Two days after a naked man stood on the high altar of St Peter’s Basilica in a shocking security breach, the basilica’s archpriest on Saturday held a penitential rite as required by canon law in cases where sacred places are desecrated. Vatican News reported that the unidentified man was a Polish national who approached the…
The Vatican is looking into the transfer of $17 million (€15.8 million) from the US arm of a Church mission to an investment fund, according to the Associated Press. AP reported May 31 that Pope Francis has asked aides to “get to the bottom of how” the money was transferred. The transfers date mostly to…
The Archdiocese of Piura in northern Peru donated thousands of doses of medication May 30 to the government’s Regional Health Directorate (DIRESA) to combat the epidemic of dengue fever that has affected almost all regions of the country, especially Lambayeque and Piura. Dengue is a virus that is transmitted to humans through mosquitoes and can…
Pope Francis June 1 accepted the resignation of an Indian bishop cleared in early 2022 of charges of raping a religious sister in his diocese. The resignation of the 59-year-old Bishop Franco Mulakkal as head of the Diocese of Jalandhar comes more than 16 months after his acquittal by a court in India’s Kerala state…
Fulgence Kayishema, a former Rwandan police officer who is suspected of having ordered the killing of at least 2,000 Tutsis who were seeking refuge at St Paul’s Nyange Catholic Parish in the current Nyundo Diocese during the 1994 genocide, has been arrested in South Africa. Reuters reported May 25 that Kayishema, one of the top suspects…
Benedict XVI’s private secretary to return to home diocese According to a German newspaper report, Pope Francis ordered Archbishop Georg Gänswein to leave the Vatican and return to Germany by the end of June. The longtime private secretary of Pope Benedict XVI has been told to return to his home diocese of Freiburg in southwest…
Pope has named two-thirds of cardinals eligible to elect his successor Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the retired archbishop of Naples, celebrated his 80th birthday on June 2 and, consequently, became ineligible to enter a conclave to elect a new pope. The cardinal’s aging out left the College of Cardinals with 121 clerics under the age of…
The archbishop of Grouard-McLennan in Northern Alberta, Canada, says he is saddened but “not overcome” by the loss of a 121-year-old church to arson on May 22. A second church in Alberta, St Mary’s Cathedral, was also the victim of alleged attempted arson three days earlier, as local police seek assistance in identifying a man…
The Mexican Bishops’ Conference (CEM) expressed “consternation and pain” over the May 22 murder of Augustinian Fr Javier García Villafaña and demanded “an exhaustive and transparent investigation”. “We strongly condemn this act of violence that has not only taken a life but also threatens peace and justice in our nation,” the Mexican bishops said. “It’s…
Pope Francis has asked Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna to lead a mission “to help ease tensions in the conflict in Ukraine,” the Vatican press office said. The appointment of the cardinal, who is president of the Italian bishops’ conference and a long-time member of the Sant’Egidio Community, was confirmed May 20 by Matteo…