Pope Francis has laicised Bishop Emeritus of Bruges, Belgium, Roger Vangheluwe, years after the former prelate admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing his nephew when the latter was a minor. The apostolic nunciature to Belgium said in a statement last week that “serious new elements” had come to light regarding ex-bishop Vangheluwe, who resigned in 2010 after…
Bonn/Pristina (KNA) The only Catholic bishop in Kosovo would like to see more stability in his country. Political and social tensions still persist 25 years after the NATO mission in the former Yugoslavia, lamented 2 on Friday. The bishop of the Prizren-Pristina diocese blamed Serbian politicians, among others, for this. However, the 61-year-old cleric admitted…
Regensburg (KNA) The Catholic Bishops’ Conference has rejected Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller’s criticism of its approach to political extremism. “The German bishops are neither opportunistic nor anti-democratic when they take part in demonstrations against the right or the left,” Matthias Kopp, press spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference, told the newspapers of the Bavarian Media Group…
Brussels (KNA) Roger Vangheluwe, Catholic Bishop of Bruges until 2010, is no longer a priest. Pope Francis has expelled him from the clergy, the papal nunciature in Brussels announced on Thursday. The now 87-year-old resigned as diocesan bishop in April 2010 after it became known that he had sexually abused a nephew for years. Vangheluwe…
EXCLUSIVE True witness to the Faith is the answer to declining vocations in Ireland, not married priests, the Vatican’s cardinal for clergy has insisted during a visit to Knock shrine, Co. Mayo. Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy told The Irish Catholic that there are those who call for an…
The Church in Ireland’s safeguarding culture and structures have “greatly improved” in the past 10 years, according to a report from the national safeguarding body. “A lot of progress has been made, and plans are in place to advance this further,” the overview report from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church…
Christians in the birthplace of Christ hope for the return of Irish pilgrims after a plea from a Palestinian bishop to support for the local Christian population. Bethlehem Christians are “still in darkness” due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, but they hope to see pilgrims return soon, local guides and shop owners told The Irish…
Pope Francis has shot down claims that he is planning giving women and laity a say in the vote to elect a pope. Speaking in his recently released biography Life, the Pope described as “fantasy” reports from “some American media outlets” that he intended to change the rules around the conclave to give nuns and…
There is “concern” and “frustration” in the Dublin parish where a tent city of asylum seekers has cropped up due to lack of accommodation, according to the parish priest. Fr Enda Cunningham, Administrator of Westland Row parish, spoke to The Irish Catholic about the controversial settlement of people seeking international protection on Mount Street, outside…
Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown has criticised what he describes as the “modern secular and consumerist culture”, saying that it leaves “no place for a dissident voice” that doesn’t support it and that the political parties who adopt this ideology in the North “seem to assume that Catholic education has no place in a modern…
Brandon Scott
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones