A well-known cardinal from China, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, flew to Rome to hand Pope Francis a seven-page letter appealing for him to pay attention to the crisis facing his country’s underground Church. The former bishop of Hong Kong said underground clerics have cried to him since the Vatican-China deal on the appointment of bishops.…
Pope recognises martyrdom of Christian Brother Pope Francis has recognised the martyrdom of De La Salle Christian Brother James Miller, who was born in Wisconsin and was shot to death in Guatemala in 1982. The recognition of the martyrdom of Bro. James, or Bro. Santiago as he also was known, clears the way for his beatification; the date and location…
Inés San Martín Amidst a growing global concern over the Church’s handling of abuse cases and cover-up, Pope Francis has appointed the Vatican’s former top prosecutor on cases of clerical sexual abuse, Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, back in his former office, though the prelate will continue heading the Church in Malta. The decision to…
Seven Coptic Christians were killed and 12 more injured in Egypt when a bus traveling to a desert monastery south of Cairo was ambushed by Islamic militants. The bus was traveling to St Samuel the Confessor monastery on November 2, when a number of attackers approached the vehicle from nearby dirt roads and opened fire.…
France’s Catholic bishops have published a report on measures to combat sexual abuse by clergy, listing data on criminal charges and efforts by a new anti-abuse commission. “The journey to zero tolerance has begun in a firm and visible way,” Bishop Luc Crepy of Le Puy-en-Velay, head of the French Church’s permanent commission for fighting…
The High Court in India’s Jharkhand state has rejected the latest bail plea of a Missionaries of Charity nun accused of selling babies from a congregation-run home for unwed mothers. Sr Concilia was arrested on July 4 at Nirmal Hriday, the home she managed for unmarried mothers in the state capital Ranchi. She was initially remanded in…
The International Astronomical Union has voted in favor of a recommendation to rename the Hubble law the Hubble-Lemaître law, to acknowledge the contributions of the Belgian priest and astronomer Georges Lemaître to the scientific theory of the expansion of the universe. “To honour the intellectual integrity and the supremely significant discovery by Georges Lemaître, the…
Poland’s bishops marked their country’s centenary of independence by warning freedom could be lost again if Poles abandon their Catholic Faith. In a pastoral letter for the November 11 centenary, the bishops said love of homeland was a divine command and was expressed through “daily civic honesty, readiness to serve and dedication to the common…
All Souls day is time to remember and hope – Pope The Mass for the feast of All Souls is “realistic, concrete” in calling Catholics to remember the people and events of their past, to consider how they live today and to hope for eternal life with God and their loved ones who preceded them, Pope Francis said. Celebrating an outdoor Mass on November 2,…
Courtney Grogan Pope Francis spoke of the need for creative entrepreneurship in the face of “scandalous poverty” today, stressing the importance of generosity with one’s possessions. “If there is hunger on earth, it is not because food is missing!” the Pontiff said in St Peter’s Square. “What is lacking is a free and far-sighted…