Organised criminals face excommunication A consultation group for the Vatican will consider using excommunication as a weapon against organised crime and corruption. The Mafia and other criminal organisations could be thrown out of the Church if proposals published last week by the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development are followed. The group proposes the…
Bishops in Kenya have urged citizens to vote peacefully as an election on August 8 looms – while a drought ravages the nation. Historically elections in Kenya have been extremely violent, with over 1,000 people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in 2007 and 2008. The Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop…
The martyrdom of a French priest who was killed by Islamist extremists has brought the Muslim and Christian communities closer together, according to Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen. On the anniversary of the terror attack last week the archbishop said the event “transformed” him. Fr Jacques Hamel was killed at the age of 85 when…
Chinese authorities have ordered journalists not to describe an outspoken retired cardinal as the ‘emeritus’ bishop of Hong Kong, but to use ‘former’ instead. Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun was outspoken in his disdain for the ruling Communist Party, and raised issues regarding political freedom, human rights and religious persecution. He expressed a willingness to get…
Human trafficking is “brutal, savage and criminal,” Pope Francis said, but often it seems like people see it as a sad, but normal fact of life. “I want to call everyone to make a commitment to seeing that this perverse plague, a modern form of slavery, is effectively countered,” the Pope said on July 30,…
Meeting migrants makes you realise they are human beings, and they “have suffered much” according to the Director of Caritas Internationalis. Michael Roy says that listening to the stories of migrants and refugees should help people transcend prejudice. “You may be afraid of migrants as a large group of people coming in, but when you…
New US ambassador to the Holy See US President Donald Trump has nominated Callista Gingrich to be his ambassador to the Holy See. She will face several challenges representing the US in the Vatican, particularly following Trump’s decision to abandon the Paris climate agreement, while Pope Francis has made clear that care for the environment…
Pope Francis and the Vatican have “tried very hard” to find a solution that’s “peaceful and democratic” in Venezuela. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, told Italian media the Vatican wanted to “help all without destruction”. On Sunday a referendum was held to elect a body to re-write Venezuela’s constitution, a matter which has…
Prolonged drought in the city of Rome has caused Vatican officials to begin turning off 100 fountains as a heatwave hits Italy – this includes two baroque fountains in St Peter’s Square. Vatican spokesperson Greg Burke said that turning off the fountains was, “the Vatican’s way of living in solidarity with Rome, trying to help…
Following the decision of Charlie Gard’s parents to end the legal battle for their critically-ill child to be flown to the US, Catholic Bishops in the UK expressed their sympathy. For almost half a year the baby’s parents fought to have him transferred to the US to undergo specialist treatment. They decided not to continue,…