A bishop from Lebanon shared at the Synod of Bishops how his online catechesis program in Arabic has helped him unite young Catholics across the Middle East. “Thanks to the web I am able to connect many young people from the Middle East. We’ve also had conversions of young people who have recognised Jesus through…
Category: World Report
Abortion movie is changing minds
A well-known social media influencer has become pro-life after watching a movie which details the gruesome reality of late-term abortions. Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer, which was released this month, is an American drama film about Kermit Gosnell, an abortion doctor who killed at least seven infants born alive during abortion procedures. Speaking about the…
Pope Francis: Marriage prep should be more than a few parish meetings
In his general audience today, Pope Francis said that engaged couples require “careful preparation” for the lifelong fidelity that marriage requires. “One cannot say marriage preparation is three or four conferences given in the parish. This is not preparation,” Pope Francis said in St. Peter’s Square today, in a departure from his prepared remarks. “The…
Shun money, wealth and power and follow saints’ examples – Pope
Carrying Pope Paul VI’s pastoral staff and wearing the blood-stained belt of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, Pope Francis formally recognised them, and five others, as saints of the Catholic Church. Thousands of pilgrims from the new saints’ home countries – Italy, El Salvador, Spain and Germany – were joined by tens of thousands…
Lebanon pay rise law endangers Catholic schools
The future of Lebanon’s long-standing tradition of Catholic education is at risk because of a controversial law governing teacher salaries. Salary increases for teachers in the private school sector are mandated in a law that took effect in August last year. As a new school year unfolds, school administrators are struggling with how to pay…
Young people call for fathers not pharisees at youth synod
The Catholic Church must be a place of justice and mercy, and its members must be catalysts for change, some young observers have said at the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican. “In order to teach justice and mercy to our young people, the Church must first be a place of justice and mercy for…
Boston cardinal expands sex abuse investigation
The Archdiocese of Boston announced last week that it is expanding its sex abuse investigation to include all three of its seminaries. The investigation will now include Pope St John XXIII National Seminary and Redemptoris Mater Seminary, along with St John’s Seminary, which has been under investigation since August after two of its seminarians filed…
Pope Francis accepts resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl
Hannah Brockhaus Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Washington’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl today, while asking the cardinal to continue leading the Archdiocese of Washington on an interim basis until a permanent successor is appointed. In a letter to Wuerl obtained by CNA today, Pope Francis told the cardinal: “Your renunciation is a sign of…
Cardinal rebukes former Nuncio over attack on Pope
Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington had been told by Vatican officials to withdraw from public life because of rumours about his sexual misconduct, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops has revealed. However, because they were only rumours and not proof, then-Pope Benedict XVI never imposed formal sanctions on the retired Washington…
Synod of bishops: Let young people describe their reality
The world’s youngest cardinal, 51-year-old Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga of Bangui, Central African Republic, insists the key question before the Synod of Bishops is: “What is God trying to tell us through young people?” Finding better ways to pass the Faith on to younger generations is one part of the task, the cardinal told reporters on…



Chai Brady





