Pope Francis has asked the president of the German bishops’ conference to come to Rome to discuss pastoral guidelines for possibly allowing some non-Catholics married to Catholics to receive the Eucharist, the conference spokesman said. Reports that “the document was rejected in the Vatican by the Holy Father or by the dicasteries are false”, said…
Ecuadorian bishops have expressed their “deep concern” and “sorrow” at the killing of two journalists and their driver who were kidnapped after crossing their country’s border into Colombia. A statement from the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference has called for an end to violence and injustice by armed political and social groups following the “violent murder” of the team of…
Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai appealed to world leaders to stop the war in Syria and to work for comprehensive peace through diplomatic means. “As the great powers are beating the drums of a new war against Syria, we regret the absence of a language of peace from the mouths of senior officials in our world…
Citing “alarming concerns” related to an ongoing investigation, Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto has joined bishops from other dioceses across Canada in withholding funds from the overseas development agency of the Canadian bishops’ conference. At least eight dioceses have suspended financial support to Development and Peace following preliminary results of a probe that found some…
The father of a 23-month old boy who has been at the centre of a life support battle privately met with the Pope today, pleading for “asylum” in Italy so that his ill son may receive alternative medical care, rather than be euthanised. Tom Evans and his partner, Kate James, are battling with Alder Hey…
Making the sign of the cross is to mark ourselves as Christians, and it is something we should do often to remind ourselves that we belong to God, Pope Francis said today. “The cross is the badge that shows who we are: our speaking, thinking, looking, working [we are] under the sign of the cross,…
Pope Francis has apologised for underestimating the seriousness of the sexual abuse crisis in Chile following a recent investigation into allegations concerning Osorno’s Bishop Juan Barros. In a letter to the country’s bishops, the Pope said he made “serious mistakes in the assessment and perception of the situation, especially due to a lack of truthful…
The Mexican bishops’ conference criticised US President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border and issued a strong defence of migrants, saying the Catholic Church could not stand by “in the face of suffering by our brother migrants as they seek better conditions”. The letter, addressed to people in Mexico,…
Grieving people gathered at a hockey arena in Canada for an interfaith service to mourn 15 people who died after the bus carrying the town’s junior hockey team collided with a truck. “I don’t want to be here, but it’s good that we are,” said the Rev. Sean Brandow, the Humboldt Broncos team chaplain and…
After months of investigation, Vatican police have arrested a former staff member at the Vatican nunciature in Washington on charges related to the possession and distribution of images of child abuse. The Vatican said that Msgr Carlo Alberto Capella was taken into custody by the Vatican gendarmes at the request of Vatican City State’s promoter…