Bishop Xavier Novell Gomà, who resigned as Bishop of Solsona in August, has applied for a civil marriage license with his partner, who is herself a divorcee. However, various reports have revealed that there is no record that Bishop Novell, 52, has been dismissed from the clerical state, or has even requested such an action…
The spokeswoman for France’s bishops’ conference clarified last Wednesday that the country’s Catholic leaders do not intend to contravene the Church’s teaching on the sacrosanct nature of the confessional seal. The clarification comes after Bishop Moulins-Beaufort, the bishops’ conference president, was invited to a meeting with France’s interior minister Gérald Darmanin to discuss the possibility of…
Nearly 20% fewer candidates for the Catholic priesthood have enrolled in Poland’s seminaries this year, when compared to 2020. Fr Piotr Kot, chairman of the Conference of Rectors of Major Seminaries, revealed that 356 seminarians began their studies in 2021. Last year, he said, there were 441 candidates, meaning that “the number is lower by approximately…
Pope to meet 500 poor from across Europe in Assisi Pope Francis will visit Assisi, Italy on November 12, where he will spend time with a group of 500 poor people from across Europe, the Vatican announced Friday. The encounter will take place as part of the Catholic Church’s celebration of the 5th annual World…
US archbishop: Covid vaccines morally permissible, but troops may conscientiously object The archbishop of the US military archdiocese believes that vaccine should not be mandatorily imposed on service members. Archbishop Broglio, of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, underlined in a statement ‘Coronavirus Vaccines and the Sanctity of Conscience’, that “no one should be forced…
The Life Institute is pushing for a rethink of the 2018 abortion law in light of a “horrifying” increase in abortion numbers, as an independent review of the law looms
Parents are not less interested in Catholic education compared to previous generations and Catholic schools “should not shy away from ethos”, according to Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell. In his homily at the Mass for the Association of Patrons and Trustees of Catholic School (APTCS) at the Dominican retreat centre in Tallaght, Dublin, Archbishop Farrell…
Christian freedom means respecting other cultures and traditions rather than finding ways to impose “one’s own model of life as though it were the most evolved and the most appealing,” Pope Francis has said. “How many errors have been made in the history of evangelization by seeking to impose a single cultural model,” the Pope…
Jason Osborne and Chai Brady Prominent Catholic laywomen have described comments from a priest comparing the Church’s treatment of women to the extremists of the Taliban as “very offensive”. Fr Roy Donovan, one of the clerics leading the Association of Catholic Priests, defended his comments this week admitting that it was an “extreme” comparison but…
The current trend pushing for a public holiday commemorating St Brigid as a ‘celtic goddess’ is “disingenuous” and “reflects people’s ignorance of history”, a prominent Church historian has said. Recent trends, including a campaign to make St Brigid’s day Ireland’s new public holiday, have emphasised the Celtic, pre-Christian goddess Bríg, rather than the “genuine, historical…
Chai Brady