Catholic World News
Stories for May 2013
Released Thursday, May. 2
The typical member of the priestly ordination class of 2013 is a 32-year-old cradle Catholic who has three or more siblings and prayed the Rosary regularly before entering seminary, according to a...
In its newly released annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent federal agency, is urging the State Department to designate or...
Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, paid tribute to Pope St. Pius V (1566-72) on the saint’s feast day. St. Pius V sought “most of all...
Rhode Island has become the tenth state to alter the definition of marriage to allow members of the same sex to wed. In a statement issued on the eve of the state senate vote legalizing same-sex...
The travel section of The New York Times recently offered practical advice on how to obtain tickets for a papal general...
Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI returned to the Vatican on May 2, to take up residence in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery building. The former Pope, who has been staying at Castel Gandolfo since his...
A new undercover investigation by Live Action has produced a videotape in which an Arizona abortionist says that she would not attempt to save the life of a baby who survived a late-term...
US armed forces personnel could face penalties for attempting to convert others to Christianity, the defense department has announced. "Religious proselytization is not permitted within the...
Organizers of the World Youth Day (WYD) have arranged for relics of Blessed John Paul II to be on display during the celebration in Rio de Janeiro in July. A vial of blood from the late Pontiff...
In his homily at a Mass on May 2, Pope Francis said that a Church that “says Yes” is naturally more appealing than a Church that “says No.” Reflecting on the Acts of the Apostles, and the debate...
Supporters of a lesbian schoolteacher who was dismissed from her post at an Ohio Catholic school have threatened to organize a boycott of an annual appeal from the Diocese of Columbus. Backers of...
In a message of condolence on the death of Shanghai’s Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, the secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Evangelization has encouraged reconciliation and unity among China’s...
The Obama administration has announced plans to appeal a decision by a federal judge who ruled that the “morning-after” pill should be available for sale to all women regardless of age. The...
The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue has released an annual message to the world’s Buddhists, emphasizing that Christians and Buddhists “have in common especially a shared profound...
Government officials in Russia have carried out a rigorous “inspection” of religious groups, to ensure that they comply with official guidelines. The government inspections, which focus...
In a belated response to a public uproar, the president of Carnegie-Mellon University has acknowledged that an obscene mockery of the Pope was “highly offensive.” President Jared Cohon said that...
Released Friday, May. 3
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore was illuminated overnight on May 2 in honor of the Maryland’s repeal of the death penalty. “This is a...
Barisan Nasional, the political coalition that has governed Malaysia since its independence, has launched a billboard campaign with pictures of Christian churches. The billboards ask the majority...
Addressing the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels, Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja said that Nigeria was threatened by the “twin monsters of corruption and...
A spokesman for the United Jihad Council, a militant Islamist organization, said that Christian missionaries must leave the northern Indian region of Kashmir or “suffer the consequences.” 97% of...
A spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities has issued a statement lamenting the approval of over-the-counter sales of the morning-after...
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has asked Catholics to pray, fast, and abstain from meat on May 3 “for the justices of the US Supreme Court, that they would respect the...
“Benedict XVI is very happy to return to the Vatican,” the Vatican press office announced in a May 3 press release after the emeritus Pope moved into his new residence at the Mater Ecclesiae...
Father Michael Fugee, whose continued contact with young children had provoked a storm of criticism for the Newark archdiocese, has resigned from priestly ministry. Father Fugee, who had once...
Ireland’s Catholic bishops have taken a strong stand in opposition to a bill that would legalize abortion in cases when the health of the mother was deemed at risk. The legislation, ironically...
Vatican police officers conducted a riot-control drill on May 2, practicing to control unruly demonstrations. Members of the Vatican gendarmerie, in full riot gear, were trained by instructors...
The Vatican has cleared the way for the beatification of two people, and advanced two other candidates closer to beatification. Two decrees issued by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints,...
Pope Francis met on May 3 with President Michel Sleiman of Lebanon, for talks that centered on the violence in Syria, the impact of that conflict on Lebanon, and the plight of Christians in the...
An influential Catholic theologian has said that the president of the German bishops’ conference risks confusing the faithful by suggesting the ordination of women as deacons. Father Manfred...
The president of St. John's University in New York is stepping down after being accused of financial improprieties. Father Donald Harrington announced on May 3 that he would leave the presidency...
Released Monday, May. 6
One person was killed and dozens were injured when a bomb exploded at the dedication of a parish in Olasiti, a town of 12,000 in northern Tanzania. Archbishop Francisco Padilla, the apostolic...
The chairman of the media committee of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land lamented a recent Israeli court decision that affirmed the government’s seizure of most of the land owned...
At the Day of Confraternities and Popular Piety, held as part of the Vatican’s celebration of the Year of Faith, the image of the Madonna of Quintiliolo was given pride of place. Vatican Radio...
Francisca de Paula de Jesus (1808-95), also known as Nhá Chica, was beatified on May 4 in Baependi, a town of 18,000 in southeastern Brazil. Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for...
Pope Francis named Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow as his special envoy to the six hundredth anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral basilica in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-largest city....
A Scottish cardinal who resigned after being accused of sexual improprieties has reportedly been asked by the Vatican to leave the country. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who was charged with improper...
The prefect of the Congregation for Religious has complained that his office was not notified about Vatican plans to require reforms in the American Leadership Conference of Women Religious...
Popular piety is “a treasure possessed by the Church,” Pope Francis said as he presided at a Mass for Catholic confraternities gathered in Rome for their annual pilgrimage. Despite steady rain in...
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has said that he hopes to see continued improvements in relations between Moscow and the Vatican under Pope Francis, ‘and we have no indication that the incumbent...
Pope Francis spoke of the need to protect children from abuse during his midday audience on Sunday, May 5. Noting that Italy was observing is National Day of Children Victims of Violence, the...
Pope Francis met on May 6 with Ueli Maurer, the president of the Swiss Confederation, who was at the Vatican to witness the swearing-in of new members of the Swiss Guard. A brief Vatican...
Pope Francis formally “took possession” of the Roman basilica of St. Mary Major on Saturday, May 4. While there, the Holy Father prayed the Rosary and spoke about the role of the Virgin Mary in the...
Speaking to 35 new members of the Swiss Guards, Pope Francis encouraged them to live “the time you spend in the 'Eternal City' in a spirit of genuine brotherhood, helping one another to live a good...
Released Tuesday, May. 7
In a courageous letter to the new president of the Central African Republic, the nation’s leading prelate denounced the crimes of the president’s movement and demanded the restitution of stolen...
Sister Mary Lou Wirtz, the president of the International Union of Superiors General, has defended the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in the face of the Congregation for the...
Easter, which was celebrated on May 5 on the Julian calendar, was a time of continued weeping for Syria’s Christians, according to the Chaldean Catholic bishop of Aleppo, the nation’s largest city....
An estimated 200,000 supporters of a Bangladeshi Islamist group marched on Dhaka, the nation’s capital, on May 5, demanding the increasing Islamization of society, including the death penalty for...
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco decried same-sex marriage as a “serious injustice” after Rhode Island became the tenth state to legalize the practice. “The meaning of marriage...
Commenting on the trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia told Vatican Radio that “after a while we begin to disrespect human life in ways that are just...
Responding quickly to clear indications of discord between two leaders of the Roman Curia, the Vatican has released a statement flatly denying that any tension exists. The May 7 statement from...
Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester entered a not-guilty plea on May 7 to charges of drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Bishop McManus was arrested in Rhode Island on Saturday...
Pope Francis has signaled his desire to curb speculation about the future of the Vatican bank, according to an analysis in the Italian journal L’Espresso. Last week Archbishop Giovanni Becciu,...
Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Enda Kenny has indicated that he will not be swayed by the Catholic Church’s opposition to legislation that would allow for legal abortion. "As I explained to the...
The Vatican has released the schedule for a July trip by Pope Francis to Rio de Janeiro to participate in World Youth Day (WYD) observances. Contrary to the expectations of many...
The priest who has been serving as president of the most influential treatment center for troubled clerics has resigned, and has been suspended from public ministry, following charges of sexual and...
Although the infamous abortionist Kermit Gosnell has been charged with deliberately killing infants who survived his late-term abortions, he will not face a jail term from that offense, because the...
Pope Francis has sent a message of condolence to the widow of Guilio Andreotti, the former Italian prime minister and friend of several Popes, who died on May 6 at the age of 94. Andreotti, who...
An Australian police detective who has charged that a “Catholic mafia” conspired to cover up evidence of sexual abuse by Catholic priests has now reported that his office was ransacked. Inspector...
“A Christian who constantly complains fails to be a good Christian,” Pope Francis told the congregation at his daily Mass on May 7. “They become Mr. or Mrs. Whiner, no?” Reflecting on the jailing...
Released Wednesday, May. 8
The Financial Intelligence Authority of the Holy See and Vatican City State has signed an agreement with the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to share information to...
A Guatemalan bishop criticized the nation’s government after it suspended constitutional rights in four towns following violent protests against a Canadian-owned silver mine. Residents fear that the...
Isabel Allende, a leading Latin American novelist, has praised the efforts of the Church in Chile on behalf of human rights following the 1973 overthrow of President Salvador Allende, her father’s...
Five years after an anti-Christian pogrom in the eastern Indian state of Orissa left 100 dead and over 50,000 homeless, justice has been denied to victims because of police inaction and the...
The apostolic nuncio to Tanzania has offered his eyewitness account of the May 5 bomb attack at the dedication of a parish in Olasiti, a town of 12,000 in northern Tanzania. “The Archbishop of...
Consecrated religious must maintain a spirit of deep loyalty to the Church, Pope Francis told a group of religious superiors on May 8. Speaking to the International Union of Superiors General...
Pope Francis has sent a message of sympathy to the victims of an explosion that killed 21 people and left many injured in Ecatepec, Mexico. In a telegram to Bishop Oscar Roberto Dominguez...
Church leaders in Syria have not been able to establish the whereabouts of two Orthodox bishops who were kidnapped on April 22, or to understand the motive for the abductions. “We are groping in...
The Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, has announced the resignation of a pastor who allowed a troubled priest of the neighboring Newark archdiocese to engage in youth ministry. Father Michael...
Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan denounced “blasphemy laws” at a conference celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan, which gave religious freedom to Christians. Real religious...
At his regular weekly public audience on May 8, Pope Francis continued his series of talks on the Creed, focusing on the line: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.” The...
Pope Francis drew a sharp distinction between evangelization and proselytism in his homily at a weekday Mass on May 8. The Church told the congregation at the Domus Sanctae Marthae that the...
A Catholic priest was murdered in Barranquilla, Colombia, on May 6: the 4th priest to be killed in that country already this year and the 19th since 2009. The body of Father José Antonio Bayona...
Released Friday, May. 10
The clerical abuse scandal cost American dioceses $112,966,427 in 2012, according to a report released on May 9 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Only 56% of those...
Following a 23-18 vote in the state house and a 12-9 vote in the state senate, Delaware has become the eleventh state to alter the definition of marriage to allow members of the same sex to wed....
On May 12, the Church will commemorate the 47th World Communications Day. As has been customary since 1986, the papal message for the day (“Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces...
Pope Francis does not distribute Communion when he celebrates Mass in public. Now Sandro Magister of L’Espresso explains this new papal policy. In 2010, then-Cardinal Bergoglio remarked that some...
Just days after the Vatican press office issued a statement criticizing the accuracy of “media commentary” on his public remarks, the prefect of the Congregation for Religious has said that he was...
A spokesman for the German Catholic bishops has said that there are no disputes within the country’s hierarchy on proposals for allowing women to be deacons. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, the...
A German cardinal has reportedly said that he was shocked by the sharp decline in the health of Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI. Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne visited Benedict at Castel Gandolfo...
A former Australian police detective has reported that Church officials warned suspected priests that they were the focus of criminal probes for sexual abuse, thereby undermining his...
The Archdiocese of Newark, has retained a prominent criminal-defense lawyer, as New Jersey prosecutors continue to raise questions about the activity of a priest who was engaged in youth...
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, has denounced the Mexican cult of Santa Muerte as “a blasphemy against religion.” Santa Muerte (“Saint Death”),...
Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves of San Juan, Puerto Rico, has declined to discuss reports that the Vatican has sought his resignation, after the public release of a letter in which he defended...
For the embattled Christians of Egypt, “the sharing of daily suffering can become an effective instrument of unity,” Pope Francis said on May 10, as he met with Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros...
Although he is no longer authorized to act as an official representative of the Los Angeles archdiocese, Cardinal Roger Mahony has heightened his public profile, and continues to preside regularly...
Two Catholic priests who were turned away from the scene of the Boston Marathon bombing have said that they understand the reasons why police refused to allow them access to wounded bombing...
Responding to protests by a lay Catholic activist group in Massachusetts, Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley has denounced plans by Boston College to award an honorary degree to Irish prime minister...
After an official review of a blasphemous anti-Catholic display on campus, officials at Carnegie Mellon University have filed criminal charges against two students. Jared Cohon, the president of...
Released Monday, May. 13
In a statement released May 9, the bishops of Lithuania urged the government not to sign a European treaty, the convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic...
An Italian priest who devoted his life to the pastoral care of the sick and disabled was beatified in Rome on May 11, the day before Pope Francis canonized the martyrs of Otranto, St. Laura Montoya,...
The presidency of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe issued a brief statement on Europe Day, which commemorates the Schuman Declaration (1950) that gave birth to the European...
The official dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion—the Anglican – Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC)—has concluded the third meeting of its third phase. The...
The chairmen of two committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have joined the leaders of Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services, and the National Catholic...
Pope Francis presided on May 13 at the canonization of 800 people who died for the faith in Otranto, Italy, in 1480. The "martyrs of Otranto"-- whose names are not known-- were beheaded by the...
A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced two Christians-- one Saudi, one Lebanese-- to be flogged and imprisoned for converting a Muslim to Christianity and helping a young woman escape the...
A prominent priest of the Legion of Christ who revealed last year that he had fathered a child is now seeking dispensation from the priesthood, saying that he wants to care for his child. Father...
Pope Francis gave his strong support to a March for Life in Rome on May 12, and also to a campaign for an end to destructive research on human embryos. At his midday audience on Sunday the Pope...
Pope Francis called for continued negotiations to bring about reconciliation after Colombia’s long struggle with rebel factions, as he met on May 13 with the country’s leader, President Juan Manuel...
The world’s Catholic population rose by 1.5% in 2011—the last year for which accurate figures are available—according to the Vatican’s latest statistics. On May 13, Pope Francis received the...
Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s public statement denouncing Boston College for honoring Irish prime minister Enda Kenny was a violation of an informal agreement with the Irish government leader and the...
A Pennsylvania jury has convicted abortionist Kermit Gosnell on three counts of 1st-degree murder. Gosnell, who had performed late-term abortions under appalling unsanitary conditions in a...
Correcting a report that appeared in some Catholic news outlets (including CWN) last month, a spokesman for the Catholic bishops of Great Britain has said that Church leaders did not tell lawmakers...
Released Tuesday, May. 14
Cardinal Peter Turkson, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, told Vatican Radio that the council’s controversial 2011 document, “Towards Reforming the International...
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has announced that the second annual Fortnight for Freedom on behalf of religious liberty will take place from June 21 to July 4. “The...
The prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples told 150 national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies that “it is necessary to review the methods of evangelization, to...
Islamists who recently marched on the nation’s capital wish to “topple the government” and “trigger chaos by means of violence,” the nation’s leading prelate told Aid to the Church in...
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Government Relations has announced its position on 15 proposed amendments to the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration...
The Vatican bank will make its balance sheets public this year. Ernst von Freyberg, the new president of the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), told reporters on May 14 that the bank would...
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna told an English audience that special "signs" from the Holy Spirit guided the cardinal-electors to choose Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in the March 2013...
During a visit to China, Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has been urging government officials to approve the Russian Orthodox Church as a “recognized religion.” The Beijing government...
Pope Francis spoke of “poverty as an ideology,” and contrasted that ideology with genuine Christian charity, during his homily at daily Mass on May 14. The Holy Father cited the Gospel account of...
At the request of Pope Francis, Cardinal José da Cruz Policarpo of Lisbon dedicated this pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima, in a ceremony on May 13—the feast of Our Lady of Fatima—at the Marian...
A lesbian teacher who lost her job at a Catholic school in Ohio after revealing her lesbian partnership will not be receiving support from the local teachers' union. Carla Hall, who is seeking...
US embassies abroad are preparing to celebrate Gay Pride Month in June, even in countries where homosexual behavior is outlawed. Author Robert Reilly notes that in many countries, the American...
Drunk-driving charges against Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester, Massachusetts, will be dismissed, after the bishop pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, his lawyer has said. Bishop McManus agreed...
The Vatican will host a pavilion at an art festival in Venice this year, with a display on the Genesis account of Creation. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the president of the Pontifical Council for...
Released Wednesday, May. 15
The head of a Vatican dicastery said at a May 14 press conference that his pontifical council “holds contemporary art at the heart of its interests.” The Holy See is joining six dozen other...
As part of the Year of Faith, the Vatican is hosting a “Day Celebrating the Evangelium Vitae [Gospel of life]” on June 15 and 16. The day’s events, which include a pilgrimage to the tomb of St....
Amid increasing violence, including the brutal murders of suspected sorcerers, Papua New Guinea is considering restoring the use of the death penalty, which is legal but has not been used since...
In a message to Buddhists on the occasion of the 2,557th anniversary of Buddha’s birth, South Korea’s leading prelate paid tribute to Buddhism’s “spirituality of love and sharing.” “Our society...
Halki seminary, opened by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1844 and closed by the Turkish government in 1971, remains closed despite calls by President Barack Obama, former Secretary...
The Vatican has confirmed that Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned in February from his post as Archbishop of Edinburgh, Scotland, will leave that country “for several months for the purpose of...
The Vatican has confirmed that the Vatican Bank, the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), will begin making a public disclosure of its accounts. By the end of this year, the Vatican said, the IOR...
Charges of sexual abuse by Catholic priests sat on the desk of a top-ranking Australian police official for months, a government investigating panel has been told. A regional police director said...
The Vatican is organizing a prayer vigil on Saturday evening, May 18, for members of ecclesial movements, in preparation for Pentecost. The vigil will end with the Pentecost Sunday Mass celebrated...
Pope Francis remarked on May 15 that he hopes to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria, on the island of Sardinia, in September. As he greeted some of the groups present for his regular weekly...
Israel’s deputy foreign minister has issued an apology to the Coptic Orthodox Church after a Coptic priest was beaten by police during Holy Saturday observances at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre...
The truth “isn’t a possession,” Pope Francis told his weekly public audience on May 15. “It is an encounter with a Person.” “We are living in an age when we are rather skeptical regarding truth,”...
A federal judge in Missouri has ruled that the Diocese of Kansas City (Missouri) and Bishop Robert Finn cannot be held liable in a civil lawsuit against a priest who had lewd photos of the...
Released Thursday, May. 16
Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Commission of the Holy See for Religious Relations with the Jews, has fielded questions on important issues in Jewish-Catholic relations, including the relation...
Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University have succeeded in cloning human embryos in order to obtain their stem cells, according to press reports. The researchers removed nuclei from...
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, in conjunction with the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe (CCEE), is commemorating the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan by hosting...
Following votes of 75-39 in the state house and 37-30 in the state senate, Gov. Mark Dayton of Minnesota has signed legislation altering the definition of marriage to include same-sex...
The chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities has issued a statement on the conviction of Kermit Gosnell, who had performed late-term abortions...
“We have started down the path of a disposable culture,” Pope Francis said in a May 16 address to four new ambassadors to the Holy See. In his remarks to the new envoys, the Pope spoke about...
St. Paul exhibited a “healthy madness” that made him an effective evangelist, Pope Francis said in his homily at a Mass on May 16. "Paul is a nuisance,” the Pope told the congregation at the...
Brazil’s top legal body has ruled that marriage licenses cannot be denied to same-sex couples. The ruling by the National Council of Justice makes Brazil the 3rd nation in Latin America to allow...
The Vatican’s representative at UN headquarters in New York has underlined “the grave concern with which the Holy See has been following the unceasing spiral of violence by which Syria has been...
A former accountant for the Archdiocese of St. Paul, Minnesota, has pleaded guilty to charges of embezzling $670,000 in archdiocesan funds. Scott Joseph Domeier, who worked for the archdiocese...
The Diocese of Kansas City, Missouri, has agreed to pay $600,000 to settle a lawsuit stemming from child-pornography charges against a priest of the diocese. The family of a young girl whose...
As the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople visits Milan to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan, Pope Francis has sent a message of greeting, hailing “the historic...
Released Friday, May. 17
Amid escalating violence committed by the Islamist terrorist organization Boko Haram, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has declared a state of emergency in three states. Shortly after the...
A Syrian Catholic prelate has told the Fides news agency that “tolls” levied by rebels have increased the price of food “almost tenfold” in some areas of the country. “The militias of the Free...
Addressing a UN meeting on human trafficking, a leading Vatican diplomat called upon the international community to take “concrete actions on the ground” against human trafficking and to “address...
Archbishops Vincent Nichols of Westminster and Peter Smith of Southwark are urging members of the House of Commons not to alter the definition of marriage to include homosexual couples. “We urge...
Addressing a recent United Nations Security Council discussion of terrorism in Africa, the Holy See’s leading representative at the UN recalled the recent terrorist attack on a Catholic church in...
“The problem is not that we are sinners,” Pope Francis told the congregation at his morning Mass on May 17. “The problem is not repenting of sin, not being ashamed of what we have done.” In his...
Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has protested that a proposed change in Ireland’s ban on abortion could lead to the death of unborn children who are capable of independent survival outside the...
Italian police have arrested four suspected members of the internet hackers’ collaborative known as “Anonymous,” who are believed to be responsible for attacks on the internet sites of the Italian...
After New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan told a radio interviewer that he has talked directly with Governor Andrew Cuomo about the latter’s standing in the Church, a spokesman for the archdiocese...
Pope Francis met on May 17 with directors of the Pontifical Missionary Works (POM), and urged them to “keep evangelization, the paradigm of every act of the Church, alive.” The Pope said that POM...
The Manchester, New Hampshire diocese has agreed to pay $2,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a couple who charged that a priest had asked their son inappropriate questions during a sacramental...
About 40 Church officials participated in a May 16 conference at the Vatican on the challenges posed by new sects. The conference participants, drawn from different Vatican offices and pontifical...
The Vatican has released the public schedule of liturgical ceremonies at which Pope Francis will preside during the months of May, June, and July 2013. During the remaining days of May, the Pope...
An American missionary priest in Kenya who became embroiled in a legal dispute over the ownership of hospitals has been suspended from the priesthood. The Maryknoll Society suspended Father...
Catholic leaders in Indonesia are protesting the decision of an American foundation to honor the country’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for his contributions to inter-religious...
Released Monday, May. 20
The Vatican official who is helping oversee the revision of the chapter of the Code of Canon Law that deals with canonical penalties said in an interview that the current code was drafted during “a...
The Court of Appeals of the State of Kansas has ruled that civil courts cannot interfere in ecclesiastical annulment cases. A man filed suit against his ex-wife after he alleged she falsely...
The director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has praised the commitment of Pope Francis and the Church to ending hunger. “On a scale of 1 to 10, the Pope’s...
At a conference commemorating the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan, in which Emperor Constantine decreed the toleration of Christianity in the Roman Empire, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew...
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and three other Catholic organizations are asking Catholics to urge their senators “to support a Farm Bill that feeds hungry people, promotes...
“God always brings newness—and demands our complete trust,” Pope Francis said in his homily at a Pentecost Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square. More than 200,000 people attended the morning Mass,...
Questioned about the keys to successful evangelization, Pope Francis suggested that ecclesial movements should focus on three words: Jesus, prayer, and witness. The Holy Father took questions...
Egypt’s Christian minority suffered two more violent assaults during the past week, with bombings at Coptic Orthodox churches in two different towns. A mob of Muslim militants attacked the church...
Pope Francis met on May 18 with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for a discussion of European political, economic, and especially religious affairs. A brief Vatican statement released after the...
A Catholic church was bombed in Benghazi, Libya, on May 17. Exploding in the nave of the church shortly before midnight, the bomb shattered several windows in the church itself and the adjacent...
Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, Australia, has admitted that Church leaders in the past did not respond adequately to sex-abuse complaints. The archbishop told a formal inquiry that “the...
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano called for a “firm and constant commitment” to battling prejudice against homosexuals, as Italy observed “Anti-Homopobia Day” on May 17. His statement was echoed...
Father Adolfo Nicolas, the worldwide leader of the Jesuit order, has been named the president of the International Union of Superiors General (USIG), the umbrella group for representatives of men's...
Pope Francis recommended “courageous prayer” rather than “prayers of courtesy” in his homily at daily Mass on May 20. Commenting on the day’s Gospel, and the remark of Jesus that some demons can...
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai has criticized the political leaders of Lebanon in unusually blunt terms, and said that they should address their own nation’s problems rather than “interfere in the...
Pro-family activists in Croatia have collected well over 200,000 signatures on a petition calling for a referendum to amend the country’s constitution and define marriage as a union between a man...
The Community of St. John has acknowledged that its founder, Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, had improper relations with women under his spiritual direction. Established by Father Philippe in...
A team of American seminarians has won the Clericus Cup, the annual soccer competition among Rome’s seminaries. The “North American Martyrs” took the championship for the 2nd consecutive year...
An Italian man climbed out onto the dome of St. Peter’s basilica on Monday, May 20, in a dangerous political demonstration. Marcello Di Finizio unfurled a banner protesting new European Union...
The Vatican has introduced a ‘app’ for smartphones, providing a free news feed. The new app, called Missio, provides news headlines from Fides, the news service sponsored by the Congregation for...
Released Tuesday, May. 21
In recent weeks, Islamist rebels who assumed power in the Central African Republic in March have kidnapped the rector of the cathedral in the nation’s capital as well as the archdiocesan...
On May 15, Pope Francis sent a telegram to Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew traveled to the Italian city to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of...
Questioning “the motive and the reasoning” behind support for regime change in Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Libya, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church said that Islamic fundamentalist regimes are...
The forced closure of several convents in eastern Libya preceded the recent bombing a parish there, according to Bishop Giovanni Martinelli, the apostolic vicar of Tripoli. “In Cyrenaica [eastern...
The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has criticized “the deployment of the police flying squad and other elements of the security forces” and “the use of an air-force base by a...
The Vatican was forced to deny that Pope Francis had performed an impromptu exorcism on Sunday, after reporters misinterpreted the Pontiff’s blessing of a sick man in St. Peter’s Square. After...
About 50 people demonstrated outside the grounds of Boston College on May 20 as the Jesuit institution conferred an honorary degree on Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. Boston’s Cardinal Sean...
Father Michael Fugee, the priest at the center of a scandal in the Newark, New Jersey archdiocese, faces a series of criminal charges for apparently violating a court order forbidding him from...
"The struggle for power in the Church nothing new," Pope Francis told his congregation at a Mass in Domus Sanctae Marthae on May 21, referring to the Gospel account of disputes among the apostles...
Pope Francis offered a prayer for tornado victims in Oklahoma at his morning Mass on Tuesday, May 21. “Let us pray for the victims and those who are missing, especially children, affected by the...
The Vatican Museums are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the completion of restoration work on Michelangelo’s Pieta. The Pieta, which stands in the nave of St. Peter’s basilica, was badly...
A French man committed suicide inside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on May 21. Dominique Venner, a 78-year-old historian and activist with a long history of involvement in traditionalist and...
Released Wednesday, May. 22
The chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has invoked just-war criteria to question the moral legitimacy of the Obama...
Residents of the Muslim village of Chak 30 attacked the Christian village of Chak 31 in the Pakistani province of Punjab after local Christians were accused of being disrespectful towards Islam....
Following votes of 75-65 in the state house and 17-13 in the state senate, Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize assisted suicide. Oregon and Washington legalized the practice by ballot...
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City expressed gratitude for prayers for the archdiocese and disaster victims following the tornadoes that ravaged parts of Oklahoma on May 19 and 20. “Our...
The Vatican Museums hosted a conference on May 21 devoted to the 1972 attack on Michelangelo’s Pietà and the sculpture’s subsequent restoration. On May 21, 1972, a mentally disturbed man...
Less than a week after the Diocese of Kansas City, Missouri, reached a $600,000 settlement with the family of a girl involved in a child-porn case against a local priest, two other lawsuits have...
The Chicago province of the Society of Jesus has agreed to pay nearly $20 million to settle a lawsuit brought by men who were sexually abused by Donald McGuire, a former Jesuit who has been...
“Evangelization is the Church mission,” Pope Francis told his public audience on May 22. “Not just of a few, but my, your, our mission.” In a talk on the working of the Holy Spirit, the Pope said...
The Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (FIA) has released its first annual report, documenting the effort to tighten controls on financial transactions and to guard against...
In his homily at a daily Mass on Wednesday, May 22, Pope Francis warned against the impulse to exclude others, citing the words of Jesus that “he that is not against us is for us.” (Mk...
On May 22, Pope Francis reminded his weekly public audience that the coming Friday, May 24, would be the feast of Our Lady of Sheshan, the day set aside by Pope Benedict XVI for prayer for the...
A young woman was arrested in Tunisia on May 19 after she spray-painted the name of a feminist group on the wall of a mosque. Amina Tyler was jailed when she wrote “Femen” on the exterior of a...
Pope Francis visited a home run by the Missionaries of Charity on Tuesday evening, offering “a heartfelt thank-you” to the sisters for their service to the poor. The Holy Father visited the Gift...
Released Thursday, May. 23
Christians gathered in the Jordanian capital of Amman to pray for the release of the Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox archbishops of Aleppo, who were kidnapped one month ago by Syrian rebel...
Amid intensified persecution of Protestant churches in recent years, authorities in the Iranian capital of Tehran have arrested Rev. Robert Asserian, pastor of the Central Assemblies of God...
The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that an Arizona law banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy is unconstitutional. In August, the court had blocked enforcement of the law. “We...
“Angels and Saints at Ephesus,” a new album released by the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, has debuted at the top position on the Billboard traditional classical albums chart. “Advent...
The King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), an organization established by Austria, Saudi Arabia, and Spain and named after Saudi...
The Italian man who climbed out onto the dome of St. Peter’s basilica on Monday to dramatize a political protest climbed down Wednesday night. Marcello Di Finizio, who was protesting European...
Pope Francis met on May 23 with El Salvador’s President Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena, for a conversation that highlighted the role of the slain Archbishop Oscar Romero in the life of the Central...
Pope Francis has formally confirmed Cardinal Agostino Vallini as his vicar for the Rome diocese. Cardinal Vallini was named as vicar general of Rome by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008. As with all...
The Pontifical Lateran University has announced the establishment of a chair honoring the late Cardinal Bernardin Gantin. Cardinal Gantin, a native of Benin, was the first African-born cardinal...
Released Friday, May. 24
Nigeria, the world’s seventh most populous nation, “now almost totters on the brink” of disaster, the nation’s bishops warned in a statement entitled “To Rescue Nigeria from Collapse.” “What...
By margins of 145-2 in the state house and 29-0 in the state senate, Texas has passed legislation permitting public schools to display “a menorah or a Christmas image such as a nativity scene or...
Vice President Joe Biden joined Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and political figures from both parties in paying tribute to Father Theodore Hesburgh, who served as the president of the University of...
Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, the chairman of the Committee on Migration of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, welcomed the Senate Judiciary Committee’s 13-5 vote in favor of...
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia has declared May 24 to be a special day of prayer and penance “as a Christian response to the Kermit Gosnell trial and conviction.” “The recent trial and...
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has asked Catholics to pray, fast, and abstain from meat on May 24 “for the conversion of all who support abortion, that Christ’s love may...
The Christian Brothers in the US have agreed to pay $16.5 million to settle the claims of plaintiffs in sex-abuse cases. The Christian Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011,...
A French priest has been removed from ministry after he refused to end his active involvement with a Masonic lodge. Father Pascal Vesin was asked by Bishop Yves Boivineau of Annecy to quit his...
Human trafficking is “an ignoble activity, a disgrace to our society that calls itself civilized,” Pope Francis said in a May 24 address to the Pontifical Council of Migrants, which is holding its...
The litmus test of pastoral ministry is the willingness give one’s life entirely to God, Pope Francis told the Italian bishops, gathered in Rome for their 65th assembly on May 24. The Pope led...
Imprisoned Bishop Ma Daqin of Shanghai used social media to lead the faithful in prayer on May 24 as Chinese Catholics observed the feast of Our Lady of Sheshan on May 24. Bishop Ma, who is...
"There is no doubt that the Palestinian problem is the focus of all conflict in the Middle East for the last one hundred years. This is the truth that we cannot circumvent,” said Latin-rite...
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