The US Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment’s free speech clause protects a Colorado web designer who feared she would be prosecuted under state anti-discrimination law for her faith-based objections to designing websites that promote same-sex marriage or same-sex weddings. Lorie Smith, owner of the graphic and web design studio 303 Creative LLC,…
Category: World Report
Violence among top concerns of Congolese bishops
Persistent violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the emergence of new groups of militia are key concerns of the Catholic bishops in the Central African nation. In a statement issued at the end of their June 19–22 plenary assembly, members of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO)…
Church in Germany loses members in record numbers
The Catholic Church in Germany, shaken by the abuse scandal, is continuing to shrink, with more than half a million people officially quitting the Church in 2022. Most of the resignations occurred in the Archdiocese of Cologne. The wave of resignations from the Church in Germany has reached a record high, according to figures published by the…
German cardinal plans to file legal complaint after June 27 raid
Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki plans to take legal action after investigators searched his residence and other buildings of the Archdiocese of Cologne June 27, the KNA news agency reported “What bothers us is not the raid, but that the information and the date appear to have been leaked to the media,” Cardinal Woelki’s lawyer, Bjoern…
Sexual morality views halt appointment of dean at Italian seminary
The Vatican vetoed the appointment of a new dean at a seminary in Northern Italy, citing concerns over the appointee’s views on sexual morality diverging from the Church’s teachings. On June 26, the Philosophical-Theological College in Bressanone (PTH Brixen), announced that Fr Martin Lintner, OSM, had been chosen to serve as dean for the term…
In brief
US Franciscan friar sent to prison for abortion protest Catholic priest and pro-life activist Fr Fidelis Moscinski, CFR, has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for blocking access to a Planned Parenthood abortion facility by placing locks and chains on the gated entrance. Judge Steven Tiscione laid down the six-month sentence, which is…
Vatican roundup
Papal peace envoy journeys to Moscow Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi met with a Kremlin foreign policy adviser during the peace mission he is making to Moscow on Pope Francis’s behalf. Archbishop Giovanni d’Aniello, the apostolic nuncio to Russia, told reporters June 29 that the mission Pope Francis entrusted to Cardinal Zuppi “is to identify and…
Prayer plea after 46 die in tragic Honduras women’s prison massacre
Catholics in Honduras prayed for the victims of a horrific massacre in a women’s prison – an attack underscoring the power of the country’s criminal gangs and their control over correctional facilities. Many Catholic clergy expressed outrage while demanding an overhaul of the country’s prison system. “Tragedy repeats itself,” tweeted Bishop Ángel Garachana of San…
Report: Over 50% of people live in a country with serious religious persecution
More than half of the global population lives in a country in which state or non-state actors actively persecute people for their religious beliefs, according to the 2023 Religious Freedom in the World report. Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic charity, published the report, which put 28 countries in the “red” category for…
Brazilian president to ask for release of jailed Nicaraguan bishop
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he will speak with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega about releasing a jailed Nicaraguan bishop currently serving a 26-year prison sentence. Speaking to reporters in Rome June 22, a day after meeting with Pope Francis, the Brazilian president, commonly referred to as Lula, said there is “no reason…