A proclamation from the nation’s second Catholic president on a transgender-themed occasion is causing consternation among some faithful, as the date coincides this year with Easter – and as the annual White House Easter egg art contest bans, among other things, religious symbolism. On March 29, President Joe Biden issued his annual message for the…
Irish Ambassador to the Holy See Frances Collins has praised what she said is a strong relationship between Ireland and the Holy See despite historic tensions with the Catholic Church, saying they share several key foreign policy and humanitarian priorities. In an interview with Crux, Ms Collins addressed a number of topical issues including…
When Christians gathered in Jerusalem to remember Jesus’ entry into the city, it was one of a few joyful moments in the Holy Land, “crushed by so much hatred” in the months following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. “Despite the war and everything going on around us this year, we have once again…
French President Emmanuel Macron announced last week that the French Parliament in May would examine a proposal to legalise ‘aid-in-dying’ throughout the country. Macron in an interview with the Catholic newspaper La Croix described the measure as “a law of fraternity” that “reconciles the autonomy of the individual and the solidarity of the nation”. The law “opens…
Pope Francis has laicised Bishop Emeritus of Bruges, Belgium, Roger Vangheluwe, years after the former prelate admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing his nephew when the latter was a minor. The apostolic nunciature to Belgium said in a statement last week that “serious new elements” had come to light regarding ex-bishop Vangheluwe, who resigned in 2010 after…
Bonn/Pristina (KNA) The only Catholic bishop in Kosovo would like to see more stability in his country. Political and social tensions still persist 25 years after the NATO mission in the former Yugoslavia, lamented 2 on Friday. The bishop of the Prizren-Pristina diocese blamed Serbian politicians, among others, for this. However, the 61-year-old cleric admitted…
Regensburg (KNA) The Catholic Bishops’ Conference has rejected Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller’s criticism of its approach to political extremism. “The German bishops are neither opportunistic nor anti-democratic when they take part in demonstrations against the right or the left,” Matthias Kopp, press spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference, told the newspapers of the Bavarian Media Group…
Brussels (KNA) Roger Vangheluwe, Catholic Bishop of Bruges until 2010, is no longer a priest. Pope Francis has expelled him from the clergy, the papal nunciature in Brussels announced on Thursday. The now 87-year-old resigned as diocesan bishop in April 2010 after it became known that he had sexually abused a nephew for years. Vangheluwe…
Ludwig Ring-Eifel (KNA) For the second time, members of the German Bishops’ Conference and several Curia cardinals will meet in Rome on Friday for difficult theological and canon law discussions. The topics will once again be the reform proposals of the German Synodal Path, which met in Frankfurt from 2020 to 2023. The first meeting…
Hong Kong (CBA) International religious experts believe that the announced Hong Kong National Security Law jeopardises religious freedom. In particular, the law threatens the confidentiality of confession, according to a statement by 16 experts and organisations on the website of the organisation Hong Kong Watch. “The new law could force a priest to disclose what…
Brandon Scott