Australia’s financial crime watchdog agency said it over-estimated by the equivalent of more than €1.24 billion the amount of money transferred from the Vatican to Australia between 2014 and 2020. According to The Australian, a daily newspaper, “A computer coding error is believed to be the source of the miscalculation”, with financial transfers involving Italy…

In one day, the Catholic Church on two continents lost two leaders to Covid-19. Both men were outspoken defenders of the church. Brazilian Cardinal Eusebio Scheid, 88, died in the interior of São Paulo state January 13, after only a few days in the hospital with Covid-19. Scotland Across the Atlantic, in Scotland, Archbishop Philip…

Three North Dakota state legislators introduced a bill this week that would oblige Catholic priests to violate the seal of Confession in cases of confirmed or suspected child abuse, on penalty of imprisonment or heavy fines. The bill was introduced January 12 by a number of Republican and Democrat state senators and state representatives. The…

An English bishop expressed solidarity with the family of a man on feeding tubes who appealed to a court for him to be kept alive. Bishop Mark O’Toole of Plymouth said in a statement sent to Catholic News Service that the English court’s decision “to allow for the withdrawal of hydration and nutrition is very…

Celebrating a livestreamed Mass for the community of Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington January 13, Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory noted how sometimes the readings of the day “fit our lives so perfectly”. They “somehow almost mystically describe where we are at this moment”, he said. Washington’s archbishop then pointed out how that day’s Gospel…

Vatican modifies distribution of ashes for Ash Wednesday The Congregation for Divine Worship announced that the ashes will be “sprinkled” rather than applied as a paste and the priest will “say nothing” while doing so. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published the note ahead of the beginning of Lent,…

Bishops urge French Catholics to pray and fast as bioethics bill returns to Senate French bishops asked Catholics on Wednesday January 13 to pray and fast for the next four Fridays for respect for human life from conception in response to new legislation. The bishops of France called on “all Catholics, as well as men…

Pope Francis and Pope emeritus Benedict XVI have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, the Vatican confirmed today. Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, said: “I can confirm that as part of the Vatican City State vaccination program to date, the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine has been administered…

What was once a closed military zone has now been opened to pilgrims, writes Michael Kelly One of the highlights of any pilgrimage to the Holy Land now is a visit to the Qasr al-Yahud site in the West Bank where Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan. I first visited the site in 2007,…