The Pope’s city has lost the wine-drinking world title after being pipped at the post by a tiny island off the coast of Australia. The latest world wine consumption statistics show that per capita those on Norfolk Island enjoy a tipple slightly more than folk in the Vatican. Residents of the 8km long and 5km…

Eight months after ordering priests in a Nigerian diocese to pledge their obedience to the Pope and accept the bishop that now-retired Pope Benedict XVI had named for them, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the disputed bishop. Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke, who since 2012 has been prevented from exercising his ministry as bishop of…

An order of nuns has withdrawn from an especially violent city in Mexico after the parents and sister of one of the women religious was kidnapped and killed. The Diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, where two priests were murdered this month, said in a statement that the nuns from the Comunidad Guadalupano (Guadalupe Community) had withdrawn because…

The resignation of the president of South Africa is long overdue, the country’s bishops said, noting that his scandal-plagued presidency fostered corruption. While Jacob Zuma was in power, the bishops said, there was dereliction of duty at all levels of government. “The fact that Mr Zuma has been allowed to hold on to the highest…

Pope Francis has said he tries to dialogue with those who disagree with him in the hope that he will learn something; but he just prays for those who call him a heretic. “When I perceive resistance, I seek dialogue whenever it is possible; but some resistance comes from people who believe they possess the…

As it loses its grip in the Middle East, the Islamic State is finding a foothold in Somalia, said a bishop who oversees the Catholic Church in the troubled country. The insurgent group – linked to mass killings, abductions and beheadings in Iraq and Syria, where it is facing defeat – see Somalia as a…

Reflect
 on 
what
 corrodes
 Faith
 during
 Lent 
– 
Pope Lent is a time for Christians to get their hearts in sync with the heart of Jesus, Pope Francis said. “Let the Lord heal the wounds of sin and fulfil the prophecy made to our fathers: ‘A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I…

An investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and cover-up in Chile will continue despite the prelate tasked with leading it having been admitted to hospital for gallbladder surgery, it has been announced. Malta’s Archbishop Charles Scicluna was in Chile to meet with survivors of abuse from Fr Fernando Karadima, who in 2011 was found guilty…

When people are unable to love or accept a child with problems or illness, many times it’s because they are too weak themselves to be able to bear someone else’s vulnerabilities, Pope Francis told a group of children and young people who are wards of the state. “If I have a giant rock, I can’t…

Despite an agreement between the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar it could be years before Rohingya refugees living in squalid camps can return home, the secretary-general of the world’s largest Catholic charity has warned. Michael Roy of Caritas Internationalis said that it’s likely the Rohingya minority who fled Myanmar after a military crackdown will have…