Christians in the US have taken the Trump administration to task for a dramatic drop in the numbers of persecuted Christian and other refugees being admitted into the country, even though administration officials promised last year to help. While administration officials vowed on several occasions to help Christians in the Middle East facing what Vice…
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston struck a determinedly hopeful tone after his long-awaited meeting with Pope Francis to discuss the growing sexual abuse crisis in the US. “I myself am filled with hope,” he said, “but I also realise all these things might take purpose and time.” The cardinal spoke following a noon meeting last…
Three Baltic countries prepare for papal visit Pope Francis will travel to the eastern periphery of Europe to honour a Faith that withstood a Nazi invasion and five decades of communist dictatorship and now is striving to help people live in freedom as authentic Disciples of Christ. The Pope’s visit from September 22-25 to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia comes in the…
The Church needs bishops who promote unity, “not soloists singing their own tune or captains fighting personal battles”, Pope Francis told new bishops from the Church’s mission territories. “And, dear brothers, flee from clericalism, an anomalous way of understanding the Church’s authority, one common in many communities where sexual abuse and the abuse of power…
The Vatican is set to respond to claims made by the former papal nuncio to the US which include allegations that Pope Francis covered up abuse. A statement was released by the Council of Cardinals this week which stated they were “aware that in the current debate” of recent weeks the Holy See is about…
The New York State Office of the Attorney General is the latest to announce that it is launching an investigation of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic Church clergy, and at least two of the state’s eight dioceses confirmed receiving subpoenas seeking access to its records. In a September 6 press release, the agency said…
Millions of devotees joined this year’s observance in the Philippines of the devotion to the Our Lady of Penafrancia. The wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, supposedly a copy of the original image in Spain, has been venerated in Naga City, in the Philippines’ Bicol region since the 1700s. A Spanish priest supposedly ordered a local…
The 1983 Code of Canon Law did not anticipate crimes being committed by bishops that could result in their laicisation, according to a canon law professor at The Catholic University of America. Fr Robert Kaslyn SJ, who has taught courses in laicisation, said the Second Vatican Council has also made it more complicated to remove…
Collaborate with teachers, Pope tells parents Without respectfully collaborating with teachers and schools, parents will risk being on their own when it comes to educating their children and be at a greater disadvantage facing the challenges emerging from today’s culture, mass media and technology, Pope Francis has said. Speaking to hundreds of parents, the Pope told them that “teachers are…
Pope Francis has said the answer to division and scandal should be silence and prayer, and asked the Lord for the grace to discern when it is better to speak or to remain quiet. “With people who do not have good will, with people who seek only scandal, who seek only division, who seek only…