The Vatican has insisted that Pope emeritus Benedict XVI did not authorise his name to be given as the co-author of a new book along with Cardinal Robert Sarah on the topic of priestly celibacy. The book – published in French yesterday – gave the impression that Benedict wrote the defence of priestly celibacy along…
The president of Brazil’s Supreme Court has issued an order that allows streaming service Netflix to continue exhibiting a satirical film depicting Jesus as a gay man and reaffirmed Brazilians’ right to free speech. “It is not to be assumed that a humorous satire has the magic power to undermine the values of the Christian…
Catholics in India are seeking to erect the nation’s tallest statue of Jesus, over objections by Hindi groups who say one of their gods lives on the hill designated for the project. Work began earlier this month on the statue, planned to be nearly 100 feet tall, on 10 acres of land owned by the…
A five-year-old British girl, whose parents won a legal battle to take her to Italy for medical treatment, has been moved out of intensive care, and into a rehabilitative unit for children with incurable illnesses. Tafida Raqeeb was transferred to the Galini Children’s Hospital in Genoa from the Royal London Hospital, where she had been…
Spanish Church leaders have voiced concern for their country’s future after the government pledged to legalise euthanasia, secularise education and strip the Church of “improper assets”. “Spain faces a critical situation, a true emergency for our future,” Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera of Valencia told Catholics in a pastoral letter. He asked that special prayers and…
Pope prays for Ukrainian plane crash victims Pope Francis has offered his prayers for the souls of the 176 passengers of a Ukrainian International Airlines flight, who died when the plane crashed near Tehran, Iran last week. The crash took place on January 8, approximately 10 minutes after the plane took off from Imam Khomeini…
Mexican priest hospitalised after being shot four times A Mexican priest who had been kidnapped is in hospital in serious condition after having been discovered on the side of a highway with four gunshot wounds. Fr Roly Candelario Piña Camacho, a Piarist priest from the Diocese of Tlaxcala, was found wounded on the side of…
Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako, responding to a US drone attack in Baghdad that killed Iran’s top general, said “wisdom is required to avoid the ‘volcanic eruption’ we are about to face.” Speaking during the Epiphany Mass in Baghdad, he said the current crisis resulted from the “upsetting escalation, as well as the emotional and…
The Vatican has dramatically over-ruled a British bishop’s decision to close a parish church. Bishop Peter Brignall had originally told parishioners in Conwy, north Wales that he was forced to close the church due to a shortage of priests to minister in the Diocese of Wrexham. The last Mass was celebrated at St Michael and…
Iraqis fear their country, already weary from years of war, may be dragged into a conflict between the United States and Iran, following the US-targeted killing in Baghdad of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani. “We prayed during the days of Christmas for peace on earth, and the timing of this revenge from America creates in…