Catholic World News

The leader of the Orthodox world is calling upon Orthodox Christians to “take part in the titanic and righteous battle to alleviate the environmental crisis.” Calling for “a standard of economic...

A critic of Christianity has announced he will run against Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan in the September 14 election for the leadership of the Democratic Party of Japan. “I think that...

Kim Jong Il, whose repression of religion is unmatched by any other world leader, visited a Catholic church in China on August 26. Father Nicholas Liu Wenhui showed the North Korean leader around...

Archbishop Walton Empey, who led the Church of Ireland as Anglican archbishop of Dublin from 1997 to 2002, has written a letter to the Irish Times defending the “heroic” Irish Catholic priests who...

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, the pro-Obama organization that presented itself as “inspired by Gospel values and the rich history of Catholic social teaching,” has apparently...

At a September 1 public hearing on the budget of Central Health, which provides public health services in the Austin area, people spoke for and against the agency’s decision to spend $450,000 on...

The youngest monk at a Chicago-area Benedict abbey has been elected abbot and, by virtue of that office, chancellor of Benedictine University. A graduate of the University of Chicago with a...

A prominent Christian advocacy group in India has criticized the government in the southern Karnataka state, which headed by the Hindu-nationalist BJP Party, for “exonerating three criminal police...

Pope Benedict XVI met on September 2 with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the papal summer residence on Castel Gandolfo, for a 40-minute talk that centered on peace prospects in the Middle...

Father Bernardo Cervellera, the director of the AsiaNews service, reports from the Congress of Asian Catholic Laity, which opened in Seoul this week. Among the themes emerging from the discussions,...

Research by social scientists has produced a huge mountain of data showing that families with a strong religious commitment—in particular, families that pray together—are more successful in a wide...

In his archdiocesan newspaper column, Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George discusses the preparations that should be made before the introduction of a new English translation of the Roman Missal. He...

Irish analysts continue to scrutinize Pope Benedict’s decision not to accept the resignations of two Dublin auxiliary bishops. The key question being asked: whether the Pope’s choice reflects a...

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney has expressed “grave concerns” about pending legislation that would allow homosexual couples to adopt children in the Australian state of New South Wales. The state’s...

A new public-opinion poll in El Salvador has found that by a lopsided margin of 93-7%, the people oppose a constitutional amendment that would allow for legalized abortion....

A 76-year-old Irish priest has been sentenced to a 4-year prison term after being convicted on 11 counts of molesting children. Father Eugene Lewis, a former superior of the White Fathers, has...

The Wall Street Journal profiles the two scientists whose lawsuit prompted a federal judge to halt federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research: James Sherley and Theresa Deisher. Both are...

Four Christian and Hindu villages in the southeastern Pakistani province of Sindh have been deliberately flooded, leaving over 2,800 families homeless. “The waters came as a result of an...

Citing “restructuring,” the University of Notre Dame has fired Bill Kirk from his position as associate vice president for residence life. David Solomon, a university philosophy professor and the...

A retired bishop has come to the defense of the late Father James Chesney, who was linked in a recent report to a 1972 terrorist bombing in Northern Ireland. “Everyone takes the same...

Patriarch Antonius Naguib, the head of the Coptic Catholic Church, has provided a fascinating glimpse into the life of Christians in Egypt in an interview with Aid to the Church in Need. The...

Hackers, likely from overseas, have stolen over $600,000 from an Iowa diocese and transferred the funds to other accounts. “While the Diocese of Des Moines is protected by insurance and...

In 1859, Adele Brise, a 28-year-old Belgian immigrant in Wisconsin, reported that the Blessed Virgin had appeared to her and asked her to catechize children. In 1861, a chapel was built on the site,...

In his message of World Youth Day 2011, Pope Benedict XVI tells young people that their ultimate happiness will depend not on their career prospects but on their relationships with Jesus...

The 4.5 million people who visit the Sistine Chapel every year are gradually causing damage to Michelangelo’s works, the director of the Vatican Museums has warned. "Humans breathe and perspire,...

Opening a new frontier in anti-Catholic journalism, an Australian makes the remarkable charge that the Church will be insulting Mary MacKillop by canonizing her. The argument is based on...

Contradicting earlier public statements, the Archdiocese of Boston has announced that a Rhode Island hospital will be required to abide by Catholic moral teachings if it is purchased by Boston’s...

England’s leading Catholic prelate expects heavy criticism of the Church in advance of the visit by Pope Benedict XVI, but believes that the Pope’s presence will produce a more positive...

Archbishop Allen Vigneron will preside at a ceremony on September 4 to bless a memorial to the unborn children whose bodies were discovered in a dumpster outside an abortion clinic in 2008. The...

The capital city of Mozambique is “slowly returning to calm” after riots that left 7 people dead and nearly 300 injured, the Fides news service reports. Archbishop Francisco Chimoio of Maputo has...

The Melkite Catholic Church should act as a bridge between Eastern and Western Christianity, the prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches said. Speaking during the Divine Liturgy at...

Vatican-watcher John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter offers a sympathetic profile of Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, the outspoken Vatican official who resigned this week from his post as...

The Diocese of Kansas City, Missouri, has announced plans to stop providing funding for community-organizing groups through the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). Noting that widespread...

The head of an organization that combats anti-Christian persecution charges that some Pakistani Christian families are being denied flood aid unless they convert to Islam. “Some Christian...

The US Postal Service issued a stamp in honor of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta on September 5, the anniversary of her death and her liturgical feast day. “Often, stamps are referred to as a nation’s...

Cardinal Keith O’Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh is accusing the world’s largest broadcasting organization of anti-Christian and anti-Catholic bias. “Our detailed research into BBC news...

Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, is reporting that the September 1 funeral of an underground Chinese bishop was “obliged to be held in a private manner...

CNN has published a commentary paying tribute to Father Augustus Tolton (1854-97), the nation’s first African-American priest. The Archdiocese of Chicago opened his sainthood cause earlier this...

The president of Catholic Charities USA told Vatican Radio on September 4 that his network of Catholic social service organizations is aiding victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill whom BP will...

A Chinese diocese whose bishop has received government recognition despite his refusal to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association has a web site that prominently features pictures of Pope...

British police have admitted that some confidential plans for the state visit by Pope Benedict XVI were recovered—apparently after having been accidentally left in a pub. However the police say that...

A new public-opinion poll has found strong opposition to taxpayer funding for the visit to Great Britain by Pope Benedict XVI. In the survey, 76% of respondents said that public funding should...

The Vatican is following reports about the scheduled execution of a Iranian woman by stoning, officials have confirmed. Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office,...

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has not made a personal contribution to help defray the costs of a state visit by Pope Benedict XVI, a spokesman admitted. Blair, who entered the Catholic...

Pope Benedict XVI traveled from his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo to the town of Carpineto Romano on September 5, to join in celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of that town’s most...

Pope Benedict XVI has named a veteran Vatican diplomat to the sensitive post of apostolic nuncio in Iraq. Archbishop-elect Giorgio Lingua, who has worked in the Vatican diplomatic corps since...

During his Angelus audience on Sunday, September 5, Pope Benedict XVI made the observation that he did something unusual in his message for World Youth Day: telling people to be firmly planted in...

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster told a British television audience that Pope Benedict XVI is likely to meet with sex-abuse victims during his visit to the United Kingdom later this...

Newman College, a Catholic school in India’s southern Kerala state, has dismissed a professor who was accused of offending Muslims. The professor had already been the victim of a blood assault in...

Cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church is necessary for the growth of Catholicism in Russia, according to the secretary general of the Conference of Russian Catholic Bishops. “The Catholic...

As the first Congress of Asian Catholic Laity concluded in Seoul on September 5, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity urged participants not to compromise with secularism....

“Heart’s Cry,” an electro-pop youth anthem by the British band Ooberfüse, will be performed during Pope Benedict’s upcoming apostolic visit to the United Kingdom. The anthem, which premiers...

Following the third terrorist attack in recent days, the national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Pakistan warned that terrorists are taking advantage of the worst flooding in the...

A New Zealand bishop is opposing legislation that would permit shopping on Easter Sunday. Similar bills have been defeated repeatedly in recent years. “We support the bishop of Dunedin Diocese,...

The National Catholic Register has profiled the Knights of Mercy, a Wisconsin men’s apostolate founded by Father Rick Heilman in 2006. The organization has grown to 300 members and will soon spread...

The Grand Forks Herald has profiled a Nigerian priest who, with the approval of his bishop, is earning a doctorate in North Dakota in the hopes of founding a school and starting a literacy program...

The Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and the Accademia della Voce of Turin are joining in a September 7 performance of Mozart's Requiem at the apostolic palace in Castel Gandolfo. The...

An Italian journalist covering the Vatican has reported that Pope Benedict XVI will call a consistory for November of this year to raise new members to the College of Cardinals. Marco Tosatti of...

In advance of the visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Great Britain later this month, the Vatican Information Service has released some statistics about the life of the Church there. Among the 59.3...

The British government’s top official handling plans for this month’s papal visit has suggested that the Pontiff will meet privately with sex-abuse victims. During a BBC television interview...

During his visit to Great Britain, Pope Benedict XVI will use Latin in celebrating Mass “to emphasize the universality of the faith and the continuity of the Church,” the director of papal liturgies...

Muslims could soon constitute a majority in Europe, largely because of the low birth rates among Christians, an Italian priest has warned. Father Piero Gheddo insisted: “The challenge must be taken...

A cardinal, a US bishops’ conference official, and 32 other religious leaders issued a statement on September 7 denouncing “categorically the derision, misinformation and outright bigotry being...

A Florida Protestant minister’s plan to burn copies of the Qur’an on September 11 has drawn condemnation from US government and military leaders. Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center...

Communist China continues to persecute bishops who are faithful to the Pope, even when they have received government recognition, the retired bishop of Hong Kong said in an article published by...

In a message published September 7, Pope Benedict expressed his hopes that Sweden’s first new Catholic university since the Middle Ages will be characterized by “the illustrious tradition of study,...

A federal judge on September 7 rejected the Obama administration’s request to lift his temporary ban on federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. “In this Court's view, a stay would flout...

Two bishops, joined by 40 priests and 1,500 faithful, attended the solemn consecration of the Parish of Jesus the Good Shepherd in the Diocese of Baotou on September 1. Both bishops were ordained...

A Connecticut bishop has defended the concept of social justice against critics who “have been telling Catholics to eliminate the term ‘social justice’ from any organization that speaks on Catholic...

The director of the Sistine Chapel has set up a panel of international experts to propose methods of conserving the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, without restricting access for...

Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels conceded that he had made mistakes in his handling of sex-abuse allegations, and should have demanded the immediate resignation of a bishop who had molested a...

Geoffrey Robertson, a human-rights lawyer and former UN judge, is generating publicity in Great Britain with his argument that the Vatican is using its sovereign status to shield priests who are...

In Vienna, Austria, abortionist Christian Fiala admits hiring people to harass and intimidate pro-lifers outside the clinic. Several physical assaults have been captured on videotape, but to date...

Having seen an advance screening of a British television documentary on Pope Benedict XVI, columnist Damian Thompson of the Daily Telegraph reports that the show is such a heavy-handed attack that...

An editorial in the Des Moines Register supports the “telemed” abortions that are being performed in Iowa, and says that state laws should be changed to accommodate the practice. As pro-life blogger...

Archbishop Malcom Ranjith of Colombo, Sri Lanka—the former secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship—has embarked on a determined effort to stimulate reverence for the Eucharist. As a major...

Writing for the National Catholic Register, Tim Drake singles out dioceses and religious communities that are reaping a harvest of vocations. A quibble: the title of the story refers to the “coming”...

After a performance of Mozart’s Requiem at the papal summer residence on September 7, Pope Benedict XVI said that the work is “an exalted expression of faith.” Speaking at the conclusion of the...

At his weekly public audience on September 8, Pope Benedict XVI continued his reflections on the contributions that women have made to Catholic theology, and particularly the influence of St....

Eight days before his scheduled arrival in the United Kingdom, Pope Benedict XVI released a message to the people of that nation. During his regular public audience on September 8, the Pope read...

Missionary nuns in the Philippines have denounced an anti-poverty program that provides cash payments to needy families, saying that handouts do not solve the problem of poverty. “The poor should...

The Vatican has issued a strong statement condemning the “Burn a Koran Day” organized by a fundamentalist group in Florida. Noting that the observance is scheduled for September 11, on the...

In a September 8 audience, Pope Benedict called upon members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to shun relativism and defend life, marriage, and religious and educational...

An estimated 4,000 Vietnamese Catholics in three northwestern provinces are defying local government bans on public religious activities and are gathering to pray in homes. “I am very happy that...

Priests and nuns demonstrated in Sri Lanka’s capital on September 8 against a proposed constitutional amendment that would abolish presidential term limits, allowing President Mahinda Rajapaksa to...

A missionary whose name was not reported for safety reasons has questioned the motives behind a United Nations report on over 500 recent rapes by members of armed groups in the eastern Democratic...

A Catholic layman in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, was shot in front of his parish on September 6. It is unclear whether Asghar Bhatti, 61, was deliberately targeted or whether the three...

In the western Indian state of Gujarat-- where the ratio is 883 girls for every 1,000 boys-- a man was arrested after throwing his newborn daughter into a gutter on September 2. Narottam Devipujak...

When two US bishops recently visited Ghana, they found that the Church there is characterized by “youthfulness, energy, and a zest for life,” said Auxiliary Bishop Martin Holley of Washington, who...

An Australian researcher argues that “repressed memory” is a myth. Grant Devilly of Griffith University says that someone who has experienced a trauma is highly unlikely to forget the...

A prominent leader of America’s Republican Party has warned candidates not to discuss social issues during this year’s campaign. Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi told a Washington audience...

Pope Benedict XVI met on September 9 with Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves of Cape Verde at the summer papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. A short Vatican statement released after the...

A Catholic college in Texas has ruled that a gay-rights group cannot participate in a campus event at which non-profit groups recruit student interns. St. Edward’s University declined a bid by...

A university in India has ordered the reinstatement of a professor who was dismissed by a Catholic college after allegedly insulting Muslim students—and after outraged Islamic extremists had hacked...

A court in India has handed down a 6-year prison sentence for one of the key figures in the anti-Christian violence that swept through the eastern Orissa state in 2008. Manoj Pradhan, a leader in...

A Catholic pastor in Chicago has lashed out at Cardinal Francis George for conferring the title of “monsignor” on several archdiocesan priests. Father Thomas McQuaid of St. Leonard parish in...

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick says that Americans should be free to embrace either the Gospel or the Qu’ran. Responding to a reporter’s question after an appearance at the National Press Club in...

Echoing statements made recently by American interfaith leaders and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the heads of three US bishops’ committees said in a September 9 statement that...

A blind lawyer who had documented forced late-term abortions and sterilizations in Shandong province was released from prison on September 10 after four years. Chinese authorities carefully closed...

As the Dominicans hold their general chapter in Rome, the order’s vice provincial in Pakistan discusses the persecution Christians endure there. Noting that “the Church in Pakistan is a suffering...

President Barack Obama issued a statement on September 9 commemorating Eid ul-Fitr, the conclusion of Ramadan. “Eid ul-Fitr marks the end of a holy month of fasting and prayer,” he said. “It is a...

Writing for The American Spectator, George Neumayr, the editor of Catholic World Report, argues that “the same foolish and false interpretation of the First Amendment that protects a project like...

A bishop already known for his pro-life activism is taking the further step of exhorting his priests to pray outside the state’s sole abortion clinic. “The 40 Days for Life North Dakota campaign...

September 12 marks the 50th anniversary of then-Sen. John F. Kennedy’s famed speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, in which he said: I believe in an America that is officially...

Writing in the Wall Street Journal about the pending beatification of Cardinal Newman, Father C. John McCloskey explains the importance of Cardinal Newman as seen by Pope Benedict XVI, and goes on...

Organizers of the visit by Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom have announced that all public events on the Pope's schedule will be broadcast live on the internet via streaming...

As the world’s Jews prepare to celebrate their high holy days--Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot-- Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message to Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni of Rome, “to express the most...

Speaking in Houston, where John F. Kennedy delivered his famous speech on Church-state affairs 50 years ago, former Senator Rick Santorum tells an audience at the University of St. Thomas that the...

A Belgian court has made public its ruling that the June 24 police raid on the headquarters of the Belgian bishops’ conference was illegal. The Court of Appeals said that no evidence seized in...

The 9th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US will be “a remarkable day of prayer and memory,” New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan told Vatican Radio. The archbishop will join...

Pope Benedict XVI met on September 10 with President Pal Schmitt of Hungary, at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. In addition to a discussion of Church-state relations in Hungary,...

Meeting on September 10 with a group of bishops from Brazil, Pope Benedict XVI said that the Catholic Church has always been a crucial part of the Brazilian identity. But that identity is now...

Noted historian Eamon Duffy, writing in the Irish Times, suggests that during his visit to the United Kingdom, Pope Benedict XVI should avoid confrontation with secular ideology. Duffy concedes...

A US federal court judge in California has ruled that American military forces must abandon the policy that bars avowed homosexuals from military service, popularly known as the “don’t ask, don’t...

The Vatican is offering free admission to the Vatican Museums and the catacombs in Rome on September 26, in an observance of European Heritage Days. Responding to an initiative by the Council of...

As legislators in the Australian state of New South Wales prepared to vote on legislation that would allow adoptions by same-sex couples, Cardinal George Pell of Sydney has renewed his opposition to...

In an attempt to curb liturgical abuse at funerals, Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne has issued instructions banning “romantic ballads, pop or rock music, political songs, football club songs.”...

A commission established by the Church in Belgium to investigate clerical abuse issued its report on September 10, documenting 475 allegations received this year. “Almost every institution,...

A Pakistani bishop is grateful that a Florida Protestant pastor decided not to burn the Qu’ran on September 11. “If he were to burn the Qu’ran, we would have to pay the price,” said Bishop...

In a preview of Pope Benedict’s upcoming apostolic journey to the United Kingdom, the director of the Holy See Press Office dismissed widely publicized protests and upheld Cardinal John Henry...

Noting a profound demographic shift among different generations of Catholics in the United States, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate has found that 54% of “millennial generation”...

Cardinal Keith O’Brien presented the official papal visit tartan to the Scottish Parliament’s presiding officer on September 9. “It’s a great honor to be able to hand over the first-ever tartan...

As Pope Benedict began his apostolic journey to the United Kingdom, he was received by Queen Elizabeth II at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, her official residence in Scotland. The palace holds an...

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the United Kingdom on September 16, the feast of St. Ninian, the bishop who first brought the Gospel to the Picts in Scotland. According to the current (2004) edition of...

In two separate meetings with newly ordained bishops, Pope Benedict XVI has stressed the importance of the bishop’s own prayer life, which should fuel his evangelical efforts. Meeting on...

"How can we not open our hearts to the certainty that, though sinners, we are loved by God?” asked Pope Benedict XVI at his Angelus audience on Sunday, September 12. The Holy Father devoted most...

Just days before the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in Great Britain, organizers of the papal trip are not sure they will find takers for the 400,000 tickets available to the public ceremonies of the...

The reports of desecration of Qu’ran in the US on September 11 have led to bloody protests in India, especially in the troubled Indian side of Kashmir, a region with a Muslim majority. At least...

John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter reflects on how a scandal can permanently mar the image of a once-influential prelate. In his “fraternity of the disgraced” he lists Cardinal Bernard...

Meeting on September 13 with a new ambassador from Germany to the Holy See, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the importance to society of belief in a personal God. “If God does not have His own...

The Vatican Apostolic Library will reopen next week after a 3-year renovation project. At a September 13 press conference-- chaired by Cardinal Raffaele Farina, the Vatican librarian and...

Egyptian police stormed a Coptic Orthodox monastery last week, using tear gas and batons, to prevent the construction of new cells for monks. The Monastery of St. Macarius, which consist...

The head of India’s national commission for minorities will visit the troubled state of Orissa this week, but his schedule does not include trips to the Christian villages that felt the brunt of...

Moscow's Patriarch Kirill has asked the government of Ireland to give the Russian Orthodox Church the same legal standing as the Catholic Church. Meeting in Moscow with Ireland's President Mary...

Emmanuel Milingo, the former Catholic archbishop who has been excommunicated and laicized after years of attacks on the Catholic Church, has now lodged a claim that the Church seized property that...

The unexpected election of John Madigan as a senator from Victoria has revived the hopes of the Democratic Labor Party. Supporters of the DLP—which is non-denominational, but has historically been...

Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit led a prayer vigil outside an abortion clinic in Westland, Michigan, on September 11. The vigil began with Mass, with the archbishop presiding, then continued...

A bomb exploded on the evening of September 12 at a Protestant church in the northwestern Pakistani city of Mardan. “It is an act of intimidation towards Christians and their activities,” a...

Speaking in England on September 9, the Russian Orthodox prelate in charge of ecumenical relations minced no words as he blasted developments in contemporary Anglicanism. In the presence of...

Archbishop Angelo Amato, perfect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided at the beatification of Brother Leopoldo Sánchez Márquez de Alpandeire (1866-1956) in the Spanish city of...

An Irish bishop who, as a young priest, attended the entire Second Vatican Council has offered strong criticism of Hans Küng’s credentials as an interpreter of the council. “It is his claim to be...

Caritas Internationalis, the consortium of Catholic relief and development agencies, has renewed its appeal for flood-ravaged Pakistan. “Flooding has caused damage and displacement in a fifth of...

The current issue of Our Sunday Visitor includes a poignant interview with James O’Bryan, who has returned to the Church 82 years after he was molested as a seven-year-old in Louisville. “My mother...

Following his meeting with Queen Elizabeth and the outdoor Mass in Glasgow on the initial day of his apostolic journey to Great Britain, Pope Benedict spends September 17 in London and Westminster....

The latest revelations of sexual abuse by priests in Belgium is a “new cause of pain” for Church leaders, Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, told reporters. He said...

Ireland’s best-selling religious newspaper has issued an editorial lamenting that Great Britain is “being swept up in a wave of anti-Catholic hate” in the days leading up to the visit by Pope...

Hindu militants are continuing to force the conversions of Christians in the troubled Orissa state, according to the local Catholic leader. Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar said...

The Archdiocese of Boston has bought a local business that specialized in producing parish bulletins. BCTV, the media arm of the Boston archdiocese, purchased Parish Communications Solutions....

The Vatican will issue two special postmarks to mark the Pope’s visit to Great Britain and the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman. Both issues will show an image of Pope Benedict and one of...

A rising number of disaffected Catholics in Belgium are formally renouncing their faith, with the help of a secular-humanist group. The Flemish Humanist-Secular Society claims that 869 people...

A New York man has filed a lawsuit against a sedevacantist sect, claiming that the group enticed him to make a substantial monetary contribution without disclosing that it was not in communion with...

An Ohio man plans to open a museum to house the statues and other religious art that he has rescued from parishes that have...

A Massachusetts court has handed down a 6-month prison sentence to an abortionist who pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge. Rapin Osathanondh was charged in the death of 22-year-old Laura Hope...

The death toll from the September 13 anti-Christian rampage in Kashmir has reached 19, according to Vatican Radio. Following false reports that a Florida Protestant minister had proceeded with his...

A week after the Fides news agency published testimonies of Pakistani Christians who claimed they had been denied relief aid because of their religion, the Pakistani government has denied that...

Pope Benedict has named a successor to Bishop James Wingle, the Canadian bishop who resigned at the age of 63 in April and disappeared for four months. Bishop Wingle later said in an e-mail that he...

Pope Benedict will begin September 18, the third day of his apostolic journey to the United Kingdom, with separate meetings with Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and...

Pope Benedict’s apostolic journey to the United Kingdom will culminate on September 19 with the beatification of Venerable Cardinal John Henry Newman, described by Venerable John Paul II as “one of...

The current issue of Our Sunday Visitor draws attention to the work of Los Angeles Pregnancy Services (LAPS), a crisis pregnancy center in a poor Latino neighborhood of the nation’s second-largest...

Two of England’s more perceptive Catholic columnists have offered different reflections on the likely outcome of the Pope’s visit to the United Kingdom. Damian Thompson fears that the Pope will...

An Irish bishop has asked the priests of his diocese to donate €1,000 ($1,300) apiece to help defray the costs of sex-abuse settlement payments. Bishop Denis Brennan of Ferns—who had asked for...

A group of 50 prominent British individuals have joined in a public protest against the state visit by Pope Benedict XVI. The group’s statement-- denouncing the position of the Catholic Church on...

Cardinal Walter Kasper has raised eyebrows in England with an astonishingly insensitive comment about that country’s growing ethnic diversity. “When you arrive at Heathrow you think at times that...

A Belgian bishop has questioned why the Vatican has not taken stronger disciplinary action against a bishop who admitted to sexual abuse. Bishop Guy Harpigny of Tournai, the chief spokesman for...

Former British prime minister Tony Blair paid homage to Cardinal John Henry Newman—and said that he should be named a doctor of the Church—in a front-page article appearing today in L’Osservatore...

At his weekly public audience on September 15, Pope Benedict XVI continued his reflections on the influence of women in the Church with some thoughts on St. Clare of Assisi. "Her witness shows...

Pope Benedict XVI made an appeal for peace in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan at the conclusion of his regular weekly public audience on Wednesday, September 15. The Holy Father said that he has...

A Catholic prelate who has led a public campaign against illegal gambling has charged that 8 Catholic bishops received payoffs from the gambling bosses. Archbishop Oscar Cruz, the former head of...

A New York couple is bringing suit against a Catholic school for refusing to admit a boy who has not received the vaccinations required by current state policies. Andrea and Paul Polydor argue...

The Nashville Dominicans, with 27 new postulants entering their community this year, are among the traditional religious communities that are growing despite an overall decline in the number of...

The French senate has approved a bill that bars Islamic women from wearing the burka in public. The bill, already approved by the lower house of the French legislature, makes it illegal to wear a...

Pakistani bishops are calling for an end to discrimination in aid to the non-Muslim victims of recent flooding. The nation’s federal minister for religious minorities, a Catholic layman, recently...

The Council of European Bishops’ Conferences organized a pilgrimage from September 1-5 for the intention of the protection of creation. Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdo celebrated the opening Mass at...

A Dutch bishop with a reputation for staunch orthodoxy is facing two abuse allegations that he denies. Bishop Joannes Gijsen has faced controversy since his appointment by Pope Paul VI to the...

Representatives of different religions, including members of the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, and Druid communities, took part in an interfaith "blessing" of the Qu’ran at...

The National Catholic Register contains the extraordinary story of Sister Olga of the Eucharist Yaqob, an Iraqi convert to Catholicism who was recently appointed as co-director of the Catholic...

Pope Benedict XVI admitted that the Catholic hierarchy had not responded promptly and effectively to the sex-abuse crisis, during a question-and-answer session with reporters as he flew to Great...

Well over 100,000 people lined the streets of Edinburgh to welcome Pope Benedict XVI on September 16 as he began his state visit to Great Britain. The Pontiff had arrived in Scotland at 10:30 on...

Preaching at an outdoor Mass in Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park on the first day of his visit to the United Kingdom, Pope Benedict XVI spoke forcefully against a “dictatorship of relativism” that...

A retired archbishop in the Philippines has agreed to give the names the government officials who are, he says, taking bribes from the operators of illegal gambling ventures. Archbishop Oscar...

Family breakdown and out-of-wedlock births are decisive factors in the growth of poverty in the US, according to a new study from the Heritage Foundation. Children born to a single mother are...

A Chinese court has sentenced 7 people to prison terms for illegal trafficking in human organs. The convictions marked the first time that anyone had been convicted in connection with the booming...

With Pope Benedict’s trip to Great Britain renewing media interest in the sex-abuse scandal, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said that bishops aggravated the problem by suppressing the...

Most of the British priests who have been convicted for molesting children remain in the priesthood, according to a misleading story appearing in the Guardian newspaper. A careful reading of the...

The laicization of a Belgian bishop who admitted abusing a minor-- his nephew-- would be “more symbolic than practical,” said Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Holy See Press Office,...

Americans are strongly opposed to human cloning and ambivalent about human embryonic stem cell research, according to a poll commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Even...

Witchcraft is increasingly of concern to the Church in Angola, according to a report by the Fides news agency. “Witchcraft is the new war that makes pastoral activity very difficult,” said Father...

Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin has directed a parish to withdraw its invitation to a synagogue to hold its Yom Kippur service there following reports that its rabbi serves on the board of directors of...

The Archdiocese of Mexico City will investigate an alleged miracle attributed to the intercession of Cardinal John Henry Newman, according to the provost of Birmingham Oratory. A baby diagnosed as...

Debra Saunders, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, notes the double standard in the media’s treatment of the Ground Zero mosque and priest abuse scandal stories. “In 2002, after the...

Police in London arrested 5 men on terrorism charges early on Friday morning in connection with a possible plot against Pope Benedict XVI. A 6th man was arrested later in the day. Police said...

The most prominent figures involved in protests against the Pope’s visit to the United Kingdom—like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Peter Tatchell—would never think of themselves as...

Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona, has announced the excommunication of a local priest who participated in the attempted ordination of a woman last month. Father Vernon Meyer—who had...

Brother Guy Consolmagno, an astronomer at the Vatican Observatory, drew media coverage in England when he said that he would not dismiss the possibility that intelligent life exists on other...

Meeting on September 17 with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Pope Benedict XVI declined to address the tensions that have marked recent relations between the Catholic Church and the Anglican...

As the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman approaches, the battle for his legacy is heating up. John Cornwell, the author of several books attacking the Catholic Church, charges that Pope...

An American canon-law expert has agreed with the controversial charge by an Italian journalist that Catholic priests have been negligent in their failure to teach the principles of Humanae...

Pope Benedict XVI warned against the “increasing marginalization of religion” in a memorable address to the political leaders of British society, delivered on September 17 in Westminster...

Writing in the Guardian-- a paper that has given heavy coverage to protesters during the papal visit—Andrew Brown writes that the Pope’s address to the nation’s political leaders was a historic...

After a “working dinner” on September 17, leading officials of the Holy See and the British government issued a joint statement calling for more action to address world poverty and climate...

During his homily at a Mass celebrated on Saturday morning in Westminster cathedral, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his “deep sorrow” for the “unspeakable crimes” of sexual abuse. In his homily,...

Pope Benedict XVI joined with Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury and Catholic Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster in an ecumenical Vespers service at Westminster Abbey on Friday...

Pope Benedict's homily from the September 19 Mass at which he beatified Cardinal John Henry...

Church leaders in Belgium have become increasingly concerned about the abuse scandal’s financial ramifications, according to news reports. “Already confronted with empty churches, fewer priests...

Denouncing a recent visit by an Indian government official as “mere appearance” and “ceremony,” the leading prelate in the eastern Indian province of Orissa is calling for government aid for the...

Michael Kelly of The Irish Catholic has offered an analysis of the factors that are undermining Northern Ireland’s fragile peace. “As politicians sought to sell the 1998 deal [the Good Friday...

Pakistan is in desperate need to aid to assist the 15 million who had to leave their homes because of recent flooding, according to the national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies...

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is warning that a “synod” organized by the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform is not legitimate. The day-long synod took place on September 18 at a...

Recent GOP primary victories by Christine O’Donnell of Delaware and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire have cheered pro-life political activists. “Christine O’Donnell’s win, combined with the...

The Anglican-Roman Catholic Theological Consultation in the United States met recently to discuss “Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Common Ground and Divergences.” Participants worked on a draft...

Pope Benedict XVI met on September 18 with a group of British victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. The Pope “was moved by what they had to say, and expressed his deep sorrow and shame,”...

On a visit to a nursing home in London on September 18, Pope Benedict XVI suggested to the residents that they use the late Pope John Paul II as their model in facing the difficulties that come with...

Pope Benedict XVI presided at the beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman on September 19, in the culminating act of a 4-day visit to the United Kingdom. In an outdoor liturgy attended by...

Armenian Orthodox Archbishop Aram Atesyan presided as the Eucharist was celebrated for the first time in 95 years in a historic church on the island of Van, in eastern Turkey. The church on...

Meeting with the bishops of Great Britain on September 19—the final day of his visit to their country—Pope Benedict XVI emphasized “the urgent need to proclaim the Gospel afresh in a highly...

Pope Benedict XVI thanked the people for the United Kingdom for their warm welcome, and paid special tribute to the organizers of his visit the Great Britain, before boarding his plane for a return...

London police have released six men who were taken into custody last Friday in connection with a suspected plot against Pope Benedict XVI. The men—all of them reportedly of North African...

Dissident groups that have fought against the closing of their parishes in the Boston archdiocese are losing support for their vigils, the Boston Globe reports. After six years of resisting the...

At the InsideCaholic Partnership Award dinner last week, Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon, spoke about the US bishops’ conference, and particularly “the tendency of the conference to take on a...

Israeli authorities have allowed trucks carrying relief shipments to cross into the Gaza Strip, for the first time since...

Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton, Alberta, has directed all Catholic schools and institutions in the archdiocese to stop using “casino nights” and other gambling ventures for their fundraising...

Pope Benedict XVI has returned to his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo for a few days of relaxation, after a 4-day visit to Great Britain that his spokesman characterized as “an extraordinary...

Two Belgian bishops are questioning the value of the discipline of mandatory priestly celibacy in the Latin Rite. “I think the Church must ask itself the question of whether it is appropriate to...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is urging the Department of Health and Human Services not to include contraception and sterilization on its list of preventive services that...

Father Gerhard Hirschfelder (1907-42), a German priest who died of hunger and pneumonia in the Dachau concentration camp, was beatified as a martyr on September 19. The priest had urged Catholic...

Five men attacked a Protestant pastor just after nightfall on September 13 near the eastern Pakistani city of Kasur. As Emmanuel Beshir, a Pentecostal pastor, was walking down the road, the five...

A California bishop is calling upon the United States to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. Citing a UN report that found that Afghanistan became a relatively less developed nation between...

Five years after Colorado scientists discovered that birth control hormones were causing the feminization of some fish, environmental groups contacted by the National Catholic Register remain...

Some 1,150 members of religious orders-- priests, brothers, and nuns-- have taken part in a 17-year-old study to find treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, the nation’s seventh-leading cause of death....

Italian police have impounded €23 million ($30 million) in assets of the Vatican bank, and are investigating the bank’s chairman on money-laundering charges. The Vatican is “perplexed and...

For the 8th time this year, a new Chinese bishop has been installed with the approval of both the Holy See and the Beijing government. Bishop Peter Wu Junwei was consecrated on September 21 to...

Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul has unveiled plans to rally Catholic opposition to the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in Minnesota. Church officials plan to mail a DVD...

A retired Catholic archbishop in the Philippines has charged several prominent government officials—reportedly including a cabinet secretary and a former national police chief—with accepting bribes...

The New York archdiocese is planning to close or merge a number of Catholic schools in order to bolster the viability of the parochial-school system. While published reports have said that 30 of...

The Vatican has confirmed plans for a visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Palermo, Italy, on October 3. The Pope will make the day-long trip to participate in a regional meeting of Catholic families....

An international Orthodox-Catholic commission opened a dialogue session on the papal primacy on September 22 in Vienna. In doing so, the commission continued discussions conducted in Cyprus last...

Eight months after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, the Caribbean nation is still experiencing a humanitarian emergency, according to the apostolic nuncio there. “The humanitarian situation...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has published an “action alert” asking Catholics to “urge your Senators to publicly support the new START treaty because it makes our nation and...

Violence and discrimination against Pakistani Christians-- including a recent attack on a Protestant church-- have led to a climate of fear and insecurity, a Pakistani priest told the Fides news...

Bishop William Murphy, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, is urging Congress to “strengthen and improve” the...

Representatives of the Holy See and Israel met on September 21 in a negotiating session that ended with a joint statement announcing “progress” toward a juridical pact establishing the status of...

At his weekly public audience on September 22, Pope Benedict XVI said that his visit to Great Britain had “confirmed my profound conviction that the old nations of Europe possess a Christian soul.”...

Journalist Terry Mattingly of GetReligion.org was one of the few observers who picked up on Pope Benedict’s reference to St. Edward the Confessor during his visit to Westminster Abbey, and the...

Pope Benedict XVI called for renewed prayer for Christian unity as he concluded his public audience on Wednesday, September 22. The Pope called attention to a new meeting of the joint...

A book by Geoffrey Robertson, the prominent barrister who has assailed Pope Benedict for his handling of the sex-abuse crisis, “contains many dramatic and false claims that need correcting,” an...

Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, said that he did not travel to Scotland to meet with Pope Benedict XVI last week because the Pontiff was making a state visit to the...

Describing himself as “deeply humiliated” by a money-laundering investigation, the president of the Vatican bank has said that a “procedural error” was responsible for triggering the Italian...

The US Senate has blocked legislation that would have allowed openly homosexual men and women to enlist in the armed forces. The same legislation would also have allowed abortions at military...

A group called “Catholics for Equality,” which lobbied for admission of overt homosexuals into the US military forces, “cannot be legitimately recognized as Catholic,” according to the archbishop...

Personal conflicts are frustrating an international effort to give Somalia its first effective national government in nearly 20 years, reports Bishop Giorgio Bertin, the apostolic administrator of...

The Committee on Doctrine of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a 24-page critique of The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology, a 2008 work by Creighton...

Addressing a summit of heads of state and government on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, warned against...

Thirty Christian churches have been attacked in Indonesia this year, according to a statement issued September 23 by Christian Solidarity Worldwide. The organization, which draws attention to the...

Repeating Pope Benedict’s call for “the creation of zones free of nuclear weapons, with a view to their complete elimination from the planet,” a Vatican diplomat said that the Holy See strongly...

The Holy See Press Office announced on September 22 that Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes would emphasize Catholic identity in an upcoming address to Catholic Charities USA. The cardinal is president of...

The leadership of Catholic Charities USA met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office on September 22. “President Obama recognized the social service organization for their 100 years of...

Local government officials in predominantly Muslim Malaysia have ordered a Protestant community to stop building a brick church in a village where 600 were baptized in 2001. The previous bamboo...

Two of the “seers” who claim to have received more than 40,000 apparitions of the Virgin Mary will speak at a prayer service in Vienna’s cathedral of St. Stephen on Thursday evening, September...

Australia’s postal service will celebrate the canonization of Blessed Mary MacKillop, the first native Australian to be named a saint, with the release of a commemorative postage stamp on October...

Questions about money transfers by the Vatican bank “could have been clarified with great simplicity,” the Vatican argues in a new statement on an Italian investigation of the Institute for...

Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC, has been named by the Vatican to head efforts in the US to welcome Anglicans seeking entry into the Catholic Church. The US bishops’ conference has...

Planned Parenthood abortion clinics in New Jersey may be closing down as a result of budget-cutting decisions by Governor Chris Christie. The New Jersey Senate has upheld Christie’s veto of a...

The bishops of Bolivia have issued a statement denouncing the widespread phenomenon of lynchings in the South American nation. European media have reported that eight lynchings take place in Bolivia...

In 1986, The Mission-- a film that won an Academy Award and later received Vatican recognition-- publicized the story of the suppression of the Jesuit missions to the Guarani in South America....

Ven. Chiara Badano (1973-1991), an Italian teenager who died of bone cancer, will be beatified in Rome on September 25. Badano, who was involved in the Focolare movement, frequently refused morphine...

A Florida appeals court has ruled that a 1977 state law forbidding adoption by homosexual persons is unconstitutional. “It is difficult to see any rational basis in utilizing homosexual persons as...

Pro-life legislation that recently went into effect in Missouri requires women to be informed of the stages of fetal development before having an abortion, mandates a 24-hour waiting period, and...

Father John Jenkins, the president of the University of Notre Dame, has appointed a recent graduate, Mary Daly, to the newly-created position of coordinator for university life initiatives. While a...

A year after an Iowa Supreme Court ruling imposed same-sex marriage on the state, the state’s bishops are urging Catholics to vote for a state constitutional convention that would permit passage of...

In their new book Attacco a Ratzinger (“Attack on Ratzinger”) two of Italy’s best Vatican-watchers examine the controversies that have arisen during the first five years of the current pontificate....

Looking carefully at the Millennium Development Goals—the UN program for aid to the developing world—Carolyn Moynihan finds a great deal of discussion about help for women and children. But...

The Cardinal Newman Society has asked the president of Creighton University to clarify the Jesuit institution’s position regarding two professors whose written work has drawn a warning from the US...

Pope Benedict XVI met on Thursday evening with students from a parochial school near his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, and told them about his own memories of early school days. "At school...

The Vatican has released the schedule for a visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Spain on November 6 and 7. The Holy Father will fly from Rome on Saturday morning, November 6, arriving at Santiago de...

Pope Benedict XVI called for a healthier balance between work and rest in his message of the 7th World Meeting of Families. The natural rhythms of work and recreation are essential to family...

Digging a bit further into the accusations against the Vatican bank, Sandro Magister of L’Espresso emphasizes the irony of the investigation into the work of Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the new chairman...

The Australian ABC television network notes that Blessed Mary MacKillop—who will soon be canonized as Australia’s first native saint—was excommunicated early in her religious life because of her...

Exploring new ways to use the latest communications tools for the good of the Church, the Boston archdiocese has introduced a new social network, ICatholic. The site allows registered members to...

Israeli authorities moved on September 24 to close down access to the mosques on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Only men over the age of 50 were allowed to enter the mosques for Friday prayers. The...

The Catholic bishops of Colombia are renewing their call for peace talks after the second-ranking leader of the FARC rebel group was killed in a military operation. Victor Suarez Rojas, known as...

Popular belief in witchcraft is “a very serious problem” in Angola, reports Bishop Antonio Jaca of Caxito in an interview with the Fides news service. Bishop Jaca attributes the influence of...

Borrowing a famous line from the movie Jerry Maguire, David Mills writes that when liberal Catholics invoke the "spirit of Vatican II," conservatives should reply with a simple, insistent demand:...

Malaysia’s high court has ruled that local authorities unlawfully demolished a Christian chapel in 2005 and ordered them to make restitution to indigenous villagers in Johor. Many of the nation’s...

An inspector general’s report has found that between 2001 and 2006, the FBI wrongly added Catholic Worker and four other advocacy groups to its watchlist for terrorism. In Catholic Worker’s case,...

The new English translation of the Roman Missal-- hailed by Helen Hull Hitchcock of Adoremus as “accurate, reverent, and beautiful”-- will include texts and music for chants in English and Latin....

First Lady Michelle Obama said last month that her husband “always carries a picture of Mary Help of Christians in his wallet.” She made her remarks while visiting a house of the Salesian community...

As southern Sudan prepares for its independence referendum in January, Catholic Relief Services has launched a new initiative to encourage Catholics to pray and advocate for peace there. Two...

Brother Guy Consolmagno of the Vatican Observatory is downplaying apocalyptic scenarios associated with the 2013 solar storm, which may disrupt cell phone and wireless communication. Recalling...

Pope Benedict XVI met with Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the embattled head of the Vatican bank, after his Angelus audience on September 26. Tedeschi and his wife were among the handful of people who...

The Ukrainian Orthodox Archdiocese of Odessa is protesting the plans of Eastern-rite Ukrainian Catholics to build a cathedral in the city. “There is no visible presence of Greek Catholics in...

After Hindu militants burst into a Protestant church in the Karnataka region of India’s violence-marred Orissa state, and assaulted the pastor, local police arrived on the scene—and arrested the...

Fifty years after the introduction of the birth-control pill, the routine use of contraceptives has proved to be detrimental to the status of women, argues Cardinal George Pell of Sydney. While...

The leader of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church has apologized for a colleague’s public statement that some passages in the Qu’ran are incorrect. Coptic Bishop Bishoy had drawn angry protests from...

A Brazilian artist has gained notoriety with an exhibit of drawings in which he portrays himself killing various prominent figures, including the Pope. Gil Vicente has submitted a charcoal...

Despite heavy media coverage, a call for Irish Catholic women to boycott Mass on September 26 had little noticeable effect. A lay woman, Jennifer Sleeman, had captured the attention of the mass...

Pope Benedict’s visit was a great success, writes William Oddie in England’s Catholic Herald. But some prominent Catholic voices are expressing discomfort with that success. Oddie cites in...

Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading, the parable of Dives and Lazarus, the Holy Father told his audience that “it is up to us to follow the path God has shown us in order to achieve life, and...

Speaking on September 25 to a group of Brazilian bishops who were completing their ad limina visits, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the need for “restoring the trust of many priests in the sacrament of...

Catholicism is the most trusted faith in Korea, a new survey shows. The weekly magazine Sisain found that when readers were asked to name the two most credible religions in Korea, Catholicism...

Cardinal Michele Giordano, the retired Archbishop of Naples, celebrated his 80th birthday on Sunday, and thereby became ineligible to participate in a papal conclave. There are now 103 cardinals...

“I have wanted to live my ministry as the Successor of Peter with the sentiments of a pilgrim,” Pope Benedict XVI said in a message to participants in a conference on pilgrimages and...

Pope Benedict XVI offered his thanks to the officials of Castel Gandolfo on September 27, as he prepared to leave his summer residence and return to the Vatican. The Pope thanked both civic and...

The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which met in Vienna last week, failed to produce any breakthrough in its dialogue of...

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has named Michelle Bachelet the head of United Nations Women, a major new international agency with a $500-million budget. A victim of torture under the Pinochet...

A survey of 3,412 Americans conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has documented the extent of religious ignorance. While 44% of Americans speak frequently with friends and...

Discussing the effects of the clerical abuse scandal on their vocations, some seminarians told Our Sunday Visitor about the contempt and ridicule they have received, while one spoke of his distrust...

Father Thomas Dubay, the famed retreat master and spiritual director, died on September 26. Ordained in 1950, the Marist priest wrote several books on the spiritual life, including Fire Within: St....

Ten states are supporting the appeal of an August 4 federal court decision that in essence imposed same-sex marriage on California. The court struck down legislation, approved by California voters...

A top European banking official has disputed claims that the Vatican bank has made a full commitment to compliance with new European regulations against money-laundering. Jeffrey Owens, who heads...

US President Barack Obama raised eyebrows with a recent speech in which he quoted the famous line from Declaration of Independence about “unalienable rights,” but omitted the mention of a Creator...

After the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, Pope Benedict made a private visit to the Birmingham Oratory and the rooms where Newman once lived. Although there was no major media coverage...

A European court has ruled that a German Catholic diocese cannot terminate the employment of a church musician who left his wife to live with another woman. The European Court of Human Rights in...

Lay Catholic groups in the Philippines are organizing efforts to oppose any effort by President Benigno Aquino to promote artificial family planning. ...

Geoffrey Robertson, the human-rights lawyer who has mounted a campaign to hold the Pope accountable for the sex-abuse scandal, explains that his complaint ultimately involves the recognition of the...

Vatican officials are in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, this week, to plan for a conference on the experience of Africa in the 50 years since the end of colonial rule on that continent. The Pontifical...

An Australian Anglican tribunal has found one of its bishops guilty of eight counts of “disgraceful conduct and wilful violation of church ordinances.” Bishop Ross Davies of Murray, who resigned...

The three newest bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion are having second thoughts about union with the Holy See and are instead engaged in merger talks with the Anglican Province of...

The hundreds of thousands of Chaldean Catholics who have fled Iraq for Jordan are caught in a legal limbo. Allowed in the nation as “guests” for six months, they must pay a fine each additional day...

A day before the scheduled execution of Albert Greenwood Brown for a 1980 murder, the bishops of California called for an end to the use of the death penalty in the state. “We recognize that...

A federal appeals court on September 28 permitted the Obama administration to resume funding of embryonic stem cell research while the administration appeals the August decision that banned the...

The Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis, which serves as the co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, has suspended its artist in residence after she announced that she is...

At his weekly public audience on September 29, Pope Benedict XVI continued his series of talks on the influential women of the Middle Ages, speaking about St. Matilda of Hackeborn. Born into a...

At the conclusion of his regular weekly audience on Wednesday, September 29, Pope Benedict XVI asked for special prayers for needy people in Nigeria and in Haiti. In northern Nigeria, the Pope...

The Vatican has announced the theme chosen by Pope Benedict XVI for the 45th annual World Day of Social Communications: “Truth, proclamation and authenticity of life in the digital age.” The...

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate have chosen an American priest, Father Louis Lougen, as their superior general. Meeting in Rome this week for their 39th general chapter, the delegates...

Pope Benedict XVI has "surprised all of us" in the first five years of his pontificate, according to his personal secretary. The Holy Father, he said, is full of the same "vitality" of his John Paul...

Ireland’s four metropolitan archbishops will travel to Rome next week for a series of meetings to prepare for the apostolic visitation of the Irish Church. Pope Benedict XVI announced in March...

A new government study of AIDS in the US shows that active homosexual men account for nearly half of all Americans who are HIV-positive, and constitute the only group that still shows a rising rate...

A Jesuit professor has joined in rallying support for same-sex marriage on the campus of Georgetown University. Father Joseph Palacios, a sociology teacher, is a member of the board of Catholics...

With the approval of both the Holy See and Chinese government authorities, Bishop Peter Wu Junwei was consecrated as bishop of Yuncheng on September 26. The east-central Chinese city has a...

A group of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders-- including Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the...

In a letter to parishes dated October 4-- the memorial of St. Francis of Assisi-- Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles will announce the formation of the Archdiocesan Creation Sustainability...

A leading Nigerian prelate is lamenting the wave of kidnappings-- including the recent abduction of 15 children from a school bus-- taking place in the nation’s capital. “everyone is a victim of...

The annual ecumenical dialogue between the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and representatives of Oriental Orthdox churches took place in the Bronx on September 20 and 21. Participants...

President Barack Obama spoke on September 28 about his conversion to Christianity. The president, who attended a Catholic elementary school when he lived in Jakarta, was baptized as a United Church...

Pope Benedict XVI said his farewells to the staff of the apostolic palace at Castel Gandolfo on September 30, as he prepared for his return to the Vatican. The Pope assured the staff at his...

President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines has been warned that he could face disciplinary action from the Catholic Church—including possible excommunication—if he continues to promote...

Italian banking investigators questioned Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the head of the Vatican bank, at length on September 30. Tedeschi and his top subordinate, Paolo Cipriani, spent 4 hour in a...

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Archbishop Ricardo Blazquez of Valladolid, Spain, to lead an apostolic visitation of Regnum Christi, the lay movement associated with the Legionaries of Christ. In...

The World Prayer Congress for Life, to be held in Rome next month, will honor a Polish midwife who saved hundreds of babies from death at Auschwitz. Stanislawa Leszczynska delivered over 3,000...

The Maronite Catholic hierarchy has reported rising tensions within Lebanon, warning that conflicts between the government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the Hezbollah movement could lead to open...

The Vatican has released the prayer intentions of Pope Benedict XVI for October 2010. The Pope's general intention is: That Catholic universities may more and more be places where, in the light of...