The Australian Catholic Church is continuing on its ground-breaking path toward a potential dramatic overhaul with the announcement that a panel of experts will thoroughly review the governance and management structures of Catholic dioceses and parishes. Such a review was a key recommendation of Australia’s landmark Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse,…
The apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Mogadishu, Somalia, has called on the world to “pay attention to the plight of Somali people” as they face critical food shortages because of a crippling drought. Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti, who also serves Mogadishu, said Somalis living outside the country’s central and southern agricultural regions are…
Catholic Relief Services is appealing for additional aid after Cyclone Kenneth struck northern Mozambique late last month, the second such storm to hit the country in recent months. “Entire villages have been flattened. Roads have been washed out. And bridges have been destroyed,” Erica Dahl-Bredine, CRS’ country representative of Lesotho and Mozambique, said on April…
Home visit isn’t on the cards for Francis, bishops reveal Pope Francis told a group of Argentine bishops on pilgrimage in Rome that although he wants to visit his homeland, current obligations impede him from fulfilling his wish, the bishops said. The Pope met with the first of two groups of bishops from Argentina’s coastal and northeastern regions on May 2 during the ad…
Venezuelan guards launch tear-gas bombs in church While protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro raged across the country, National Guard forces loyal to the embattled head of state launched tear gas at churchgoers attending Mass at a local parish. In a letter published on May 2, Bishop Mario del Valle Moronta Rodriguez of San Cristobal…
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation this week to ban abortions in Georgia once a foetal heartbeat is detected, which is around six weeks. The bill’s signing comes after weeks of protests and amid outcry for legal action against it. “We will not back down. We will always continue to fight for life,” the governor…
Migrants are not a threat to a nation’s cultures, traditions and value, Pope Francis has said. Every nation is a product of immigration and the integration of diverse peoples, united by specific values, cultures and “healthy traditions”, he said. That is why any nation that “stirs up nationalistic sentiments in its people against other nations…
Though far away from the centre of the action in Rome, Bishop Celestino Aos, the temporary head of the embattled Archdiocese of Santiago, Chile, has a tough job. He’s replacing a cardinal being investigated for cover-up of clerical sexual abuse, whose predecessor is also being questioned by local prosecutors. During the Easter season, Bishop Aos…
Australia’s prime minister has said that the Sri Lankan militant group blamed for the Easter bombings that killed at least 250 people had support from the Islamic State group, a day after Sri Lankan officials said they were still evaluating foreign ties. Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters last Friday that he could confirm links…
The Archdiocese of Baltimore has published an additional 23 names of priests who had been accused of child sexual abuse after they were deceased. All of the allegations have been previously reported to law enforcement, in most cases more than a decade ago. Released on April 24, the 23 additional names join 103 other clergy…