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…

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…

Pro-life leaders in Texas responded to a federal judge blocking Texas’ pro-life “heartbeat” law, just more than one month after the law went into effect. In a ruling on Wednesday, October 6, Judge Robert Pitman of the Western District of Texas ceased enforcement of the law by the state. The Texas Heartbeat Act limits most…

Congresswoman and Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, left Mass at a church in Rome Saturday evening. Her sudden departure was spurred by protesters criticising the introduction of a Covid ‘green pass’ in the city, according to journalist Joan Lewis. The representative of California had travelled to the Vatican with her husband…

The German Catholic Church’s “Synodal Way” will be extended to 2023 after its plenary session ended abruptly following votes in favour of a text approving same-sex blessings and a discussion of whether the priesthood is necessary. Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the German bishops’ conference, and Thomas Sternberg, president of the lay Central Committee of…

The president of the French bishops’ conference has accepted a request to discuss his recent comments about the confessional seal with the country’s interior minister. According to an October 7 Bishops’ Statement, Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort will be meeting with interior minister Gérald Darmanin to discuss the meaning of the Sacrament of Confession for Catholics…

The president of Poland’s Catholic bishops’ conference called for humanitarian aid for migrants seeking to enter the country from neighbouring Belarus. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki made the appeal on October 4 amid tensions between Poland and Belarus over an inordinate rise in migrants seeking to cross the border. Influenced by the recently celebrated 107th World Day of…

Pope Francis appeals for countries to achieve net zero carbon emissions Pope Francis and various religious leaders from across the world appealed last Monday for countries to “achieve net zero carbon emissions as soon as possible”. The plea was made on October 4 in a joint message signed in the Vatican’s Hall of Benediction. The…