Catholic World News

Dear Brothers and Sisters, In his Gospel, Saint John, more fully than the other three evangelists, reports in his own distinctive way the farewell discourses of Jesus; they appear as his testament...

When the Apostle Philip asked Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father,” he replied, “Have I been with you all this time, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:8-9)....

Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, told abuse victims on March 31 that he supported a national inquiry into abuse by Irish priests and religious and that he would...

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has again defended Pope Benedict’s leadership in dealing with the clerical abuse crisis. “It was...

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Primate of Ireland, told priests and laity at his April 1 Chrism Mass homily that the Church in Ireland cannot “proclaim closure and move on.” “This has been...

The Diocese of El Paso has settled its third lawsuit involving alleged abuse by Father Manuel Perez Maramba, OSB, a Philippine priest who ministered at a New Mexico parish from 1976 to 1977. A...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, An ancient Jewish legend from the apocryphal book “The life of Adam and Eve” recounts that, in his final illness, Adam sent his son Seth together with Eve into the region...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I bring you the Easter proclamation in these words of the Liturgy, which echo the ancient hymn of praise sung by the Israelites after crossing the Red Sea. It is recounted...

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, delivered a remarkable defense of Pope Benedict towards the beginning of Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square. “We are deeply...

Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the Pontifical Household, provoked international controversy for his April 2 remarks comparing recent criticism of the Church to the “collective violence”...

A mentally disturbed man attacked Bishop Felix Genn of Münster during Easter Sunday Mass. Running towards the altar with a broomstick in hand, the man knocked over a candle before turning on the...

Angered by Cardinal William Levada’s recent criticism of The New York Times’ coverage of the clerical abuse scandal, an attorney released the transcript of a 2006 deposition in which the cardinal...

In an extraordinary display of media bias, the Associated Press has reported that “the abuse cases of two priests in Arizona have cast further doubt on the Catholic church's insistence that Pope...

The head of the Anglican Communion has called Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin to apologize for saying that the Church in Ireland “has lost all credibility.” “I was speaking to an Irish...

The Catholic faithful must be "messengers of Christ's resurrection and victory over evil and death," Pope Benedict XVI said during a midday audience on Easter Monday, April 5. Priests especially...

Archbishop John Vlazny of Portland, Oregon, has cancelled his subscription to the local newspaper, The Oregonian, and recommended that pastors do the same, to protest an editorial cartoon mocking...

The Milwaukee priest who strongly criticized The New York Times for its reporting on the scandal surrounding the late Father Lawrence Murphy has apologized for failing to recall that Archbishop...

An Indian priest who ministered in Minnesota in 2004 and 2005 will not fight extradition to the United States to face charges that he assaulted a teenage girl. Father Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul may...

It is an “unwarranted conclusion” to assert that the majority of priests who abused children are homosexuals, according to a data analyst for a study on clerical abuse conducted on behalf of the...

In a pastoral letter read at all Holy Thursday Masses and Good Friday services, New Zealand’s leading prelate apologized for the abuse scandal. “Some of those called to be shepherds have been...

The Wall Street Journal has published a column by William McGurn criticizing The New York Times for its coverage of Pope Benedict and Father Lawrence Murphy’s abuse case. “[H]is bishops had...

Bishop Jacques Gaillot, who was removed from his French diocese in 1995 after blessing a homosexual union and criticizing the discipline of clerical celibacy, has apologized for accepting an abusive...

Pope Benedict XVI has named Archbishop José Gómez of San Antonio as the Coadjutor Archbishop of Los Angeles. Born in Mexico in 1951 and ordained a priest of Opus Dei in 1978, Archbishop Gómez was...

Roberto D'Aubuisson, the founder of a conservative political party in El Salvador, gave the order for the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, according to a retired army officer who admits...

The Hong Kong diocese, with about 350,000 members, welcomed 3,000 new Catholics into the Church at Easter vigil services. This year's number was unusually high, but the Church in Hong Kong is...

In a spectacular display of slanted journalism, Der Spiegel announces that Pope Benedict XVI has failed as Pontiff. One cause of this alleged failure, the article says, is the Pontiff's "reluctance...

Leading Vatican officials are rallying to the defense of Pope Benedict XVI and charging that a worldwide storm of criticism is motivated by hostility to the Catholic Church. Cardinal Giovanni...

Bishop Georg Müller of Trondheim has admitted abusing a boy two decades ago, according to European press reports. The prelate resigned last year at the age of 58. In a statement released on...

A newly installed Chaldean Catholic bishop says that peaceful Easter celebrations has given Iraqi Christians “new hope” following a campaign of anti-Christian violence. “The Easter celebrations...

The birthrate in the United States fell 2% in 2008 and is now below the population replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, according to a report released April 6 by the National Center for...

A district attorney in Wisconsin has sent a letter to local school districts urging them not to implement the state’s new sex education curriculum. The curriculum, which districts are not required...

In its editorial on Archbishop José Gomez’s appointment as Coadjutor Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times says it would be “comforting” if the archbishop does not call upon pro-abortion...

An eye-opening report by Jason Berry details how the Legion of Christ under Father Marcial Maciel accumulated power and influence at the Vatican, currying favor with lavish donations to key...

Christians should always testify to the reality of Christ's Resurrection, Pope Benedict XVI said at his regular weekly public audience on April 7. The faithful are effective witnesses, he said, when...

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has expressed frustration with continued questions about the Vatican's role in the case of Father Lawrence Murphy, the Milwaukee priest who was charged with abusing deaf...

An Italian journalist has revealed that a front-page story in the New York Times, attempting to link Pope Benedict XVI to the case of a Milwaukee priest charged with sexual abuse, was based on a...

Vatican-watcher Sandro Magister of L'Espresso makes the observation that critics of Pope Benedict XVI have launched furious salvos of criticism on precisely those points on which the Pontiff has...

One of Africa’s most prominent prelates warned in his Chrism Mass homily that “the misbehavior of priests in Africa has not been exposed to the same glare of the media as in other parts of the...

Bishop Georg Müller, who admitted abusing a boy in the early 1990s, has “led at least ten worship services” at a German Catholic hospital chapel since December, according to a press report. Bishop...

The bishops of Malta have released a statement decrying the clerical abuse of children. “Much to the shame of the Church, these crimes are more horrifying when they are perpetrated by members of...

A Canadian bishop described in the local press as a “staunch public defender of Catholic orthodoxy” has resigned at the age of 63. “My decision to offer my resignation was the result of a long...

Following the unsealing of court documents from a clerical abuse lawsuit, The Memphis Commercial Appeal has published a series of nearly a dozen articles on the history of clerical abuse-- most of...

Bishop Michael Warfel of Great Falls-Billings has canceled the monthly meeting of a gay support group, Always Our Children, at a Catholic parish in Billings. At Always Our Children’s April 6 open...

Wire services continue to rehash charges that Pope Benedict XVI bears responsibility for sexual abuse by clerics, although the evidence supporting those charges has been thoroughly rebutted. An...

An Italian prosecutor is asking for life sentences against three Mafia figures for the death of Roberto Calvi, a key figure in the Italian banking scandal that touched the Vatican in the...

Southern Catholic College, a Georgia institution that was taken over last year by the Legionaries of Christ, has announced that it will close before the end of the current spring semester. Citing...

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has announced plans for a concert honoring Pope Benedict XVI on the 5th anniversary of his pontificate. The concert, to be held in the Vatican's Paul VI...

A Chinese bishop is under house arrest because he objected to concelebrating Mass with an excommunicated prelate. Bishop Matthias Du Jiang of Bameng, in Mongolia, has been serving the underground...

Bishop Bernt Eidsvig of Oslo reports that he has received a number of complaints alleging sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the wake of revelations that a Norwegian bishop resigned after facing...

A Canadian bishop who already faces criminal charges for child pornography is now accused of sexual abusing a young man as well. Bishop Raymond Lahey-- who resigned as head of the Antigonish diocese...

Seven Ontario bishops and Cardinal José Sanchez, the prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy, were aware by 1993 that the secretary-general of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the...

A month after a Brazilian bishop suspended three priests, one of them 82 years old, for alleged homosexual activity with teens and young men, a fourth priest of the diocese has been charged with...

A lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of San Antonio alleges that a priest of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity repeatedly assaulted a teenage boy during 2008 and once raped him at...

Citing First Amendment religious freedom concerns, a Nevada district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a Reno priest against his bishop. Father Richard DeMolen had filed a temporary...

Catholics in the United States donated $58.7 million to a special Sunday collection for Haitian relief following the devastating January 12 earthquake, according to an April 8 press release from the...

Six years after a Polish priest broke into the house of Florida woman and assaulted her, the Archdiocese of Newark and Diocese of Orlando have reached a settlement with the woman. Father Wladyslaw...

Media reports about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church have taken heavy toll on public confidence in Pope Benedict XVI, a Pew Forum survey finds. The number of Americans saying that the Pontiff has...

A public exposition of the Shroud of Turin will begin on Saturday, April 10, in that city's cathedral. The exposition will continue until 23. The Shroud, believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus...

The Vatican press office has rejected as "for informed people, ridiculous," a German magazine's claim that Pope Benedict XVI helped to conceal the misdeeds of the late Father Marcial Maciel, the...

In a Vatican Radio interview, the editor of the Irish Catholic says that the Irish bishops have lacked a plan for dealing with the sex-abuse crisis in that country, and have taken their guidance...

The director of the Vatian press office has released a lengthy prepared statement defending Church handling of sex-abuse problems and insisting that Pope Benedict XVI has been "a coherent guide...

Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias has called for an end to mandatory celibacy in the Catholic clergy. Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987, says that the Church should "correct the error"...

The Vatican has announced final schedule details for the trip by Pope Benedict XVI to Malta on April 17-18. The papal trip-- timed for observances of the 1,950th anniversary of St. Paul's shipwreck...

On Friday evening, April 9, Pope Benedict XVI will attend the screening of a film on the plot to kidnap Pope Pius XII. The film, Under the Roman Sky, stars James Cromwell in the recounting of a Nazi...

The Associated Press has unearthed a 1985 document in which then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger explains his reluctance to grant a quick laicization to a California priest who was accused of molesting...

A UN judge has suggested that Pope Benedict XVI should be tried before the International Criminal Court for "crimes against humanity." Geoffrey Robinson, who served on a UN judicial panel,...

Archbishop Joseph Kumuondala Mbimba of Mbandaka, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has provided a vivid account of a rebel attack on local parishes. "The rebels came while the parishes of the...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has welcomed the April 8 signing of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). According to the US State Department, the treaty “reduce[es]...

Jeffrey Lena, an attorney who represents the Holy See in US courts, has refuted the assertion in an Associated Press wire story that “the future Pope Benedict XVI resisted pleas to defrock a...

In a letter read at all Masses in Connecticut on April 10 and 11, the state’s bishops urged Catholics to oppose legislation that would lift the statute of limitations in child sexual abuse...

President Barack Obama has appointed a Franciscan friar who teaches at the University of Chicago as a member of his Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. An opponent of embryonic stem cell...

Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington has again defended Pope Benedict against charges that he covered up the clerical abuse of children. In an April 10 interview with Vatican Radio, Archbishop...

The April 10 edition of L’Osservatore Romano included a column commemorating the 40th anniversary of the break-up of the Beatles. Paying tribute to the Beatles’ “magical creative alchemy,” Giuseppe...

The Vatican has issued a short set of guidelines explaining how the Church responds to sex-abuse complaints involving Catholic priests. The guidelines are a simplified summary of the policies...

When the risen Christ visited the apostles and encouraged St. Thomas to explore his wounds, He illustrated the depth of his mercy, Pope Benedict XVI told his Sunday Angelus audience on April 11, the...

The Vatican Information Service (VIS) has launched a blog that will provide updates on news items from the Vatican press office. The blog-- made public in Italian, Spanish, and French as well as...

Pope Benedict XVI offered words of praise for Pope Pius XII on Friday evening, April 10, after watching a film on the life of the World War II-era Pontiff. Pope Benedict attended a screening of...

Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet of Hanoi has returned earlier than expected from a trip to Rome for medical treatment. Noting the widespread rumors that the archbishop would be transferred out of...

The Vatican has released the full schedule for the visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Cyprus, taking place June 4 to 6. Leaving Rome on Friday morning, June 4, the Holy Father will arrive in Paphos...

Richard Dawkins, the flamboyant British atheist campaigner, has announced that he will seek the arrest of Pope Benedict XVI when the Pontiff visits the United Kingdom in September. Dawkins and...

Pope Benedict XVI conveyed his sympathies to the people of Poland during his regular Angelus audience on April 11, expressing his sorrow at the plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski, his...

The world wants to see a Pope who will take aggressive action against priests who molest young people, says Ross Douthat. And Pope Benedict XVI did exactly that, the New York Times columnist notes,...

In contrasting op-ed columns, USA Today gives two very different views on Pope Benedict's treatment of the sex-abuse crisis. Stephen Prothero of Boston University says that the Pope has repeated the...

While all media attention is riveted on the Catholic Church, those who are interested in protecting children may be interested to know that sexual abuse is roughly 100 times more likely to occur in...

The Vatican has announced the conclusion of an accord with Bosnia-Herzegovina, governing the pastoral care to be provided for Catholics serving in that country's armed forces. Archbishop Alessandro...

Father Joseph Fessio, SJ, the founder of Ignatius Press and former student of then-Professor Joseph Ratzinger, explains that the case of an Oakland priest who sought laicization, currently being...

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said at a news conference in Chile that homosexuality, and not the discipline of clerical celibacy, has been linked to the clerical abuse...

One hundred former students of a Benedictine abbey school in Bavaria have alleged that they were physically or sexually abused by 15 monks. “My investigations quite clearly show that for decades...

Msgr. Georg Gänswein, the Pope’s private secretary, has reminded a German newspaper that bishops have the responsibility of dealing with clerical abuse in their dioceses. “No one has condemned...

Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, who was president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops when the Dallas charter was adopted in 2002, offered a strong defense of Pope Benedict in...

Amid deepening civil unrest, Thailand’s leading prelate has warned that there are “dark forces who want to plunge the situation into chaos.” “The situation is very delicate. There is a clear...

Pope Benedict has appointed Chorbishop Yousif Habash, a Syrian Catholic priest in Los Angeles, as bishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Deliverance of Newark for Syrian Catholics. In an interview...

Pope Benedict XVI will meet privately with victims of sexual abuse during his visit to Malta this coming weekend. The meeting will be private, emphasized Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican...

A special commission assembled to study the reported Marian apparitions at Medjugorje met late in March, the Vatican has disclosed. The meeting took place in Rome shortly after the original Vatican...

The Vatican has no plan to reconsider a September visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Great Britain, despite the highly publicized call for the Pope's arrest there. The noted atheist campaigner Richard...

An investigative report on the influence wielded by the late Father Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ, shows that the disgraced Mexican priest had built up close ties to Cardinal...

In an exchange with reporters at the Foreign Press Club in Rome, Gian Maria Vian, the editor of L'Osservatore Romano, defended the Vatican response to the sex-abuse crisis. “Honestly, the Holy See...

Vandals had painted obscene slogans on the outer walls of the house where Pope Benedict XVI lived as a child. A police spokesman said that it was fair to assume that the damage to the home in Marktl...

Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh was hospitalized on April 13 after he fell ill during a confirmation ceremony. The Primate of All Ireland was admitted to Craigavon Area Hospital, where he was reported...

A Catholic church and a government building were hit by bombs on April 13 on the island of Basilan in the Philippines. Two people were killed. Authorities suspected that Islamic separatist groups...

Bishop Tomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, has asked that a local Catholic hospital be dropped from membership in the Catholic Health Association (CHA) because of the CHA's public endorsement...

Vatican-watcher John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter writes that many informed sources expect the appointment of a "commissioner" to supervise the activities of the Legion of Christ....

A videotape recording, made secretly by the pro-life group Live Action, shows a counselor at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Milwaukee telling a young woman that her unborn child, at 6-8 weeks of...

Following 15 hours of jury deliberations, a Brazilian court has convicted rancher Vitalmiro Moura for ordering the murder of Sister Dorothy Stang, an American-born nun who protected the property...

The day he received two allegations of abuse committed by priests in the 1940s and 1960s, Sweden’s sole bishop asked for forgiveness. “It is with deep sadness and grief that I receive these...

“The perennial enemies of the Church, the Masons and the Jews” are behind recent attacks on the Church, an Italian Catholic news blog has quoted a retired Italian bishop as saying. Denouncing...

In an interview with CNN, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has dismissed the latest L’Osservatore Romano column praising the band. Paying tribute to the Beatles’ “magical creative alchemy,” Giuseppe...

Nearly a year after the University of Notre Dame awarded an honorary degree to President Barack Obama, the university has adopted an institutional pro-life statement. “Consistent with the...

Archbishop Charles Chaput has swiftly removed a 74-year-old priest from ministry after he was accused of abusing a child in the early 1970s. “Father [Mel] Thompson has no previous allegation of...

Amid worldwide cries of protest that greeted Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone's statement that the Church's sex-abuse problem is linked to homosexuality, the Vatican has issued a clarification of that...

A Catholic priests "is always a teacher," Pope Benedict XVI remarked at his weekly public audience on April 14. Speaking to a crowd of about 16,000 people in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father...

Cardinal Sean Brady, the Primate of All Ireland, has returned home after being hospitalized briefly on April 13. The Irish prelate was admitted to Craigavon Area Hospital on Monday when he fell ill...

An Italian court has dismissed lawsuits by homosexual activists seeking to overturn the law restricting marriage to heterosexual couples. The constitutional court ruled that any change in the...

The Vatican has announced plans for the beatification of 7 people in the next several weeks. With the formal approval of Pope Benedict XVI, ceremonies were announced for: Bernardo Francisco de...

A Mexican cardinal has underlined the determination of Church leaders to fight against drug traffickers. Cardinal Francisco Robles Berlanga of Monterrey said that while civil officials have the...

The traditionalist bishop whose skepticism about the Holocaust prompted an international furor last year will not be present in a German court to answer criminal charges on Friday, his lawyer has...

Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the victims of a recent earthquake in China, and for their relatives, during his regular public audience on April 14. "I implore God that they may find relief from their...

Following an April 13 Islamist terrorist attack that destroyed 70% of his cathedral, a Philippine bishop says that he and the other Christians of the city fear for their lives. “It is the first...

Archbishop Celestino Migliore, apostolic nuncio and permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, told a UN commission on April 12 that the world’s nations need to confront the problem...

Three weeks after the Diocese of Portland withdrew it support of Preble Street’s Homeless Voices for Justice because of the group’s support for same-sex marriage, Governor John Baldacci-- a Catholic...

In a remarkable display of journalistic ignorance of Catholic teaching, the Associated Press has reported that the “implicit understanding of the need to follow just civil laws dates to a 1965...

A retired priest of the Diocese of Superior has been suspended following an allegation of inappropriate sexual contact with a 19-year-old man. Father Robert Urban, a former editor of the diocesan...

Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville has suspended a retired priest who was accused of abusing a boy for five years beginning in 1975. Warren Tucker, 44, alleges that Father William Casey began to...

Now, under the attacks of the world, which speak to us of our sins, we see that to be able to do penance is a grace – and we see how necessary it is to do penance, that is, to recognize what is...

Pope Benedict XVI concentrated on the Eucharist, "the heart of Christian life, source and summit of the Church's mission of evangelization," as he met on April 15 with a group of Brazilian bishops...

The Vatican has announced a new accord with the German state of Lower Saxony, amending a previous accord that dates back to 1965. A brief Vatican announcement explained that the new agreement...

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals, will presided at a Mass in the Vatican basilica on April 15 for the victims of the airplane crash that killed Poland's President Lech...

The secretary-general of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has directly contradicted a public statement by the Vatican Secretary of State on the connection between homosexuality and...

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster may file a defamation suit against the London Times, responding to the newspaper's claim that he had protected a pedophile priest. A spokesman for the...

Two English Catholic organizations have joined in an effort to clear up public confusion following a highly publicized campaign calling for the arrest of Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Great...

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) ordered Bishop Richard Wiliamson not to appear in a German court to defend his controversial statements on the Holocaust, the traditionalist bishop's lawyer has...

The director of the Vatican press office-- often identified in the media as a spokesman for the Pope-- actually takes his directions from the Secretariat of State, a BBC story reveals. In an...

The new Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Brazil, has taken a public stand quite different from that of his predecessor in a highly controversial case involving a pregnant 9-year-old girl....

Christopher West, whose popular lectures on the "theology of the body" have drawn criticism in recent months, has announced plans to withdraw from the lecture circuit temporarily. During a planned...

The New York Times has published a generally favorable profile of Archbishop Timothy Dolan, highlighting the gregarious nature of the city's new Catholic leader. The Times does acknowledge that the...

The Holy See Press Office has confirmed the authenticity of a 2001 letter in which the then- prefect of the Congregation for Clergy praised a French bishop for not reporting a priest who had...

The Holy See announced on April 15 that Pope Benedict has accepted the resignation of 52-year-old Bishop Jacob Koda of Same. Bishop Koda, who was appointed bishop of the northeastern Tanzanian...

Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, unequivocally condemned clerical sexual abuse in an April 12 letter marking the impending conclusion of the Year for Priests. “It...

A Sudanese bishop is questioning the fairness of the recently concluded presidential election. “The reports of irregularities make one wonder whether in the end these elections will qualify to be...

In what is being hailed as a victory for gay-advocacy groups, President Barack Obama directed the Secretary of Health and Human Services on April 15 to draw up regulations ensuring that “designated...

The Vatican has created a new web site offering resources to explain the Church's handling of sex-abuse problems. The site provides links to the Pope's pastoral letter to the Irish Church about...

A German court has confirmed the conviction of Bishop Richard Wiliamson for his public statements questioning the severity of the Holocaust. But the court reduced the fine imposed on the...

An Associated Press story had broken new ground in exposing sexual abuse by Catholic priests, pointing to the clerical abusers who have worked in missionary territories, exploiting their freedom...

Bishop Lawrence Brandt of Greensburg, has barred the Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, Pennsylvania, from advertising in the local diocesan media. The bishop explained that he was taking this action...

Pope Benedict XVI met with members of the Papal Foundation-- an American group founded to help finance the charitable work of the Holy See-- in a private audience on April 16. "I thank you for your...

A US federal district court judge has ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. Affirming a complaint brought by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Judge Barbara Crabb said that...

A new study published by the British medical journal Lancet shows a decline in maternal mortality. The study shows that UN officials seriously overestimated maternal deaths in documents pressing for...

A Brazilian archbishop has said that he was the victim of slanted reporting in newspaper stories that portrayed him as defending an abortion performed on a 9-year-old girl. Archbishop Fernando...

Pope Benedict XVI has shown that he is not sensitive to media criticism. But John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter argues that the mishandling of public-relations issues at the Vatican, in a...

A Scottish bishop has offered strong public criticism of the Vatican secretary of state’s recent remarks linking the clerical abuse scandal to homosexuality. “If the Church says something that is...

A study published on April 15 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has found that the number of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa grew from seven million in 1900 to 470 million today. During...

A survey of US seminarians who will be ordained this year has found that 31% were born outside the United States, with most coming from Mexico, Colombia, the Philippines, Poland and...

Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak says that he would not have ordained US-born Joseph Skelton as a priest of the Diocese of Tagbilaran in 2001 if he had known of Skelton’s conviction for the abuse of a...

A Mexican bishop said on April 15 that pornography and sex education have contributed to a climate in which clerical abuse can take place. “If on television and on the Internet and in so many...

The attorney for Bishop Richard Williamson has announced that his client will appeal his fine for Holocaust denial. A German court last week confirmed the Society of St. Pius X prelate’s conviction...

Pope Benedict XVI held an emotional meeting with victims of clerical abuse on April 18 during his pastoral visit to the island nation of Malta. Participants reported that the Pontiff had tears...

During a weekend trip to Malta, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized the deep Christian roots of the island nation and the role that Malta plays as "a place where waves of refugees arrive from Africa and...

Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, has issued an invitation to all the world's priests to gather in Rome for the conclusion of the Year for Priests. In an...

The Irish government is pressing the country's religious order to add €200 million ($268 million) to the €477 million they have already contributed to a fund for victims of abuse in Church-run...

After completing the second volume of his work on Jesus of Nazareth, which is now in progress, Pope Benedict XVI will not write any more books, according to a report in the Italian daily Corriere...

Cardinal Tomas Spidlik, a Czech Jesuit scholar, died in Rome on April 16 at the age of 90. A theologian who specialized in the study of the Eastern Christian traditions, Cardinal Spidlik...

The former prefect of the Congregation for Clergy has defended a letter in which he praised a French bishop for withholding evidence of sexual abuse from police. The letter from Cardinal Dario...

The Washington Post profiles Jeffrey Anderson, the unconventional lawyer whose lawsuits against the Catholic Church had brought in $60 million in settlements for sex-abuse victims by 2002. Anderson,...

Pope Benedict XVI marked the 5th anniversary of his election as Roman Pontiff on April 19. At a luncheon celebrating the occasion, hosted by the cardinals in Rome, the Pope acknowledged the...

A 47-year-old priest has become the first bishop ordained in China since 2007. Bishop Paul Meng Qinglu, who is active in the government-approved Catholic Patriotic Association, has received a papal...

A Brazilian parliamentary investigation into clerical abuse in the scandal-plagued Diocese of Penedo has led to the arrest of 83-year-old Msgr. Luiz Marques Barbosa. The priest gained notoriety...

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles has offered strong criticism of a measure passed by the Arizona legislature that would require police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants who are unable to...

In an apparent response to Pope Bendict’s March 19 pastoral letter on the Irish clerical abuse scandal, the Irish bishops have arranged to have the relics of St. John Mary Vianney travel to four...

A retired Tennessee priest who was suspended last week following an abuse allegation has admitted to the abuse. Father William Casey, who was jailed on April 19, faces a charge of a crime against...

A priest of the Diocese of Gary, Indiana, has been placed on leave because of an alleged incident of abuse that took place in 1991. Police are unable to open an investigation because the person...

An Irish doctor is facing possible disciplinary action because he declined to provide fertility treatment for an unmarried couple. Dr. Phil Boyle, who practices in a Catholic hospital, was...

A new opinion poll shows that 70% of Ireland's population supports the existing law that prohibits abortion. Only 13% of those questioned called for a change in the law. The poll, commissioned...

On April 19 the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that pits a campus Christian group against the University of California's Hastings law school. The student organization, which...

At the April 20 funeral of Cardinal Tomas Spidlik, Pope Benedict XVI praised the Czech Jesuit theologian for his courageous witness to the faith, his buoyant sense of humor despite adversity, and...

The Vatican has released the official schedule for a visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Turin on May 2. The Pope is making the trip to venerate the Shroud of Turin during the public exposition that will...

Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham is warning Catholics that a victory by the Liberal Democrats in the May 6 general election could threaten the existence of Catholic schools. The party has...

The bishops of Chile issued an apology to victims of clerical sexual abuse on April 20. “There is no place in the priesthood for those who abuse minors, and there is nothing that can justify this...

Three weeks after five former residents of a Catholic children’s home accused Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg of physically abusing them in the 1970s and 1980s, the prelate offered an apology....

Three armed men attacked the apostolic nunciature in the Angolan capital of Luanda on April 19. “Thanks to our faith, we were able to keep calm and we managed to convince the bandits that the...

A man who alleges he was abused in 1997 has filed suit against Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico, claiming that the prelates conspired to hide abuse...

A German priest who has ministered in the Archdiocese of Washington since 2004 has been removed from ministry after allegations of sexual abuse of teenage girls came to light. Father Michael...

Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin, Ireland-- one of three bishops who offered to resign after the publication of a report criticizing...

Pope Benedict XVI recalled his emotional meeting with victims of sexual abuse in Malta during his regular weekly audience on April 21. "I shared their suffering and, greatly moved, prayed with them,...

The former vicar general of the Munich archdiocese has denied published reports that he was pressured to assume sole responsibility for giving a parish assignment to an accused pedophile priest...

Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino of Havana has said that his country is facing a political crisis because of the open pressure for rapid change after years of Communist rule. Writing in Palabra...

George Weigel takes Hans Küng to task for his vituperative personal attack on Pope Benedict XVI, calling it "mean-spirited condemnation of an old friend." Weigel notes that Küng "single-handedly...

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the former prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, has backed away from plans to preside at a Pontifical Mass at the National Shrine in Washington, DC. Sex-abuse...

For the second time in less that a week, a Catholic bishop has been consecrated in China with the approval of the Holy See. Bishop Shen Bin was ordained for the Haimen diocese on April 21. Just...

During his general audience on Wednesday, April 21, Pope Benedict XVI offered a special welcome to a group of priests of the Rome diocese who had just completed a pilgrimage to Ars, France. He...

Amid allegations that he physically abused children decades ago at a Catholic children’s home, Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg, who also serves as the bishop of the nation’s military diocese, has...

A priest in Genoa has accused Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of sacrilege after he received Holy Communion during a televised funeral. The prime minister divorced his first wife in 1985,...

Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa and an Ottawa Catholic school official said that they will not implement portions of Ontario’s mandatory sex education curriculum. Ontario Premier Dalton...

In an 8-1 decision, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court upheld the nation’s anti-blasphemy law on April 19. Such laws have been used to persecute Christians alleged to have blasphemed...

Mehmet Ali Agca, who wounded Pope John Paul II in a 1981 assassination attempt, has requested a meeting with Pope Benedict when he travels to Fatima next month. Agca’s assassination attempt took...

An alternative weekly newspaper has published a profile of Daniel Shea, an attorney and Louvain-educated former deacon who believes that the conclave of 2005 elected Cardinal Ratzinger pope so that...

In a statement confirming that Pope Benedict XVI has accepted his resignation, Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin repeated his acknowledgment that he bore some responsibility for the...

A Minnesota lawyer has filed a federal lawsuit against Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican on behalf of the victims of abuse by a notorious Milwaukee priest. Attorney Jeffrey Anderson argues that...

The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have issued an apology for the sex-abuse scandal, saying that there are "no excuses" for the abuses that have been revealed and acknowledging that the...

Pope Benedict XVI has named a coadjutor to the Archbishop of Hanoi. Bishop Pierre Nguyen Van Nhon, who now heads the Da Lat diocese, will be coadjutor to Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet....

As he met with a new ambassador from Macedonia to the Holy See on April 22, Pope Benedict XVI said that he hoped the country's rich Christian heritage would counteract the "general context of moral...

Australian police are pressing for a change in the way Church authorities in Melbourne investigate sex-abuse complaints. The Church uses an independent investigator to respond to such complaints....

Father Owen Kearns, the publisher of the National Catholic Register, has issued an apology for his energetic defense of the late Father Marcial Maciel. Father Kearns, who has regularly acted as...

England's Catholic Education Service has hired a former lawmaker as its deputy director, despite concerns about his voting record. Greg Pope, who represented Hyndburn in Parliament, was outspoken in...

Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Brugges has resigned because of sexual abuse in which he was personally involved. The 73-year-old prelate was appointed Bishop of Brugges-- one of the nation’s eight...

Three years after it was announced that the planting of a forest in Hungary would allow the Vatican would become the world’s first carbon-neutral state, the Vatican is contemplating legal action...

Caritas, the international consortium of Catholic relief agencies, is warning that the West African nation of Niger is running out of food. Seeking to provide food to 250,000 people there, Caritas...

Bishop Edward Slattery has replaced Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the former prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, as the celebrant of an April 24 Mass in the extraordinary form at the Basilica...

Following unsuccessful municipal appeals, the Archdiocese of San Francisco has filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court over the city's efforts to impose property taxes for the transfers of 232...

A Chilean prosecutor launched an investigation on April 22 into whether Father Fernando Karadima Fariña, a revered 80-year-old priest, sexually abused five men. A leader in the Catholic Action...

The Vatican has dismissed as "completely without merit" a federal lawsuit brought in US court by sex-abuse victims in Wisconsin. "While legitimate lawsuits have been filed by abuse victims, this...

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the former prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, has escalated his defense of a policy that protected priests from prosecution for sexual abuse. Meanwhile the...

Countering rumors that the Vatican was acceding to pressure from the Vietnamese government for his removal, Archbishop Jospeh Ngo Quang Kiet of Hanoi said that the appointment of a coadjutor--...

In an emotional interview with Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli of Il Giornale, an abuse victim who met with Pope Benedict XVI during the Pontiff's visit to Malta said that the session had...

The Boston archdiocese has quietly withdrawn a lawsuit seeking a judgment against the town of Scituate for imposing $200,000 in property taxes for a parish that is not currently in use. The town has...

Irish journalist David Quinn writes that Pope Benedict XVI has replaced former US President George W. Bush as the man most loathed in the world's liberal circles: Those circles include...

World magzine, a weekly published by Evangelical Christians, brings an unusual perspective to the sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic Church: In Europe, both the church and the state have responded...

The United Kingdom’s Foreign Office has apologized for a memorandum drafted by a junior official that suggested that Pope Benedict should launch “Benedict condoms,” “open an abortion ward,” “bless a...

Less than two weeks after he urged victims of clerical abuse to come forward so that “the guilty priests-- if they are still alive-- can receive just punishment for the crimes they have committed,”...

Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who retired as Archbishop of Malines-Brussels earlier this year, has denied claims by two priests that they had spoken with him several times about Bishop Roger...

Two abuse victims who met with Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 said that they hope that 50,000 abuse victims will travel to St. Peter’s Square on October 31 (Reformation Day). “The victims of these...

Preaching at a Protestant church in a small town near Albany, Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, South Africa, spoke about the devastation wrought by AIDS and defended his support of condom use in...

A year after he pled guilty to grand theft, Father John Skehan, an 83-year-old priest of the Diocese of Palm Beach, has been released and welcomed home by a supportive group of his one-time...

Pope Benedict XVI will soon establish a new Vatican office, the Pontifical Council for New Evangelization, according to the respected Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli. The Italian reporter writes...

During a worldwide gathering of clerics at the conclusion of the Year for Priests, Pope Benedict XVI will issue an apology for the sexual abuse of young people, according to The Independent. The...

Pope Benedict XVI encouraged Christian bloggers to "give a soul to the internet's incessant flow of communications," during an April 24 address to a conference on the latest developments in...

Although Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet of Hanoi has said that the appointment of a coadjutor archbishop is "great news," and insisted that the Vatican fully supports his pastoral ministry, many...

Pope Benedict XVI insisted that the Church must retain a public voice, as he greeted a new ambassador from Belgium to the Holy See. The Holy Father told the new ambassador, Charles Ghislain, that...

As the Legion of Christ waits to hear how the Vatican will respond to a report by the five bishops who led an apostolic visitation of the troubled order, an unusually balanced AP story explained how...

The Vatican organizers of a worldwide gathering of priests in June have been forced the extend a registration deadline because of an overwhelming response to the Pope's invitation. The 3-day...

Pope Benedict XVI has named the officials for a special meeting of the Synod of Bishops devoted to the Middle East, which will take place in Rome in October. Three Eastern Catholic patriarchs...

Commenting on the increasingly uncomfortable position that Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos occupies since the revelations that he encouraged bishops not to report priestly abuse, John Allen of the...

In a perceptive essay for the Weekly Standard, Joseph Bottum writes that many different actors have betrayed an inordinate interest in exploring the sex-abuse scandal within the Catholic Church....

Pope Benedict XVI called all priests to "interior renewal for the sake of a stronger and more incisive witness to the Gospel in today's world" during his Sunday audience on April 25. The Pope...

When Pope Benedict XVI met with cardinals in Rome on the 5th anniversary of his election, many newspapers-- including the Vatican's own L'Osservatore Romano reported that the Pontiff had spoken...

Pope Benedict, while prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, intervened to have Father Hans Hermann Groër appointed Archbishop of Vienna in 1986 but also pushed for the...

Saying that “the current crisis facing the Catholic Church arising out of sexual abuse is arguably the most serious challenge the Church has faced since the Reformation,” an Australian bishop says...

Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, voiced support for an new adult stem-cell research consortium but added that secular media outlets had inaccurately reported that the...

In a brief April 26 talk at the Catholic University of America, Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore, former Archbishop for the Military Services, cited traditional just-war theory as well as...

The excommunicated and laicized pastor of a rebellious St. Louis parish has announced that he may found his own church. Marek Bozek said that his new independent Catholic parish “will be Catholic in...

In a manifestly supportive profile of a local schismatic Catholic community, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports that Spiritus Christi Church “has about 1,500 members on the books, about...

The world's Catholic population grew from 1.045 billion in 2000 to 1.166 billion in 2008, according to the latest edition of the Vatican's statistical yearbook, which made its appearance on April...

Relations with Islam, and the Israel-Palestine conflict, will be high on the agenda for a special meeting of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, to be held in Rome in October. The...

An African journalist, writing from Kinshasa, says that the intense focus of US foreign aid on expanding family-planning programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo is "certifiably insane." The...

In an interview that appeared on the PBS television show NewsHour, Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, criticized media coverage of the clerical abuse...

Four days after Governor Jan Brewer signed Arizona Senate Bill 1070 into law, the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration issued a statement condemning...

Following a Washington Post story, Archbishop Emilio Carlos Berlie Belaunzarán of Yucatán has suspended a 70-year-old priest amid allegations that he abused a teenage girl in San Francisco in the...

The New York State School Boards Association and the State Association of Counties are opposing a measure that would temporarily lift the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases, allowing...

The notorious Louisiana priest whose abuse of dozens of children led to the first major American clerical abuse scandal is living as a transient, thus enabling him to avoid publicizing his address....

The web site of The Washington Post has published the astounding-- and completely unsupported-- claim that Archbishop Raymond Burke, former Archbishop of St. Louis and current Prefect of the...

The Vatican has given its approval to a new English-language translation of the Roman Missal, which will probably be introduced for parish use sometime next year. "I welcome the news that the...

In a profile of Jeffrey Anderson, the New York Times reveals that the lawyer who is attempting to bring suit against the Vatican was successful in steering the Times news coverage toward his case....

At his weekly public audience on April 28, Pope Benedict XVI called attention to the example set by two Italian priests, Sts. Leonardo Murialdo (1828-1900) and Giuseppe Benito Cottolengo...

The five bishops who conducted an apostolic visitation of the Legion of Christ will present their report on Friday, April 30. Pope Benedict will weigh that report before taking any action, according...

"I am not a monster. I am innocent," a prominent Italian priest told a court in Rome, where he is on trial for allegedly molesting several boys. Father Ruggero Conti, once an adviser to the mayor...

At the conclusion of his regular weekly public audience on April 28, Pope Benedict XVI called attention to the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, which will be celebrated on Saturday, May 1. He said:...

Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message of support to the 8th European Congress on Migration, being held this week in Malaga, Spain. In his message-- which was addressed to Archbishop Antonio Maria...

A long, impassioned letter from the married chancellor of his diocese helped shift the thinking of Bishop Wilton Gregory on the sex-abuse scandal in 2002, the St. Louis Beacon reports. The Beacon...

Although Hanoi's Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet has assured his flock that the Vatican's appointment of a coadjutor archbishop is not a sign of dwindling support, Vietnamese government officials...

A retired Australian bishop has said that the sex-abuse scandal cannot be reolved unless the Church holds an ecumenical council and amends traditional Christian moral teaching. Bishop Geoffrey...

During his tenure as Archbishop of San Francisco, Cardinal William Levada chose not to inform police about a priest who admitted molesting an adolescent boy, an AP story reports. Cardinal Levada is...

An English court has dismissed the appeal of a Christian counselor who was fired because he declined to provide relationship therapy for same-sex couples. Lord Justice Laws summarily shut off a...

A Catholic priest was murdered in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday night, April 28. Police are unclear as to the motive for the killing. Father Peter Bombaci, who had founded a home to work with...

Pope Benedict XVI urged authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to "do everything in their power to end the state of war which, unfortunately, still persists in certain areas of the...

The discipline of priestly celibacy is a "positive and fruitful tradition," Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told a Spanish television interviewer. The Vatican Secretary of State added: "There is no direct...

The British Foreign Office has suspended an official who authorized the distribution of a memorandum that ridiculed Pope Benedict XVI. The satirical memo, suggesting that the Pope might want to...

The second-ranking official of the Legion of Christ has said that he realized in 2006 that charges against the group's founder, Father Marcial Maciel, were true. Father Luis Garza Medina told...

Catholic leaders and government officials in Ontario remain at odds over the implementation of a sex-education curriculum in the province's Catholic schools. The Catholic bishops of Ontario have...

Pope Benedict XVI concentrated on the importance of promoting healthy family life during a talk to bishops from Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, who were completing their ad limina visits. "In...

Secular reporters in Rhode Island are reporting the decision by Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence to withdraw a local Catholic hospital from membership in the Catholic Health Association (CHA). The...

The Wall Street Journal reports what observant Catholics had long known: that the Church does not have a coordinated strategy for responding to public-relations problems. In the case of the...

Faithful Catholics gathered outside the office of the apostolic nuncio in Lima, Peru, to pray the Rosary on April 28. The prayerful vigil was designed to support the Church-- and particularly...

Paddy Power, an Irish bookie who has earned international fame-- by, among other things, offering online betting on the identity of the next Pope-- has donated the funds to construct a new...

Writing in the New Republic, Philip Jenkins suggests that the fallout of the sex-abuse scandal could accelerate a trend that is already evident in Catholicism: the shift of Catholic influence to the...

The enthusiasm of the New York Times for criticism of the Catholic Church is understandable, veteran religion journalist Kenneth Woodward writes in Commonweal, because the Times " is not just the...

The Swedish government has rejected a call from the nation’s sole bishop to conduct an independent investigation of clerical abuse claims. “We need to shed light on this matter by someone who...

A bomb exploded on April 27 at the chapel of the Good Shepherd Sisters in the south-central Chilean Diocese of Temuco. The explosion caused a fire that damaged nearby homes; a local anarchist group...

Speaking at the funeral of Welsh soldier Jonathan Burgess, Bishop Tom Burns of Menevia-- who served as Great Britain’s military bishop from 2002 to 2008-- called for increased funding of the Afghan...

A report released by the National Catholic Education Association has found that Catholic high schools in the United States have a 99.1% graduation rate, compared to a 73.1% graduation rate at public...

Some 100 bishops and other delegates from 36 nations are attending the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe’s eighth Congress on Migration. The conference, which began on April 27 and will conclude on May...

Joined by Dr. Alveda King-- the niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.-- Father Frank Pavone has announced that Priests for Life will be conducting Pro-Life Freedom Rides this summer, evoking the...

The worldwide economic crisis illustrates "the urgency of strengthening the governance procedures for the global economy," Pope Benedict XVI said on April 30. The Pontiff quickly added, however,...

A Sudanese bishop has warned that renewed violence in the African country is "a likely scenario" in the wake of elections there. Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio said that a...

Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer, who had been the oldest living member of the College of Cardinals, died in Rome on April 28, a few weeks short of his 99th birthday. Born in Bavaria in 1911, Paul...

The Vatican has released the prayer intentions of Pope Benedict XVI for May 2010. The Pope's general intention is: "That the shameful and monstrous commerce in human beings, which sadly involves...

The study of music "can open minds and hearts to the spiritual dimension and lead people to raise their eyes to heaven, to open themselves to absolute Goodness and Beauty which have their ultimate...

Pope Benedict XVI met on April 30 with the five bishops who had conducted an apostolic visitation of the Legion of Christ. The Pope is expected to spend some time weighing the report from the...

Christian leaders in Kenya have pulled out of negotiations with the government over the text of a proposed new constitution for the African country, after a stalemate on the abortion issue. Catholic...