Letter from Rome Arguably, no single thing any Pope ever does is more consequential than choosing the cardinals who will elect his successor. When a Pontiff reveals his picks for new members of the Church’s most exclusive club, therefore, it always delivers a powerful statement not only about where the Church is today, but…
Claire Giangravè Only 11 miles away from the Turkish coast, the Greek spearhead-shaped island of Rhodes is accustomed to seeing Muslims docking on its rocky shores. In the past, religious knights took arms against these strangers, but today a handful of friars warmly welcomes them with food and clothes. When Franciscan Friar John Luke…
The return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar has again stalled after Bangladesh and Myanmar officials failed to fix a start date for actual repatriation. A Joint Working Group responsible for overseeing the repatriation of Rohingya refugees held its second meeting in four months in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, but were unable to agree on a date…
The Holy Spirit helps Catholics to do good works by giving them the gifts they need to be effective ‘salt and light’ in the world, Pope Francis said at the general audience today. Like Jesus said: “You are the salt of the earth… you are the light of the world”, the Pope said, explaining that…
All 34 Chilean bishops speaking at a Vatican news conference of Friday about the cover-up of sexual abuse in their country have offered their resignation to Pope Francis, the bishops announced today. Decisions about the bishops’ fate will be decided by Pope Francis in the ensuing weeks, where he can accept or reject the resignations.…
Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, renowned for championing the Traditional Latin Mass, died in Rome today, aged 88. The Colombian cardinal was president of the pontifical commission Ecclesia Dei when Pope Benedict XVI published Summorum Pontificum, granting greater freedom to the celebration of the older Mass. He was known for leading attempts to reconcile traditionalist Catholics to…
Financial and economic decisions ranging from where a family chooses to invest its savings to where a multinational corporation declares its tax residence are ethical decisions that can be virtuous or sinful, a new Vatican document has said. “There can be no area of human action that legitimately claims to be either outside of or…
Opening a new US embassy in Jerusalem this week without resolving conflict in the region will have “extreme results”, according to a Catholic priest based in the West Bank. Violence broke out between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers during fierce protests. International media reported that in Gaza, at least 52 Palestinians were killed, including five…
South Africa’s bishops condemned an attack on a mosque near Durban in which a man was killed and another two injured. Mechanic Abbas Mohamedelo Essop died after his throat was cut in the attack on the mosque in Verulam, about 20 miles north of Durban. Three men armed with guns and knives set the mosque…
It’s hard to discuss detrimental environmental effects of using the diesel fuel needed to run generators in Gaza when people only have three hours of government-provided electricity a day, Tahani Abu Daqqa, former Palestinian Minister of Culture, has said. Catholics are influenced by the environment in which they live, so while Catholics living in Israel…
John L. Allen Jr.