The International Union of Superiors General has called on women religious who have suffered abuse to come forward and report it to their congregations and Church and state authorities. “If the UISG receives a report of abuse, we will be a listening presence and help the person to have the courage to bring the complaint…
A Kenyan priest serving in Cameroon has been shot and killed by soldiers. Fr Cosmas Omboto Ondari was shot dead in Manyu, Cameroon, just days after the murder of another Kenyan priest, Jesuit Fr Victor-Luke Odhiambo, in South Sudan. According to the St Joseph Missionary Society Mill Hill Missionary’s Formation Centre in Cameroon, Fr Ondari,…
An effort by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece to start severing ties between the state and the Greek Orthodox Church, including taking priests off civil service payrolls, has opened up divisions within the church which has played a dominant role in the country’s life for centuries. Mr Tsipras and the head of the Orthodox…
Just over half of all Belgians (52%) say they are Catholics, according to a survey carried out by the Church for its first-ever annual report, but fewer than one in ten attends Mass a minimum of once a month. Since it is the first report of its kind in Belgium, it makes no comparison between…
Young prisoners not forgotten in World Youth Day plans Encounters with young people in prison and living with HIV will feature in Pope Francis’ itinerary when he visits Panama for World Youth Day, the Vatican has announced. The January 23-27 visit will be the Pope’s 26th trip outside Italy, and will see the Pontiff celebrating two Masses and a penitential liturgy as well…
A priest was attacked by a Hindu mob in northern India, and then arrested by police after Hindus accused him of causing the disturbance. Fr Vineet Vincent Pereira was conducting a prayer service in Ghohana town in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh when right-wing Hindus attacked him. The priest lives in a house with…
Catholic leaders applauded a presidential order requiring education ministry officials to return to churches all of the schools that religious denominations surrendered to the government five decades ago. President Uhuru Kenyatta said he had given government officials one week for the restoration of the schools’ ownership to churches, to return the land they occupy and…
New guidelines on the question of clerical sexual abuse were discussed and presented during the general assembly of Italy’s bishops, with the creation of a National Advisory Centre to aid bishops and the promises to make a “more radical evangelical choice” in terms of prevention. “Woe to whoever touches children,” said Italian Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti,…
The president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said he was leaving the bishops’ autumn general assembly more hopeful than when the meeting began. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston said in remarks closing the assembly that his hope was primarily grounded in Christ as well as realising that the body of bishops was on…
The Philippines’ bishops’ conference has announced it will dedicate 2019 as the ‘Year of the Youth’. The year-long celebration which will start on the first Sunday of Advent on December 2, will carry the theme ‘Filipino Youth in Mission: Beloved, Gifted, Empowered’. Its observance, which the bishops described as part of the “nine-year journey for New…