Catholic World News

When he made his historic first "tweet" last week, Pope Benedict XVI immediately drew more than 50,000 followers to the Vatican Twitter account. Publicity surrounding the Pope's contribution...

In an exclusive report from Italy, AP tells the story of a woman who insists that she was cured from cancer through the intercession of Pps Pius XII. The sudden recovery of Maria Esposito could...

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak of Malaysia will visit the Vatican this month, to meet with Pope Benedict XVI and to discuss the possibility of opening formal diplomatic ties. The...

Libya’s most prominent Catholic prelate, a frequent critic of the Western intervention in Libya, has issued his strongest condemnation yet of the NATO bombing campaign. “Bombing is always an...

The Catholic bishops of the Philippines have agreed that during their meeting in Manila this week, they will discuss charges that some bishops received favors from the government’s Charity...

The public spokesman of the Mexico City archdiocese has announced that he will appeal a July 1 court ruling that he engaged in illegal political activity when he said that Catholics should not vote...

The Holy See’s budget for 2010 showed a surplus of €9.8 ($14.2) million, reversing deficits from the 3 preceding years. At a meeting of the council of cardinals that supervises budgetary affairs,...

In a strongly worded statement, the Vatican has announced that a Chinese bishop installed by the government-backed Patriotic Catholic Association last week “has no authority to govern the diocesan...

“The yoke of Christ is the law of love,” Pope Benedict XVI told his Sunday Angelus audience on July 3. In his appearance before the crowd in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope offered some thoughts on...

A former Vatican official who frequently solicited loans—allegedly for charity—and did not repay them has quietly been banned from the Vatican territory. Msgr. Gianni Sonda, who was once chief...

A new report on Ireland’s Magdalene laundries has focused attention on the heavy government involvement with the Church-run institutions. The “Justice for Magdalenes” report, commissioned by...

“Never separate truth and charity from your artistic creativity,” Pope Benedict XVI urged artists, as he opened a Vatican exhibit honoring the 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination. The...

The wishes of Pope Benedict XVI are being thwarted by some of his own subordinates, charges Bishop Bernard Fellay of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X. Bishop Fellay claimed that “when the...

A Catholic priest was killed on July 2 when he was caught in a crossfire during a massive gun battle between Mexican troops and competing drug-trafficking gangs. Father Marco Antonio Duran Romero...

A Christian group has announced plans to help 8,700 Ethiopian Jews travel to Israel and take up permanent residence there. The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem said that it is...

“The Church is not a social or philanthropic organization,” Pope Benedict XVI reminded a group of pilgrims from southern Italy who visited the Vatican on July 2. “She is the community of...

The Indian Medical Association, the country’s largest group of physicians, is offering financial reward to anyone who can help identify doctors performing illegal sex-determination tests on unborn...

With same-sex marriage now legally recognized in New York, lawyers are turning to the question of same-sex divorce. Laws regarding divorce, in New York and other states, are frequently based on...

Garry O’Sullivan of the Irish Catholic finds it interesting that Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is not listed among the speakers scheduled to address a Vatican conference on sexual abuse next...

In a weekly editorial commentary, Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, comments on the 60th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Pope Benedict XVI, and the Pope’s...

Pope Benedict XVI visited the editorial offices of L’Osservatore Romano on July 5, as the Vatican newspaper continues to celebrate its 150th anniversary. The Pope thanked the editors and staff...

The ordinations of new priests within the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) are “illegitimate,” the Vatican’s top spokesman has told reporters. Answering reporters’ questions about the...

An investigator’s report on sex-abuse problems within Ireland’s Cloyne diocese will be delivered to the government on July 12 and made public soon thereafter, according to the Irish Catholic. The...

Dutch prosecutors are weighing criminal charges against a Catholic bishop who was removed from his post as head of the Ngong, Kenya diocese in 2009 after he was accused of sexual abuse. Bishop...

Pope Benedict XVI has introduced two major initiatives at World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations during his pontificate, notes Sandro Magister of L'Espresso. At his first WYD as Pontiff, in Cologne...

The July 2 death of a young Catholic priest in Springfield, Massachusetts, has been ruled a suicide. The body of Father Paul Archambault was discovered in his rectory on July 3 after he failed to...

The Vatican today announced plans for an unprecedented public display of key documents from its archives, giving “the wider public its first chance to enter the reality of the Vatican Secret...

The Vatican archives for the period of World War II and the pontificate of Pope Pius XII will be ready for scholars’ scrutiny within 2-3 years, according to the prefect of the Vatican Secret...

The Jordanian prince who headed a group of Muslim scholars inviting Christians to dialogue will take part in the inter-religious meeting at Assisi in October. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal,...

The prefect of the Congregation for Religious has said that his main goal is to “rebuild trust” in the Vatican office—implicitly criticizing his predecessor for efforts to address doctrinal and...

Filipino Catholic bishops who received funds from the government’s Charity Sweepstakes Office were guilty of “morally offensive” conduct even if they did not violate the law, a leading legislator...

A Muslim group tried to seize control of a hospital run by a Presbyterian missionary group in Pakistan, bringing charges that the hospital had been sold. The effort was foiled only after local...

In a powerful editorial for The Anchor, the official newspaper for the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, Father Roger Landry calls attention to the pastoral damage done by priests who refuse to...

Altar rails, which nearly disappeared in the era of liturgical change following Vatican II, are making a comeback in American Catholic churches, the National Catholic Register reports. Architects...

An outspoken Australian priest is threatening to renege on a promise to retire at the age of 77, saying that he was under pressure when he made a promise to step down. Father Bob Maguire, who...

William McGurn of the Wall Street Journal has joined the list of columnists intrigued by Maria Hvistendahl’s new book Unnatural Selection, which decries the widespread practice of sex-selection...

In a stinging public statement, the apostolic society of which Father John Corapi is a member has announced that the popular preacher and television personality is not “fit for ministry,” and...

Pope Benedict XVI has delayed the scheduled start of his vacation by a few days, to spend some extra time with his brother before departing for the summer papal residence at Castel Gandolfo. The...

Although Catholic religious orders in Ireland have contributed more than €20 million ($28 million) to a fund to compensate victims of abuse in Church-run institutions, the government has not yet set...

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has issued a statement defending the bishops who received money and luxury cars from the government’s Charity Sweepstakes Office. “Our...

The newly appointed Archbishop of Berlin, Rainer Maria Woelki, faces daunting opposition from dissidents and secularists in the German capital. A Reuters report gives special prominence to the...

The people of southern Sudan are in high spirits as the date of their new nation’s independence approaches, reports the secretary-general of the Archdiocese of Juba. On July 9, southern Sudan...

John Zmirak bids farewell to Otto von Habsburg--son of Blessed Karl, the last of the Habsburg emperors--and wonders how the ugly history of 20th century Europe might have been altered if that empire...

Elizabeth Scalia offers a dispassionate look at disputes the surrounding Father John Corapi, and wonders whether SOLT, the apostolic society of which the suspended priest is a member, should be held...

The Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, has completed the first stage of a cause for the beatification of Father Emil Kapaun, a Catholic chaplain who served heroically in the Korean War. Father Kapaun,...

Pope Benedict XVI toured an exhibit honoring his predessor, Blessed John Paul II, at the Vatican on July 6. The special exhibit, housed in the Charlemagne Wing of the colonnade in St. Peter’s...

Since women make up 80% of the churchgoing population in Catholic Africa, the Church must discuss “how to better integrate them, and their vital role, especially in the process of decision making,”...

The lower house of Russia’ parliament, the Duma, has approved legislation that will require all abortion advertisements to include warnings about the risks to the mother’s health. Proponents of...

Vatican Radio provides a grim update on the situation in Somalia, a country that has been ruled by competing warlords, lacking an effective national government for more than 20 years. After...

The Vatican has announced an agreement with the government of Azerbaijan, establishing the legal status of Church institutions there. The new accord was signed on July 6 by Elmar Mammadyarov, the...

In a message for World Tourism Day, the Pontifical Council for Migrants says that healthy tourism is marked by the willingness to accept other cultures and to be enriched by them. Such a healthy...

In a pastoral message celebrating the bicentennial of Venezuela’s independence, the nation’s bishops paid tribute to those who freed the country from colonialism and called upon citizens to reverse...

Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles has called upon California lawmakers to reject two bills that “represent a dangerous government intrusion into parents’ rights.” The first would permit...

The chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace and the president of Catholic Relief Services are calling for “robust funding” for...

The Diocese of Orange has announced that it may make a bid to purchase Crystal Cathedral, the 3,000-seat Protestant church built by televangelist Robert Schuller. A diocesan spokesman told the...

The number of pilgrims visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Wisconsin has increased nearly tenfold since Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay officially approved the Marian apparitions that...

In a brief L’Osservatore Romano column, Giulia Galeotti notes the link between the eugenics movement and the use of amniocentesis to abort children diagnosed with disabilities. “Eugenics...

Pope Benedict XVI left the Vatican on Thursday evening, July 7, to begin his summer vacation. The Pope traveled from Rome to Castel Gandolfo, where he will stay until September in the summer...

Cardinal Attilio Nicora has resigned his post as president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) in order to concentrate on his duties as president of the newly created...

Citing “systematic” abuses in an investigative report on the work of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Americans United for Life (AUL) has called for a full Congressional investigation...

A coalition of pro-family groups in El Salvador has charged that the US ambassador to that country was guilty of a “clear violation of the rules of diplomacy” when she wrote a newspaper article...

Scott Walter, a Georgetown University graduate, is bemused by the controversy that erupted at Notre Dame over the discovery that a member of the school’s governing board had donated to a...

Three Catholic parishes in the San Francisco diocese-- Most Holy Redeemer, St. John of God, and St. Agnes-- sent delegations to participate in the city's Gay Pride parade. Although these delegations...

Father John Corapi has announced that he will not obey the order from his superior in the Society of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity (SOLT) to leave his private Montana compound and live with other...

Carolyn Woo, the dean of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, has been named president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, the relief agency founded by the US bishops....

Reflecting on the recent passage of same-sex marriage in New York, Archbishop Timothy Dolan offered “thanks to those courageous millions who valiantly fought this unfortunate project of social...

Alberto Cutié, a former Miami archdiocesan priest whose television, radio, and newspaper outreach extended to outlets as varied as Telemundo and EWTN, will host a syndicated daytime television talk...

Bearing copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, Bishop John Ricard will represent the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on...

The Portuguese cardinal who made headlines by saying that there is no major obstacle to the ordination of women has reversed his public stand, acknowledging that the Church can never ordain women,...

The Vatican has sent a delegation led by Cardinal John Njue of Nairobi, Kenya, to join in celebrations as southern Sudan formally proclaims its independence on July 9. Southern Sudan is becoming...

Pope Benedict XVI arrived at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo on Thursday evening, July 7, to begin his vacation. “I am so happy to be here,” the Pope said as he greeted residents of the...

Catholic priests in the Diocese Liaoning have circled around their bishop, hoping to prevent authorities from forcing him to participate in the ordination of another bishop without Vatican...

Gay activists in Berlin are already mounting opposition to Archbishop-elect Rainer Maria Woelki, because of the prelate’s public statements against homosexuality. The new archbishop, who was...

Catholic bishops in the Philippines have announced that they will return luxury vehicles they received as gifts from the government’s Charity Sweepstakes Office. Political leaders have scolded...

Italy’s divorce rate is rising, with the number of separations among married couples rising even faster, the latest national statistics show. Last year the Italian divorce rate rose by 0.2%, and...

A Catholic parish in Brooklyn has returned a contribution from a lawmaker who supported same-sex marriage. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel refused a $50 donation from Assemblyman Joseph Lentol to the...

In his weekly editorial, the director of the Holy See Press Office paid tribute to South Sudan on its July 9 independence from Sudan and recalled Blessed John Paul II’s 1993 apostolic journey to...

The Indian episcopal conference has “strongly condemned” sex-change operations performed on infant girls at the request of their parents. In Indore--a city of 1.5 million in the central Indian state...

The Christian community is “heavily involved” in recent protests against government corruption in Malaysia, according to the editor of The Herald, the nation’s Catholic weekly newspaper. The...

Ten million people in northern Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and South Sudan are at risk of starvation because of the worst regional drought in 60 years. “Unless urgent help is received, the...

In an initiative “much desired and supported by Benedict XVI,” five nonbelievers will participate in the day of reflection, dialogue, and prayer for peace and justice in the world that will take...

L’Osservatore Romano has paid tribute The Hustler five decades after the film’s release. “Fifty years ago among its neat tables, and sayings hung on the walls, in the dim light of a room on 44th...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Communication Department has created a web site and Facebook page whereby “virtual pilgrims” can participate in World Youth Day, which will take...

Iraq's embattled Christian community has opened a new church, for the first time since war began in 2003. As he presided at the dedication of St. Paul's Church in Kirkuk, Archbishop Louis Sako...

Four Chinese Catholic bishops have been seized by police and are being held incommunicado, apparently so that they can be forced to participate in the ordination of a new bishop arranged by the...

In a letter to the Catholic bishops of the Philippines, Pope Benedict XVI has encouraged the struggle to defeat an aggressive family-planning bill. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican...

Archbishop Timothy Dolan has rejected analysts’ claims that Catholic leaders were half-hearted in their efforts to stop the acceptance of same-sex marriage in the state of New York. The bishops...

With the approval of the Archdiocese of Boston, St. Cecilia parish devoted a Sunday Mass on July 9 to reaffirming that the parish “is a place of welcome for all, including the LGBT...

At his Sunday audience on July 10, Pope Benedict XVI remarked that the parable of the sower and the seed “reflects Jesus’ own experience as a preacher.” Speaking to a crowd gathered in the...

Church leaders from some of Europe’s most prominent archdioceses have gathered in Rome this week for a meeting organized by the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, to discuss their...

Pope Benedict XVI made a plea for the release of hostages who have been captured by pirates at his Sunday audience on July 10. The Pope marked the annual “Day of the Sea” by meeting with the...

Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota, has suggested that the sacrament of Confirmation should be administered before children receive their First Communion. Bishop Aquila disclosed that he...

German Catholic bishops have decided to open their records to a team from the Institute for Criminological Research of Lower Saxony, for a thorough independent investigation of the handling of...

The Catholic bishops’ conference of the Philippines has issued an apology on behalf of those bishops who accepted money and luxury vehicles from the government’s Charity Sweepstakes...

A German appeals court has reduced the fine that had been imposed on traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson of the Society of St. Pius X for public statements questioning the extent of the...

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, writing in the Boston Globe, argues that President Barack Obama should be given an opportunity to change his public stand on same-sex marriage. President...

The Holy See has asked Bishop John Smith, who governed the Diocese of Trenton from 1995 until his retirement in 2010, to conduct a visitation of the Diocese of Cleveland. The announcement of the...

A bomb exploded outside a Protestant church in the central Nigerian city of Suleja on July 10, killing three. The militant Islamist group Boko Haram--which means “Western education is sin”--is...

The bishops of Panama have issued a statement expressing gratitude for the 60th anniversary of Pope Benedict’s priestly ordination and satisfaction at a greater emphasis on Sacred Scripture and...

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the longtime secretary to Blessed John Paul II and current Archbishop of Krakow, recently offered Mass in thanksgiving for the late Pontiff and for President Ronald...

Citing recently enacted civil-union legislation, the State of Illinois has ended its adoption and foster care contracts with Catholic Charities agencies in the Dioceses of Belleville, Joliet,...

The National Committee for a Human Life Amendment (NCHLA)--which works closely with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on abortion-related legislation--is urging pro-life Americans to...

Amid government efforts to curb its influence, the Polish radio station Radio Maryja is experiencing a resurgence in popularity. With one million daily listeners, the station is the fifth most...

More than 80 non-public schools, most of them Catholic, will be participating in a new voucher program approved by the Indiana legislature in April. Many middle-income families, as well as...

In Arkansas, Bishop Anthony Taylor of Little Rock is appealing for help from the faithful after an unidentified man threatened a priest whom he accused of molesting his child. Bishop Taylor...

Looking forward to the October inter-religious meeting in Assisi, an article in the Vatican newspaper suggests prayers for the success of the peace initiative, "in the hope and expectation of new...

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, who was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to supervise the internal reform of the Legion of Christ, has reported that the process is moving forward successfully, despite the...

In a short, sympathetic treatment of the final Harry Potter movie, L'Osservatore Romano cautions that the tale is "almost too dark," and some viewers may be troubled by the violence. But the review...

The first major project of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization will be a “metropolitan mission” in some of Europe’s leading cities, reports Archbishop Salvatore (“Rino”)...

The Congregation for Evangelization has explained why the Vatican issued a public statement announcing the excommunication of Father Lei Shiyin after he was ordained as a bishop without Vatican...

Proponents of classroom sex education regularly cite statistics that purport to show that many adolescents are already sexually active. A report by Carlos Polo for the Population Research Institute...

Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, a leading figure in the budget debates on Capitol Hill and an active Catholic, has written an unusually lucid column on the application of Catholic social...

Reacting to a spate of violence in Belfast surrounding the annual marches of the Orange Order, Bishop Noel Treanor of Down and Connor has implored everyone involved to “avoid provocation.” The...

Over 300 of Austria’s 4,200 priests have pledged to take part in Aufruf zum Ungehorsam (Call to Disobedience), an initiative launched in June. The Call to Disobedience document cites “the Roman...

Citing the potential of “irreparable harm” to children in foster care, a circuit court judge has temporarily blocked the State of Illinois’ decision to end its foster care and adoption contracts...

Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo has directed that “Catholic fundraising efforts” to combat breast cancer should be directed to local cancer centers rather than to the Susan G. Komen...

The vast majority of Afghans want peace, according to Father Stan Fernandes, an Indian Jesuit who directs the Jesuit Refugee Service in the strife-torn nation. “The rebels are about 10,000, but...

Catholic Relief Services has issued an “action alert” urging President Barack Obama to give greater priority to the needs of Sudan. Citing attacks by the Khartoum government on civilians in the...

Cardinal Oswald Gracis of Mumbai, the president of Catholic Bishops Conference of India, has joined a chorus of mourners responding to a series of bomb explosions in Mumbai has left 20 dead and over...

Fulfilling a promise made by their episcopal conference, Catholic bishops in the Philippines have begun returning vehicles that they received as gifts from the government's Charity Sweepstakes...

Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak plans to announce the opening of formal diplomatic ties with the Holy See, after a July 18 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. Government sources...

In a long-awaited report on the handling of sex-abuse charges in the Cloyne diocese, released on July 13 by the Irish government, an independent commission severely chastised diocesan leaders—in...

Berlin’s newly appointed archbishop has promised to meet with the homosexual activists who have protested his appointment, hoping to convince them of his goodwill. “We will meet with each other,”...

Hong Kong’s Catholic leaders have issued an urgent appeal to Chinese Catholics to pray for unity in the Church, as officials of the Catholic Patriotic Association prepare to ordain a bishop in...

The Vatican will soon announce the appointment of a new apostolic nuncio to the United States, according to the veteran Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli of the Italian daily La...

The Polish government has made a series of formal and informal protests to Church officials after a controversial priest charged that his country “has not been governed by the Polish people” since...

Writing in the American Spectator, Doug Bandow reports that the "Arab Spring" uprising in Egypt has done nothing to ease the problems of the country's religious minority: In Egypt, the fall of...

A vacationing Catholic priest was shot and killed in Mississippi last weekend. Police have arrested a suspect, and say that the crime was motivated by robbery. The body of Father Edwar Everitt...

The Vietnamese head of the Redemptorist order has been stopped from leaving the country, in the latest of a series of clashes between the religious order and the Communist regime. Father Vincent...

In a report to the UN commission on human rights, the Irish government has defended itself against charges that it denies citizens the “rights” to abortion, same-sex marriage, and “gender equality.”...

The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples is urging Catholics in China not to receive sacraments administered by Father Paul Lei Shiyin, who was illicitly consecrated Bishop of Leshan...

Fleeing the worst regional drought in six decades, some 400,000 people have left Somalia and other nations of the Horn of Africa for a refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya. Thousands are now arriving every...

The Legionaries of Christ have announced the closing of the University of Sacramento, a fledgling institution that offers master’s programs in theology and catechesis. The decision comes one year...

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois has announced the DREAM Act Sabbath, an “initiative enlisting churches, synagogues, and mosques around the country to dedicate time during their regular weekly...

A bomb was thrown at a Protestant church in the central Nigerian city of Suleja on the evening of July 11 as a prayer service was being held. No one was injured in the attack, though the bomb...

Police in Khargone, a city of nearly 100,000 in the central Indian state of Madya Pradesh, are protecting St. Jude's Higher Secondary School following threats from Hindu radicals. With their...

Ignoring urgent warnings from the Vatican, China’s Catholic Patriotic Association ordained a new bishop for the Shantou diocese on July 14 without approval from the Holy See. The illicit ordination...

Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn plans to meet with a group of dissident Austrian priests in several weeks, according to a spokesman for the Vienna archdiocese. Cardinal Schönborn said that...

Irish foreign minister Eamon Gilmore summoned the apostolic nuncio in Dublin, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, for an urgent meeting on July 14, to express the Irish government’s displeasure with the...

A federal court in New York has blocked implementation of a new city ordinance that would have imposed crippling new restrictions on crisis-pregnancy centers. In his July 13 decision, Judge...

Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley has announced that six parish churches that were closed in 2004 will now be “relegated to profane use,” clearing the way for the sale of the properties. In three...

The Vatican will soon announce the retirement of Philadelphia’s Cardinal Justin Rigali and the name of his successor, according to Micheal Sean Winters, writing in the National Catholic Reporter....

Bishops in the Philippines, who are returning cars that they received as gifts from the government’s Charity Sweepstakes Office, are now being instructed that they should return any money gifts as...

The Vatican Museums have assembled a special exhibit to be shown in the state museum of San Marino, as a follow-up to the visit by Pope Benedict XVI to that small European state. The exhibit will...

An unusually ignorant story in The Atlantic--with a completely misleading headline—questions the religious affiliation of Rep. Michelle Bachman Republican presidential candidate. Bachman was—but...

Several Irish government leaders have agreed that Catholic priests should be required to report child abuse to police, even if they learn about the abuse from a penitent in the confessional. Thus...

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India has issued a statement condemning the July 13 Mumbai (Bombay) bomb attacks that killed 21 and injured over 130. After “expressing their deep anguish at...

Writing for L’Osservatore Romano on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, Cardinal Robert Sarah emphasized the link between evangelization and...

Hugo Chávez, who has clashed with Venezuela’s hierarchy since becoming the nation’s president in 1999, received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick during a July 5 Mass. The socialist leader...

Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, notes that an Islamist terrorist insurgency has claimed 4,000 lives in southern Thailand since 2004. Recent victims...

After a consecrated Host was accidentally dropped on the floor during Mass on June 19, Father John Echert placed it in water so that it could dissolve and intended later to pour the water into the...

An ABC Nightline human-interest story on consecrated virgins attempted to portray consecrated virginity as a “controversial Catholic rite.” In a story headlined “Consecrated Virgins Become Brides...

In the aftermath of a scandal that saw several Filipino bishops apologize for accepting cars and cash from the government’s Charity Sweepstakes Office, a few bishops demanded an apology from the...

Irish government leaders have insisted that they will not allow the secrecy of the confessional to limit the scope of new legislation that would require reporting of all complaints of child abuse....

At its annual meeting in Brazil next week, the Populorum Progressio Foundation will "focus particularly on indigenous peoples" as the foundation's leaders weigh the opportunities for financing...

Anti-Christian violence in Iraq left 92 dead and 47 wounded in 2010, making the year the worst to date for the Christian minority, according to the human-rights group Hammurabi. Hammurabi reports...

The vicar general of the Legion of Christ is leaving that post to take a new assignment as head of the order in the US. The departure of Father Luis Garza--who only recently told the Catholic...

Irish politicians have heaped criticism on the Vatican this week, after the release of the “Cloyne report,” which noted that the Holy See declined to approve guidelines for sex-abuse policy that the...

In Delaware, a federal bankruptcy-court judge has refused to grant his approval to a plan for reorganization of the Wilmington diocese. Judge Christopher Sontchi objected to a provision in the...

Father James Schall, SJ, writing for Crisis, makes a fascinating point on the translation of the Nicene Creed in the new English-language edition of the Roman Missal. The new translation properly...

Vatican-watcher Sandro Magister reports that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State, has been anxious to consolidate the control of the Holy See over three leading Catholic hospitals: the...

The Good Samaritan Foundation, founded by Pope John Paul II in 2004, is a leading force in the struggle against AIDS in southern Africa. Msgr. Jean-Marie Mupendawatu, the secretary of the Pontifical...

The Washington office of Catholic Charities USA has contracted with a lobbying firm owned by a noted gay activist, a homosexual-oriented newspaper in the nation’s capital reports. For the...

Pope Benedict will consecrate the youth of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus during World Youth Day in Madrid in August. “The Pope will consecrate every young person in the world, not only...

The director of the Holy See Press Office has devoted his weekly editorial to Somalia, a land where “countless victims” have suffered from “fundamentalist hate.” “The drought in the Horn of...

Speaking at the Catholic University of Ávila, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera urged journalists to devote themselves to the truth. “It is not easy to serve man every day through words, because...

Political leaders and media commentators in Ireland continue to pour criticism on the Catholic hierarchy, in the wake of a report that exposed a shocking failure to respond to sex-abuse complaints...

In her more recent monthly column devoted to Catholic issues from a Latino perspective, the assistant director of media relations at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops likened the...

A former Capuchin seminary in New York State is now the site of the Garrison Institute, a retreat house where leading Buddhists from across the United States recently gathered. “Crosses still adorn...

Over two dozen organizations--including Planned Parenthood, the West Virginia Catholic Conference, Catholic Charities of West Virginia, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston’s Department of Social...

A Florida bishop has announced that a popular priest removed from parish duties last year spent “at least $1 million in unsupported or questionable expenses.” An independent auditor found that...

The Vatican has officially announced the excommunication of the Chinese bishop ordained on July 14 in defiance of the Holy See. This was the 2nd public announcement of excommunication of a...

Pope Benedict XVI has called for an “international mobilization” to help the victims of a murderous drought in eastern Africa. During his midday audience on Sunday, July 17, the Holy Father spoke...

The government of Malaysia has reached an agreement to open formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See, following a July 18 meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib...

At his Angelus audience on Sunday, July 17, Pope Benedict XVI spoke on how Jesus uses parables to teach. “Using images and situations taken from everyday life, the Lord wishes to show us the true...

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez once plotted to kidnap Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the cardinal revealed to a truth-and-reconciliation commission in his own...

The long-running negotiations between the Vatican and Israel, designed to produce an agreement on the legal and financial rights of the Church in the Holy Land, may be close to success, Our Sunday...

A controversial billboard that called attention to the high rate of abortion among African-American women has prompted rare media attention to the issue. An Oakland Tribune story quotes from...

Having withdrawn support from the Union Catholic International de la Presse (UCIP), the Vatican has now issued a statement decrying the group’s move to reconstitute itself as the International...

Otto von Habsburg, the last crown prince of the Austro-Hungarian empire before its dissolution in 1918, was laid to rest on July 16 in a colorful ceremony that evoked the glories of the 640-year...

David Mills of First Things offers a balanced analysis of the manufactured controversy surrounding Rep. Michele Bachmann and her former membership in a Lutheran church whose statement of faith...

Last week Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley announced that 6 closed parishes were to be “relegated to profane use,” allowing for their sale. Former parishioners at all 6 churches have now announced...

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster and the Anglican primate, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, are hosting a conference on July 18-19 to draw attention to the plight of Christians in...

The number of Catholic parishes in the United States fell from 19,620 in 1990 to 17,784 in 2010--a drop of about 10%--according to a study conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the...

A spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate has announced that the patriarchate would oppose efforts to name Russian Orthodoxy the state religion. “We do not want [the Church] to become part of the...

Cardinal Wilfred Napier of Durban has paid tribute to Nelson Mandela on the occasion of the 93rd birthday of the former South African president and Nobel Peace Prize winner. “South Africa and the...

Calling upon Kentucky’s governor and Louisville’s mayor to intervene, the leading newspaper in Kentucky is blasting a pending merger between University of Louisville Hospital and a Catholic...

Vandals have defaced dozens of statues at six New Jersey parishes in the past week, according to local news reports. At one parish, 30 statues were vandalized, causing $30,000 in...

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has been chosen by Pope Benedict XVI to become the next Archbishop of Philadelphia, succeeding the retiring Cardinal Justin Rigali. The July 19 announcement of...

A noted Irish theologian has startled the Catholic hierarchy with a proposal that all Irish bishops appointed before 2003 should resign. Father Vincent Twomey, a former student of Pope Benedict...

Bishop Cesare Mazzolari of Rumbek, South Sudan, died suddenly on July 16 while celebrating Mass—just a week after he had joined in celebrating the independence of the newly emerged African...

Pope Benedict XVI has sent a contribution of €50,000 ($70,000) to support drought-relief in the Horn of Africa, underlining the urgency of the humanitarian crisis there. An estimated 10 million...

Since the publication of the Cloyne report, politicians and pundits in Ireland have lashed out against the Catholic Church, calling for tough new laws. Columnist Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent...

The influence of Italian clerics within the Vatican bureaucracy has grown remarkably during the pontificate of Benedict XVI, notes Marco Tosatti of Vatican Insider. Pope Benedict has established...

L’Osservatore Romano gives prominent attention to arguments by Marcia Angell, a Harvard professor and director of the New England Journal of Medicine, that American psychiatrists are too quick to...

With Fidel Castro incapacitated and his brother Raul—the country’s current leader—growing older, Cuba looks toward an uncertain future. An analysis in USA Today explains how and why Cardinal Jamie...

The director of the Holy See Press Office has issued a statement in response to the recently published report on abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne. Noting that his statement was unofficial--“the...

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston has denounced the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation that the federal government require all private insurers to provide coverage for birth control...

Malaysia’s leading prelate is lauding the recent meeting between Pope Benedict and the nation’s prime minister following an agreement to open formal diplomatic relations. “The voice of...

The Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has sued a Vermont inn whose owners declined to host a lesbian wedding reception. The Associated Press describes Jim and Mary O’Reilly, who...

Christian schools and church halls in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, are now housing 5,000 refugees--mostly Muslim--who have fled the eruption of Mount Lokon. The Diocese of Manado, located in an...

A pagan Roman emperor venerated an image of Christ every morning, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi notes in a brief L’Osservatore Romano article. Alexander Severus (222-35) “venerated at dawn in his...

In a column written for the Catholic Key, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Missouri, expresses his concern that because the US has become heavily dependent on China in financial affairs, Americans...

The Vatican has released the schedule for the September trip by Pope Benedict XVI to Germany. During the visit, which will take place September 22 to 25, the Holy Father will meet with the...

An Australian man who had converted to Islam reports that he was whipped by his new co-religionists for drinking alcohol. The Sydney man said that several men broke into his apartment at night...

The Obama administration has indicated that it plans to follow the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine, which said that the new federal health-care law should be require coverage of...

The annual Ratzinger Schülerkreis-- the seminar for Pope Benedict’s former theology students—will discuss the “new evangelization.” For more than 30 years, dating back to the time when he was...

The former vicar general of the Legion of Christ, who resigned last week to become head of the order’s operations in America, has told the National Catholic Register that he had little knowledge of...

Irish government leaders have lashed out against the Vatican, charging that Rome undermined efforts by the Irish bishops to crack down on abusive priests. Taoiseach (prime minister) Enda Kenny...

Christian and Muslim educators have joined in a call for the removal of a government minister in India’s Karnataka state who is imposing the study of Hindu scriptures in government-run schools and...

Officials at the Catholic University of America have confirmed that the school will follow through on a plan to convert all dormitories into single-sex residences, despite a lawsuit aimed to stop...

In a bizarre inversion of traditional Christian moral guidance, an Episcopalian bishop in New York has ordered homosexual priests to marry. Episcopal Bishop Lawrence Provenzano of Long Island...

The president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue has called for the removal of the “security wall” that separates Israel from the Palestinian territories. Speaking at a...

The president of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) has defended his group's official teaching that the papacy embodies the spirit of the Antichrist, insisting that the WELS is not...

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has become isolated from other members of the Irish hierarchy because of his outspoken criticism of the way Irish Church leaders handled sex-abuse complaints,...

The “Mosque of Jesus Christ” has opened in Madaba, Jordan, south of Amman. Jesus is revered by Muslims as a prophet. Jamal al Sufrati, the imam of the mosque, said that he “had noticed that the...

The aging population of the United States and European nations is the “true origin of the current economic crisis,” according to the president of the Vatican Bank. “The ever-increasing percentage...

The Korean Bishops’ Conference has denounced the South Korean government’s decision to permit the sale of the emergency-contraception drug Ella (Ulipristal), which can act as an...

A dozen Christian leaders, including Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces and John Carr of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, met with President Barack Obama on July 20 to lobby...

My Brother, the Pope, a book by Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, will be published in German on September 12, ahead of the Pontiff’s apostolic visit to Germany. Msgr. Ratzinger’s book is the fruit of...

The web site of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has been hacked for the third time since November. Visitors to the Episcopal Commission on Health Care web page saw an image...

The July 21 online edition of L’Osservatore Romano devotes two articles to Raoul Manselli (1917-84), an Italian historian who spent the latter part of his life studying St. Francis and the early...

Cardinal Kazimierz Swiatek, the retired Archbishop of Minsk, Belarus, died in Pinsk on July 21 at the age of 96. Born in 1914 in what is now Estonia, Kazimierz Swiatek was ordained to the...

The Archbishop of Dublin has renewed his call for a dramatic change in attitude in the Irish hierarchy, insisting that candor is necessary to recover from the sex-abuse scandal. In his first...

A suspended priest of the Diocese of Rochester, New York, has been charged with stealing $10,000 in parish funds. Father Vincent Panepinto, who was placed on leave from his parish assignment...

Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini told an audience in Beijing that his nation will encourage warmer relations with China, and especially the influx of Chinese capital into the Italian...

A young Pakistani married couple has been forced into hiding because of death threats. Islamic leaders have condemned their marriage because the husband is Christian while the wife is...

The Vatican’s delegation to the UN has called for steps to “prevent the proliferation of all types of weapons which encourage local wars and urban violence and kill too many people in the world...

An Australian lawmaker—picking up a suggestion that has been advanced by the Irish government—has suggested the priests should be required to report sexual abuse even if they learn about it in the...

The appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput to head the Philadelphia archdiocese shows the growing influence of Cardinal Raymond Burke at the Vatican, writes Marco Tosatti of Vatican...

Father Joseph Guo Jincai, who was ordained a bishop in November 2010 without a papal mandate and now serves as vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, has announced that seven...

Two days after he responded at length to the recently published report on abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne, Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, has called for an objective...

The apostolic vicar of Tripoli has decried NATO’s “indifference” to proposals for a Ramadan ceasefire in the conflict in Libya. “What amazes me is the indifference of NATO and Europe to the...

The Church in the Holy Land faces the prospect of extinction, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem said at a conference in London. “The Christian presence is threatened by virtual extinction, and the...

The auxiliary bishop of Khartoum--the capital of North Sudan--says that Christians there are facing increasing difficulties following the independence of South Sudan. Bishop Daniel Adwok told a...

A Christian woman who, according to Pakistani Christian leaders, was abducted, forced to marry, and forced to convert to Islam, has told the Punjab High Court that she would like to stay with her...

Looking forward to Pope Benedict’s trip to Madrid for World Youth Day in August, the Vatican Information Service has published the latest statistics on the Church in Spain, showing a Catholic...

A spokesman for the Australian Catholic bishops’ conference has warned that Catholic priests would not comply with a proposed law requiring them to break the confessional seal—a suggest brought...

A California priest who was suspended from ministry because of his public advocacy for homosexual marriage is now offering to officiate at same-sex "union ceremonies" for a fee. Father Geoffrey...

A court in India has set relatively light sentences to 9 people who were convicted of murder and arson in connection with the bloody campaign of anti-Christian violence in the state of Orissa in...

Muslim leaders in Malaysia are insisting that Christians must stop using the word “Allah” in reference to the Christian God. The use of “Allah” as a translation of “God” in the Malay Bible “must...

A spokesman for the US bishops' conference has challenged all American Catholics to "step forward and advocate for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as federal policy," after President Barack Obama...

A delegation from China’s government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association met with the secretary of the Brazilian bishops’ conference last week—on the very day that the Patriotic Association defied...

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has remarked on the curious history of photos taken in Hiroshima shorting after the atomic bombing of the city in August, 1945. The dramatic photos,...

Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin believes that some Church leaders, both in Ireland and at the Vatican, may still be resisting effective action to root out the sex-abuse problem. “There are...

In a rare sign of accord, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders in the Holy Land will unite behind a call for action on climate change, Vatican Insider reports. The "Holy Land Declaration on...

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway had already commented for GetReligion on the brouhaha that arose when Atlantic reporter Joshua Green noticed that Rep. Michele Bachmann once belonged to a Lutheran church...

Vatican II taught that a bishop’s ordination requires the approval of the Holy See. That teaching—now embodied in canon law—is at the crux of the Vatican’s current battle with the Chinese Catholic...

David Quinn, the most perceptive Catholic observer of Church affairs in Ireland today, has been working overtime in response to the latest public assaults on the Vatican. Writing for the Irish...

The CEO of Catholic Health Australia has apologized for the participation of the nation’s Catholic hospitals in forced adoption. Between the 1950s and the 1970s, thousands of children were taken...

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria is urging President Goodluck Jonathan to take stronger action against Boko Haram, an Islamist group that has been waging a campaign of terror in the...

The Diocese of Orange has offered $50 million to purchase Crystal Cathedral, the 3,000-seat Protestant church built by televangelist Robert Schuller. The bid, said Bishop Tod Brown, “respects the...

Christian Solidarity Worldwide has published a report on the worsening situation of Christians and other non-Muslims in Pakistan. “There remains a large gulf between last year’s advances in...

A mainline Protestant denomination in Indonesia is warning of the prospect of “mass persecution” in Bogor, a city of 950,000 located 35 miles from Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital. The “intolerance...

The president of the newly independent nation of South Sudan has paid tribute to Bishop Cesare Mazzolari, an Italian missionary bishop who died while offering Mass on July 16. Describing the...

In his weekly editorial, Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, noted that Pope Benedict offered “several brief but important suggestions about how to spend our summer...

Patients of for-profit hospices “are denied access to routine medical and rehabilitative care that they need to extend and improve their lives,” according to the executive director of the non-profit...

The apostolic nuncio in Ireland has been recalled to Rome for consultations, after a week in which Irish political leaders denounced the Vatican and the Catholic hierarchy. The Vatican announced...

At his midday audience on Sunday, July 24, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his "profound sadness" at the news of a terrorist slaughter in Norway, prayed for the victims, and issued "my heartfelt appeal...

Pope Benedict XVI sent a message of sympathy to King Harald V of Norway after the terrorist attack that killed 93 people in Oslo. The Pope offered his "fervent prayers for the victims and their...

The Chinese government's ministry of religious affairs has denounced the Vatican for an "extremely unreasonable and rude" reaction to the illicit ordination of new bishops by the Catholic Patriotic...

The Philadelphia archdiocese, already shaken by a sharply critical grand-jury report on the handling of sex-abuse complaints, and the indictment of a former archdiocesan official for allegedly...

Call to Action, the Chicago-based dissident Catholic group, has released a statement signed by 157 priests in support of Father Roy Bourgeois, the Maryknoll priest who has been excommunicated...

Pro-life activists in Colorado are calling upon a Catholic hospital to remove from its staff a doctor who also works at a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. Dr. Richard Grossman explains his...

A British missionary sister, facing an order to leave India after working for nearly 30 years with lepers there, was granted a stay on July 25, and allowed 30 days to apply for a new residency...

Cardinal Virgilio Noe, a longtime master of ceremonies for papal liturgies, died in Rome on July 24 at the age of 89. Cardinal Noe had begun serving as master of ceremonies for Pope Paul VI, and...

Father Vincent Twomey, a prominent Irish theologian and former student of Pope Benedict XVI, writes that Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny was “badly served by his speechwriters” in his outburst against...

An Australian prelate is questioning claims made in a senate inquiry that 150,000 single mothers were forced to give up their children for adoption between the 1950s and the 1970s. Archbishop Barry...

Over 1,000 Christian and Muslim Dalits--formerly known as untouchables--have begun a two-day hunger strike in Delhi to protest a law that grants benefits to Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist Dalits but not...

A Pennsylvania judge has blocked the release of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua’s 2003 grand jury testimony on clerical abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Prosecutors who charged Msgr....

The apostolic nunciature to the United States is asking clergy, religious, and laity to pray for the health of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, who has served as apostolic nuncio to the United States since...

The Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is inviting Catholics to fast on August 5 to show their solidarity with farm workers. Those...

A Chicago Tribune investigation of sexual abuse in Theravada Buddhist temples has found “minimal accountability and lax oversight of monks accused of preying on vulnerable targets.” “Because they...

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has blessed a foyer and path in memory of Blessed John Paul II in Les Combes, which is located in the Aosta Valley of northwestern Italy....

The Pontifical Council for the Laity has selected 250 bishops from around the world, including eight from the United States, to serve as catechists during World Youth Day, which will take place in...

Following widespread criticism of a move to expel a Britsh nun who has served leprosy affected in India for nearly three decades, the government has admitted that an expulsion order was a...

Chinese immigration officials denied permission for an activist priest from Hong Kong to visit the mainland, in the latest sign of escalating tensions between the Beijing regime and the Catholic...

Cardinal Joseph Zen has denounced the “preposterous and ridiculous” efforts by the Chinese government to exert control over the Catholic Church. The retired Bishop of Hong Kong said: “It is...

The Catholic bishops of Southern Africa have joined in a statement denouncing corruption in the little kingdom of Swaziland. Swaziland—a landlocked country nestled between South Africa and...

As relief workers rushed to deliver food aid to refugees in the Horn of Africa, the international director of the Jesuit Relief Service said that Somalia in particular is suffering through a...

Italian police have arrested two men who allegedly blackmailed Catholic priests by threatening to disclose the priests’ homosexual activities. Police say that the extortionists threatened at...

Marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Marshall McLuhan, L'Osservatore Romano describes the expert on media as an “acute analyst who understood the influence of technology on daily life long...

Father Nguyen Van Ly, a human-rights activist, has been arrested once again by the Vietnamese government. In 2007, Father Ly was sentenced of an 8-year prison term for his public criticism of the...

Several weeks after the Vatican removed a controversial Australian bishop, supporters of the prelate have asked the Vatican for an explanation of the move. About 1,000 people have signed a...

A correspondent for the AsiaNews service, who escaped from Bangladesh after being tortured there, has now been taken into custody by police in neighboring Nepal. William Nicholas Gomes, a convert...

The parliament of Malta--one of the world’s few officially Catholic nations--has legalized divorce in a 53-11 vote following its approval by 53% of voters in a May referendum. The nation’s...

Libya’s leading prelate--a staunch critic of the NATO military intervention in Libya--has decried the bombing of a food store. “A few days ago, NATO warplanes hit a food store just outside...

The US State Department is calling for the immediate release of Father Nguyen Van Ly, a human rights activist who was recently returned to prison. Father Ly was released from prison in 2010...

The Office of Government Relations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is urging Catholics to contact their representatives in support of the Respect for Rights of Conscience...

Father Peter Kennedy, a dissident Australian priest who was removed from his pastorate in 2009, says that Jesus is a “fable” or “metaphor” and that God does not answer prayers. “There is no...

Father Donald Rutherford, a priest of the Diocese of Albany, has been named the US Army’s chief of chaplains. Father Rutherford, who holds the rank of major general, served in his diocese from 1981...

The "Superlawyers" site profiles Jeffrey Anderson, the Minnesota-based attorney who has won countless millions in judgments against the Catholic Church in sex-abuse cases. The practice has been...

An Italian archaeology team has unearthed what it believes to tbe the tomb of St. Philip the apostle in southwestern Turkey. Francesco D’Andria, who heads the team, said that the tomb was found...

A group of Cuban women were roughed up and humiliated at a Catholic shrine last week, apparently because of their protests against the Castro regime. The Ladies in White, a group formed by wives...

Time magazine carries a remarkably tendentious and inaccurate report on the tensions between the Catholic Church and the Irish government, concluding with the triumphant announcement that “the days...

Archbishop Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago of Leon, Mexico, has issued a call for modest and appropriate attire in church. “If you have any respect for this place, dress appropriately,” said the...

The Vatican has established formal diplomatic relations with Malaysia. Following up on an agreement struck during a July 18 meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib...

Catholics and Shi’ite Muslims have clashed over the use of a Marian shrine in Lebanon. The Maronite Catholic Church holds legal title to the shrine in the Jbeil Mount Lebanon district. But...

A former Catholic priest in Italy is demanding compensation from the Vatican for the psychological damage caused by sexual abuse he endured as a child--notwithstanding the fact that he himself has...

The appalling genocidal killings under the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia in the 1970s took a disproportionately heavy toll on the country's Catholic minority, writes George Marlin for The Catholic...

A shocking spasm of bloodshed in Oslo has prompted many editorial writers to reflect on whether right-wing ideology should be blamed for the killings. In a nicely balanced analysis, New York Times...

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, whom Pope Benedict XVI appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the United States in 2005, has died following complications from lung surgery. He was 73. Ordained a priest in 1964...

A committee of English-speaking bishops that advises the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on liturgical translations met in Rome on July 24-26 to discuss a...

The chairmen of two committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are urging the House of Representatives not to make “disproportionate cuts” to anti-poverty...

Michel Roy, the recently elected secretary general of Caritas Internationalis--the confederation of Catholic relief and development agencies--spoke with Vatican Radio on July 27 about how the worst...

An estimated 300,000 copies of “Habemus Papam,” a manga comic book on Pope Benedict, will be distributed at World Youth Day in Madrid in August. The comic book’s publisher hopes that “to let people...

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, has paid tribute to Riccardo Muti, music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, on his seventieth birthday. “I am...

The Obama administration is poised to issue a requirement that all health-insurance plans must subsidize contraception, notes Kevin ("Seamus") Hasson of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty....

Nearly 10,000 Christians joined four dozen bishops in a march on India's parliament on July 28, demanding an end to legal discrimination against Christian dalits. Dalits--the word literally...

The Israeli government is re-opening public access to a site cherished by Orthodox Christians as the place where Jesus was baptized. Qasr al-Yahud, on the west bank of the Jordan River, had been...

The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship has strongly endorsed the practice of receiving Communion on the tongue, while kneeling. Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera told the Catholic...

Columnist William Oddie of London's Catholic Herald reports that some Anglican cathedrals are charging admission fees for tourists, in order to meet their maintenance costs. Oddie is willing to...

The Italian magazine Limes has published what is said to be a diary kept by a cardinal during the papal conclave of April 2005. If a cardinal did indeed keep a diary, and allowed it to become...

Police in South Africa have secured the confession of a man who has pleaded guilty to the murder of Father Louis Blondel, a French missionary, in December 2009. Nelson Kabelo Malope admitted that...

Coptic Christians and Muslims clashed in a small Egyptian town, after a Muslim man battered a Christian woman in a dispute over the installation of a new bell in a local Coptic church. The...

An Irish Catholic priest has been forced to apologize for a newsletter in which he compared an anti-Vatican speech by prime minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny to a speech by Adolf Hitler. In a short...

The number of charges of sexual or physical abuse by Catholic Church officials in Britain doubled in 2010, the National Catholic Safeguarding Commmission (NCSC) has found. The NCSC’s annual...

Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, who served as the Vatican's "foreign minister" during the 1980s, recalls the heroic resilience that the late Cardinal Kazimierz Swiatek showed during his years as a...

The remains of Cardinal William O'Connell, the former Archbishop of Boston, have been moved to a new resting place after his surviving relatives settled a legal dispute with the archdiocese. When...

Organizers of World Youth Day (WYD), which will be held in Madrid in August, are unveiling a new registration system, allowing participants to apply for credentials using iPhones, iPods, and...

Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, permanent observer of the Holy See at the United Nations, told the UN General Assembly that states must respect parental rights in the education of youth. The prelate...

A leading Russian Orthodox Church official said recently that “our society, state and people” must condemn the crimes that took place during the Communist regimes of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph...

The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has mourned the death and paid tribute to the accomplishments of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the late apostolic nuncio to the United...

An Italian neonatologist known for his staunch defense of the unborn believes that a “self-sufficient culture that is diffident towards others” has developed a “tendency towards panic” in the past...

The Church in Nepal will not be sending young people to attend World Youth Day in Madrid in August. “Our youths are simply not ready to attend World Youth Day this time,” said Bishop Anthony...

In recent days, L’Osservatore Romano has paid tribute to two novelists: Ágota Kristóf (1935-2011), who died on July 27, and Shin Kyung-sook (born 1963), the author of the international bestseller...

An extensive homosexual network within the Archdiocese of Miami, Florida, has been exposed by a New York-based magazine that ordinarily specializes in gossip about celebrities. Gawker bases its...

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has categorically denied a report in the Phoenix magazine that he has held regular private meetings with Irish prime minister Enda Kenny. The Phoenix report...

The current political upheaval in Syria “has implications not just for Syria itself but for the region, in particular for Christianity in the region,” a leading analyst told Vatican Radio Anthony...

George Weigel questions how Ireland, once thought to be the most Catholic of European countries, "has become the most stridently anti-Catholic country in the Western world." The process is not...

The number of German Catholics dropping their registration in the Catholic Church jumped by almost 50% in 2010. Analysts tie the increase to the emergence of the sex-abuse scandal in...

Pope Benedict XVI has donated a signed photograph to a charity auction that will raise funds for children in the stricken Darfur region of...

A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that a former official of the Philadelphia archdiocese, accused of shielding abusive priests from prosecution, should face trial along with four priests who are...

A Mexican bishop has admitted that the Vatican has asked for an explanation of his support for a group that questions Church teachings regarding homosexuality. Bishop Raul Vera Lopez of Saltillo...

The Holy See's representative in Ireland, who was recalled to Rome this week in a display of the Vatican's dismay over Irish political leaders' attacks on the Church, will not be returning to...

A lay group in Boston has released the names of 9 priests who have been accused of sexual abuse, protesting the failure of Cardinal Sean O’Malley to release a full list of accused...

Dutch prosecutors have indicated that they will not bring criminal charges against a Catholic bishop who was accused of sexual abuse while serving in Kenya, because they have no concrete evidence to...

A group of sex-abuse victims in Belgium plans to bring a lawsuit against the Vatican. A lawyer for the victims conceded that many potential litigants had dropped out of the case, after hearing an...

A Hindu radical who was prosecuted for his role in the anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal in 2008 has murdered a key witness in the case against him, Christians in India charge. Michael Digal...

The Vatican has released the prayer intentions of Pope Benedict XVI for August 2011. The Pope’s general intention is: "That World Youth Day in Madrid may encourage young people throughout the...