Elise Harris The Vatican’s former top advisor on canon law has made a public call to insert legal obligations for the care of creation into the Church’s universal canon law – making it a legal duty for Catholics not only “not to harm” the environment, but to improve it. According to veteran Vatican watcher…
Pope Francis has named an Italian journalist with decades of experience in print, radio and television broadcasting to head the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communication, the first time a lay person has headed a Vatican department. Paolo Ruffini (61), who was in charge of the Italian conference of Catholic bishops’ TV and radio network, was named…
An English bishop warned Catholics to be alert to the possible deliberate killings of seriously ill patients in state-funded hospitals. Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth issued a pastoral message to clergy and laity after the publication of a report, which concluded that 650 people died in a hospital within his diocese after they were given…
The Vatican has released a document that establishes norms and principles for women who dedicate their lives as consecrated virgins, outlining their place in the life of the Church. Presenting the new document at the Vatican press office, Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of…
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran (75), an experienced diplomat, died in the US where he was receiving medical treatment. The French head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue had been living with Parkinson’s disease, and led a Vatican delegation to Saudi Arabia in April. He died in Hartford, Connecticut. It was his role as ‘proto-deacon’ or…
Hearts that are closed to welcoming migrants and refugees are similar to those of the Pharisees, who often would preach sacrifice and following God’s law without exercising mercy to those in need, Pope Francis said. Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees’ “insidious murmuring” is “a finger pointed at the sterile hypocrisy of those who do not…
The Archbishop of Adelaide was sentenced to a 12-month sentence on Tuesday after being convicted in May of failing to report allegations of child sexual abuse disclosed to him in the 1970s. Archbishop Philip Wilson is likely to serve his sentence under house arrest, and be fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet, according to media…
Religious liberty advocates were pleased with the US Supreme Court’s order to send Arlene’s Flowers vs State of Washington and Arlene’s Flowers vs Ingersoll back to the lower court for review. Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington, declined a customer’s request to make custom floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding. She…
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte should talk with the country’s religious leaders in person and not use representatives, according to a senior Church official. Fr Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the public affairs committee of the Catholic bishops’ conference, said “actual dialogue” with the president would be better. Early this week, Duterte named a four-man team to…
The pastoral centre of the Diocese of Matagalpa in central Nicaragua, whose bishop was in Rome to inform the Pope of the situation in his country, has been attacked by men armed with machetes. The attack occurred last week after two months of protests against Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega which have resulted in violence and…