade. Sr Mary Margaret Kreuper CSJ and Sr Lana Chang CSJ, who both retired this year from St…
The consciences of medical staff will be abused with a seal of approval from the Oireachtas, writes Dr Noreen O’Carroll I was very struck by the phrase “the abuse of conscience” used by Pope Francis in his apology for the abuse perpetrated on minors by members of the clergy and hierarchy; he apologised not only…
There has been a broad welcome in the Diocese of Clogher for Pope Francis’ decision to appoint a local priest, Msgr Larry Duffy, as bishop of the border diocese. His predecessor, Bishop Emeritus Liam MacDaid, hailed the unusual decision – new bishops in Ireland have tended of late to be external rather than internal appointments…
Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit prayed for the country on December 7, even as the French government dropped all fuel tax increases for 2019. The government move came after French cities were hit with weeks of violent protests, as French people demanded lower fuel taxes and better purchasing power. Images of rampage at the Arc de…
Catholic tribal leaders in India are worried over a move by Jharkhand’s government to take away tribal status from people who have left their traditional Sarna religion to join other faiths. The eastern state’s move will deprive thousands of tribal people of social benefits meant for their advancement. “It is a deliberate attempt to divide tribal people…
Inés San Martín In October, the government of Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo imposed a sweeping ban on civil protest in Nicaragua, which critics saw as an effort to snuff out a spontaneous protest movement that almost brought them down earlier this year. As is almost always the case here in this…
The archbishops of Armagh have pleaded with parishioners not to allow increasingly depressing statistics about homelessness “dull the reality that behind each of these numbers lies a personal story of distress and hardship”. In a joint message due to be released this weekend, Archbishop Eamon Martin and his Church of Ireland counterpart Richard Clarke combine…
Pope Francis approved a new set of laws concerning the structure and governance of Vatican City State in an effort to simplify the many offices and activities of the world’s smallest nation and to boost oversight, transparency and budgetary controls. The measures were issued ‘motu proprio’, on the Pope’s own accord. The Pope said the…
Leading child protection campaigner Marie Collins has said it would be “shortsighted” of the Vatican not to invite Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to a global safeguarding bishops’ summit to be hosted in Rome in February. Fr Hans Zollner SJ, who Pope Francis has asked to coordinate the gathering, has said that while the summit’s planning…