Catholic World News

Acceding to a request by Pope Benedict, Cuba’s Communist government has declared Good Friday this year to be a national holiday. The government will later decide whether to make the holiday...

Two leading prelates in southern Nigeria have denounced the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram for targeting Christians and Christian churches. Southern Nigeria is largely Christian; most of Boko...

Hindu extremists in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka attacked and brutally beat five Christians, including a Protestant pastor, as they were distributing leaflets. The five were then taken...

Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies, has issued a $5-million appeal to assist 400,000 people in the west African nation of Niger, which is facing...

The Vatican’s sostituto--the deputy secretary of state who supervises the internal affairs of the Roman Curia--told L’Osservatore Romano that the “most striking” aspect of Pope Benedict’s apostolic...

The Pontifical Council for Social Communications is sponsoring a seminar on digital media for Middle Eastern bishops from April 17-20 in Beirut. Over four dozen bishops, joined by 20 priests, are...

Overruling one of his parish priests, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna has permitted a homosexual in a registered domestic partnership to serve on a parish council. Father Gerhard Swierzek,...

At an April 2 press conference in Rome, Church leaders outlined preparations for the international celebration of World Youth Day (WYD) that will take place in July 2013 in Rio de...

Pope Benedict XVI has sent a donation of $100,000 to the Church in Syria, to support the suffering Christians of that country. The Pontifical Council Cor Unum has announced the papal gift to...

Pope Benedict XVI sent a message of encouragement to inmates at Rome’s Rebibbia prison, as they participated in the Stations of the Cross on March 30. Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the vicar of the...

As Francisans and Poor Clares celebrated the 800th anniversary of the “conversion” of St. Clare, Pope Benedict XVI remarked that St. Clare appeals to strongly to the modern imagination, and has “a...

“Be joyful witnesses of Christ!” Pope Benedict XVI exhorted young people who gathered in Rome on April 1—Palm Sunday—for this year’s observance of World Youth Day. On April 2, the Pope held a...

Palm Sunday is “the great doorway leading into Holy Week,” Pope Benedict XVI said in his homily as he celebrated Mass on Palm Sunday for a congregation of about 60,000 people in St. Peter’s...

Cardinal Timothy Dolan reports that he thought President Obama had promised to respect the conscience rights of Catholic institutions, during a conversation earlier this year. In an interview...

Citing “a most alarming increase in violence, with an indiscriminate use of force,” the Vatican’s representative to the Arab League has called for international action to stem the violence in...

A prominent Orthodox leader has been released on bail after 3 months under house arrest for a tax-fraud charge. Abbot Ephrem of the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos was released on payment of...

An Illinois priest has asked his parishioners to resist the construction of a fertility clinic near their church. In a letter to his parishioners at Sts. Peter and Paul church in Naperville,...

A rash of sacrileges in Italy has prompted Church leaders to consider extraordinary measures to prevent desecrations. Archbishop Salvatore Di Cristina of Monreale has already suggested that...

Cardinal Giuseppe Betori of Florence is leading prayers for rain as much of Italy struggles with a severe drought. The shortage of rain during the winter months has created a problem for central...

Meeting in Cyprus, leaders of the Orthodox churches have resolved to work to raise public awareness of the troubles facing Christians in the Middle East, and particularly in Syria. The meeting in...

Amid attacks by Islamist rebel factions, Christians have fled al-Qusayr (Kusayr), a city of 30,000 in west-central Syria. “The Christian family Kasouha lost many of its members, killed cold...

Two weeks after a military coup toppled the government of Mali President Amadou Toumani Touré, Tuareg rebels, working with a separate Islamist rebel group, have destroyed a parish and Caritas office...

The bishops of Ireland have released a pastoral letter on conversion. “The word ‘repentance’ means seeking forgiveness for our sins, but more than that, it involves transforming our attitudes and...

A bishop in Iran, where missionary activity and conversion are punishable by death, is exhorting Christians of the West to “be aware of the value of the freedom that you enjoy.” Urging Western...

In Mexico, Pope Benedict was “an evangelist for a liturgical reform that is slowly transforming the way Catholics worship,” writes Matthew Cullinan Hoffman in Catholic World Report. “In sharp...

A group of Salvadoran ex-rebels has occupied the cathedral in their nation’s capital, and prevented religious services there since January. "We regret that our cathedral is still occupied,...

Police in Sonora, Mexico have arrested 8 people in connection with an investigation into human sacrifices performed by the cult of Santa Muerte. The Santa Muerte (“Saint Death”) cult, which...

Christians in Baghdad expect extra protection from the government this week as they observe Holy Week and Easter. Catholics have fortified themselves spiritually by intensive fasting during Lent,...

Although the Catholic bishops of the Philippines actively discourage the practice, at least 20 zealots plan to crucify themselves on Good Friday, in an annual display that draws hundreds of...

Two leading news executives in Ireland’s RTE television network has stepped down, and a popular investigative program has been cancelled, as the result of an investigation into a libelous charge...

Police in San Francisco have removed a group of about 80 “Occupy” protesters who had taken over a building owned by the San Francisco archdiocese. The protesters entered the 2-story building,...

In an annual message to the world’s Buddhists, the Vatican has praised collaborative education projects, saying that cooperation across religious boundaries can help young people especially,...

Christians in the Punjab region of Pakistan are fearful of attacks by Islamic zealots during Holy Week and Easter. In the Sarghoda district, signs and sacred images have been defaced and...

Parents in Pomeroy, a town of 600 in Northern Ireland, are demanding the suspension of Father Martin McVeigh after the priest showed them graphic images of homosexual pornography during a class...

The president of an Ohio Jesuit university has announced that it will no longer offer insurance coverage for “sterilizations and contraceptives, except for cases of medical necessity for...

Commenting on the Obama administration’s contraceptive-coverage mandate, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said that “shutting down services is very much a possibility if the circumstances...

An Italian businessman who died on March 17 left assets worth 1.7 billion euros ($2.26 billion) to the Archdiocese of Bologna. Michelangelo Mannini, who died at the age of 50, held majority interest...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) are asking Catholics to call upon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to intensify her efforts on behalf of...

Vandals have defaced a 117-year-old copper cross at a Chicago parish. “It’s very shocking,” said Father Donald Craig of St. Mary of Perpetual Help Parish. “Crime occurs in every community, but...

At his weekly public audience on April 4, Pope Benedict XVI devoted most of his time to a recollection of his trip to Mexico and Cuba, before ending with some thoughts on Holy Week and the Easter...

The Pontifical Academy for Life has flatly denied that protests from pro-life activists were a factor in the decision to cancel a conference on stem-cell research. Pro-lifers had voiced alarm...

The Catholic churches of the Holy Land plan to observe Easter according to the Orthodox calendar, the head of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land has announced. The change could come as early as...

In an interview with the newspaper of his Worcester (Massachusetts) diocese, Bishop Robert McManus has explained why he asked a local Catholic college not to go through with plans to have Victoria...

The Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) has announced that it has reformed its governing statutes in compliance with Vatican demands, and will retain its status as a pontifical...

Pope Benedict XVI voiced his support for international efforts to eliminate land mines at the close of his regular weekly audience on April 4. Taking note of an international day to raise...

Jennifer Roback Morse explains why, although she sympathizes with libertarians on most political issues, she totally disagrees with their suggestion that the state should not be involved in defining...

Pope Benedict XVI took the unusual step of criticizing a group of dissident Austrian priests explicitly in his homily as he celebrated the Chrism Mass with the priests of Rome on Holy Thursday,...

“For us who live in this Holy Land, Christ continues to suffer in the members of his Mystical Body,” the Latin-rite Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem said in a homily on Holy Thursday. Archbishop...

Archbishop Nicholas Chia of Singapore has accepted an apology from Creative Insurgence, an event management company that had planned to host a dance party in a former convent on Holy Saturday...

The Honduran cardinal who serves as president of the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies has issued an Easter appeal for the drought-stricken Sahel. “In West Africa’s Sahel...

In a vivid illustration of how far Ireland has moved away from the nation's Catholic heritage, the Irish Times has published a op-ed rant against Christianity--a column that might be characterized...

In Our Sunday Visitor, John Norton recalls the candid account that Pope Benedict gave about the moment when he realized that the conclave of April 2005 would elect him: With profound conviction...

As he celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI said that the belief we can be free only by doing our own will, and ignoring the will of God, is “the fundamental...

A Missouri judge has rejected a bid for dismissal of criminal charges against Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City for allegedly failing to report evidence of sexual abuse. Judge John Torrence ruled...

An Irish cleric who heads a group of dissident priests is under Vatican investigation, the Irish Catholic reports. Father Tony Flannery is no longer contributing a regular monthly column to...

The Vatican and the state of Israel continue to dispute ownership of a revered site in Jerusalem which is said to be both the burial place of King David and the site of the Last Supper. The...

Christian delegations from North and South Korean met in Kaesong for a joint prayer session before Easter, praying for peace and reunification of the nation....

Textbooks used by Pakistani schools encourage Islamic extremism and hatred for religious minorities, a Catholic Church commission has reported. The National Commission for Justice and Peace, a...

A controversial Chicago priest has vowed that he will not be deterred from activism by vandalism at his parish. A small fire was set at the doors of the gymnasium at St. Sabina’s church, where...

The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has released the text of the meditations for the Good Friday via crucis at the Colosseum. The meditations were composed by Danilo...

The typical woman religious who professed perpetual vows in 2011 is a 39-year-old cradle Catholic who prayed the Rosary and participated in retreats and Eucharistic adoration before entering...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who has clashed repeatedly with the nation’s bishops since becoming president in 1999, attended Mass on Holy Thursday and prayed that he be cured of...

Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Edinburgh, Scotland will use his Easter Sunday homily to encourage Christians to wear a cross, the Scotsman has learned. The newspaper quotes from a text of the...

A federal bankruptcy court judge has refused to release the sealed depositions of two retired prelates who testified about the handling of sex-abuse complaints in the Milwaukee...

The Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow has been caught in a public-relations gaffe, as a photo of Patriarch Kirill was clumsily doctored to remove evidence that he was wearing a very expensive...

Anna Maria and Danilo Zanzucchi, the Italian married couple chosen by Pope Benedict XVI to write the meditations for the Stations of the Cross at the Roman Coliseum on Good Friday, are affiliated...

Harvard scientists have announced what appears to be a breakthrough in research on the treatment of cystic fibrosis. Using stem cells taken from the skin of cystic-fibrosis victims, the...

Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the world! “Surrexit Christus, spes mea” – “Christ, my hope, has risen” (Easter Sequence). May the jubilant voice of the Church reach all of you...

Dear brothers and sisters, Easter is the feast of the new creation. Jesus is risen and dies no more. He has opened the door to a new life, one that no longer knows illness and death. He has taken...

The director of the Holy See Press Office has devoted his weekly editorial to the link between the stations of the cross and family life. “This year, the idea of entrusting the meditations of the...

In his Easter Sunday homily, Uganda’s leading prelate urged President Yoweri Museveni to step down when his current presidential term expires in 2016. Museveni has been in power since 1986. “The...

Cardianl Ignace Moussa I (Basile) Daoud, who served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches from 2000 to 2007, died on April 7 in Rome at the age of 81. Ordained to the...

A car bomb exploded near two Protestant churches in the north-central Nigerian city of Kaduna, damaging the churches and killing at least three dozen people. The Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram...

Appearing on the television show “Face the Nation” on Easter Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan decried the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate. “We didn't ask for the fight but we're not...

“If Jesus is risen, then–and only then–has something truly new happened, something that changes the state of humanity and the world,” Pope Benedict XVI said in his Easter message to the world. In...

Pope Benedict XVI called attention to the important role of women in the Gospel accounts of Christ’s Resurrection, as he met with the faithful on Easter Monday. The Holy Father spoke at noon to a...

A French cardinal fell ill while concelebrating Easter Sunday Mass with Pope Benedict XVI, and had to be escorted from the altar to rest. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran took a seat near the altar,...

Pope Benedict XVI will visit Lebanon in September, the Vatican has announced. Confirming reports that had circulated earlier this year, the Lebanese bishops’ conference and the country’s...

The Diocese of Hong Kong welcomed 3,500 adults into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, continuing a remarkable record of evangelization that has stretched across the years. The Hong Kong...

A group of dissident Irish priests has announced that it is “disturbed” by news that the Vatican has silenced its founder. The Association of Catholic Priests said that it was “unfair,...

St. James cathedral in Seattle was defaced by vandals who spray-painted graffiti on the building on Easter Sunday morning. Police are investigating the incident, and weighing whether it should be...

Chinese Catholics of the “underground” Church celebrated Easter “very discreetly” as government officials stepped up a pressure campaign aiming to persuade underground Catholics to join forces with...

The Vatican has announced that Cardinal Marc Ouellet will attend the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin as the Pope’s personal representative—thus confirming that Pope Benedict XVI himself...

The Vatican is prompting Austrian bishops to take disciplinary action against the dissident priests who have issued a “Call to Disobedience,” the German-language Kath.net news service...

Welcoming the official announcement of Pope Benedict’s apostolic journey to Lebanon, the vicar general of the Maronite Catholic Church told Vatican Radio that Lebanese Christians, as well as...

President Alexander Lukashenko, who has governed Belarus since 1994, has expressed his disappointment that the Church has not done more to improve relations between his nation and Western Europe....

Pope Benedict has declared Father Félix Varela (1788-1853) venerable, according to the Archdiocese of Miami. “In his homily in Havana, Pope Benedict called Father Felix Varela ‘a shining example’...

A Christian church and cemetery in Kerman, a city of 750,000 in southeastern Iran, have been demolished, according to an Iranian Christian news agency. The church had been registered as a...

Communist officials in Savannakhet province in western Laos have confiscated a Catholic chapel in Kengweng and prevented priests from ministering there. “Around 200 Lao Catholics recited the...

The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)--the official relief and development agency of the Church in England and Wales--is demanding that the United Kingdom and the United Nations...

A report on Irish schools has called for reconsideration of existing policy that allows church-affiliated schools to make religion the key element in their educational policies. The report from...

A nun has testified that she was dismissed from her post as director of religious education in a Philadelphia parish after she probed into a priest’s arrest on child-pornography charges. Sister...

The Japanese Catholic bishops have declined to join other religious groups in a call to close the country’s nuclear power plants. The Japanese bishops conference has indicated that it does not...

A member of the Pontifical Academy for Life has disputed the claim that the Vatican cancelled a conference on stem-cell research for purely economic reasons. The Pontifical Academy for Life...

A televised debate between Cardinal George Pell of Sydney and the crusading atheist Richard Dawkins drew headline coverage in Australia, but left viewers split on the merits of the...

Cardinal Raymond Burke has stated that employers who provide contraceptive coverage for their workers are guilty of both formal and material cooperation in contraception. The cardinal--who is now...

Cardinal Luis Aponte Martinez, the retired Archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico, has died at the age of 89. He was the first Puerto Rican ever to be named a cardinal. Born in Lajas, Puerto Rico,...

The clerical abuse scandal cost American dioceses $108,679,706 in 2011, according to a report released on April 10 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Only 57% of those...

An Islamist organization has demanded that an Orthodox priest convert to Islam or pay the jizya (protection tax imposed on non-Muslims), according to Tunisian media reports. Feces was spread on...

In a 3-2 decision, the Wyoming Supreme Court has ruled that officials in the town of Jackson violated a pro-life organization’s First Amendment rights when it issued a temporary restraining order...

The Custos of the Holy Land--who serves as superior to Franciscans in Israel and other nations in the region, including Syria--has said that he opposes Western military intervention in Syria. “I...

The Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee said in an interview that his Catholic faith, and particularly the principle of subsidiarity, influenced the development of his budget...

For all Christians, as for the first disciples, faith in the Risen Christ “transforms our lives,” Pope Benedict XVI told his weekly public audience on April 11. The Pontiff added that his faith...

An Islamic leader in France has given his blessing to the union of a homosexual couple. Although same-sex marriages are not legally recognized in France, the imam of the mosque in Sevran...

A court in India has absolved the chief minister of the Gujarat state of all responsibility for the religious violence that resulted in over 1,000 deaths ten years ago. After Muslim extremists...

The Vatican Library has announced a plan to preserve more than 80,000 manuscripts and 8,900 incunabula in digital form. The Vatican Library and the Bodleian libraries at Oxford will combine to...

A dissident Irish priest has been directed to spend 6 weeks at a monastery, to pray and reflect on his criticism of Church teachings. Father Tony Flannery, whose regular column in the monthly...

A Belgian newspaper has reported that Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the retired Archbishop of Brussels, was notified at least 40 times about sexual abuse by priests under his jurisdiction. The...

Writing for The New Republic, Yale professor Carlos Eire expresses regret that Pope Benedict XVI did not offer any direct public criticism of the Castro regime during his visit to Cuba. Pope...

The Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) has announced that it did not comply with a Vatican deadline to bring its governing statutes into conformity with Church rules. After years of...

The Vatican has reported intervened in a tax dispute involving a church in Turkey that has been assessed a penalty of 1 million liras (about $550,000) for non-payment. St. Antoine’s Church in...

Joined by clergy and laity, two of the three active bishops of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC) will be received into the Catholic Church on Divine Mercy Sunday. Bishops Peter Wilkinson...

The Sisters of the Presentation have reopened a northern Pakistani convent school that had been destroyed by the Taliban in 2008. The reopening of the school follows the Pakistani army’s defeat of...

A Protestant pastor was beaten following an April 7 church service after he declined to convert to Islam. “They were three people around the age of 18,” recounted Semih Serkek of Grace Church in...

At the request of Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, a “week of missions” will be held in Brazil from July 17-20, 2013, to help prepare young people to...

The Catholic Health Association has called upon health care providers to “help address the problem of climate change and its impacts on the health and welfare of people worldwide, especially the...

The University of San Diego, a Catholic college governed by a lay board of trustees, has hosted its first drag show. The show was hosted by PRIDE, a student organization that describes itself as...

Italian newspapers are taking special interest in a ranking Vatican official’s collection of firearms. Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, the president of the Administration of the Vatican Patrimony of...

An extensive survey of Irish Catholics has found widespread dissent from Church teachings, particularly on questions of sexuality. Among 1,000 Catholics surveyed in the Amarach Consulting poll,...

The Pontifical Biblical Commission will meet at the Vatican next week to discuss “Inspiration and Truth in the Bible.” Father Klemens Stock, SJ, the secretary-general of the Pontifical Biblical...

An influential Muslim thinker in France has argued that Islamic violence—dramatically illustrated by the recent slaughter of Jewish children in a French school—reflects “an illness within Islam...

Twenty prominent Germans have contributed to a collection of essays on the pontificate of Benedict XVI. During an April 9 visit to the Vatican, Edmund Stoiber, the former minister-president of...

Michel Sidibé, who heads the UN’s response to the AIDS crisis, was at the Vatican on April 11 to meet briefly with Pope Benedict XVI. Sidibé, who spoke with the Pontiff after the regular weekly...

The Pontifical Council for Culture is seeking to strengthen ties with cultural representatives of African and Asian governments. Father Theo Mascarenhas, an official of the Pontifical Council...

Pope Benedict XVI has asked the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to investigate whether the Neocatechumenal Way is violating liturgical norms in celebrating special community Masses,...

With a strong new statement on religious freedom, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has launched a nationwide campaign to protect “our most cherished freedom.” “It is the first freedom...

A Catholic pastor in Vienna has resigned, after Cardinal Christoph Schönborn overruled his decision to exclude an active homosexual from a parish council. Father Gerhard Swierzek had ruled that...

Under the leadership of Akram Gill, a Catholic who serves as Pakistan’s minister of state for national harmony, the National Commission for Minorities will discuss the issue of forced conversions....

An increasing number of Seattle parishes--including St. James Cathedral--are refusing to heed Archbishop J. Peter Sartain’s request to collect signatures for a referendum on the State of...

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney has apologized for remarks he made about Jews during his recent debate with Richard Dawkins. “Normally if you want something done you go to a busy person because...

On Easter Sunday, a dozen members of an Iranian Protestant church were placed on trial for apostasy from Islam. The verdict has not yet been announced. The group had been acquitted on similar...

Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, has discussed his plans for the order in an interview with L’Osservatore Romano. After his...

18% of students at a New Zealand university describe themselves as more religious than their parents, according to a study conducted by Paul Morris, a religious studies professor at Victoria...

An Italian priest has been suspended from ministry because he is running for public office in defiance of his bishop’s orders. Father Vincenzo Chiodi, who is a candidate for the city council in...

Commenting on the Irish opinion survey that found widespread dissent from Catholic teaching, columnist David Quinn makes the common-sense observation: “The beliefs of the church are not going to...

As Pope Benedict XVI prepares for a quiet celebration of his 85th birthday, an Italian media outlet has unearthed an interview from 1978, in which the future Pope expressed a preference for an...

Australian police report that as many as 40 people who were sexually abused by Catholic priests have committed suicide. The report from police in Victoria found a remarkably high rate of suicide...

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has reportedly sent the Vatican a new response to a proposed “doctrinal preamble” that could form the basis for reconciliation between the traditionalist group and...

Thousands of Orthodox Christians gathered in Jerusalem on April 13 for Good Friday observances. The Orthodox, who follow the Julian calendar, are observing Holy Week one week later than...

While the Catholic Church is often the focus of criticism in the mass media, Anne Hendershoot and Christopher White report in the Wall Street Journal on a phenomenon that has received far less...

The Pontifical Council Cor Unum has released a book on volunteer work, summarizing the results of a Vatican conference on that topic held in 2011. Included in the volume is the address that Pope...

Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg has been adopted by members of the Ojibway tribe in a ceremony intended to promote reconciliation between the Church and Canada’s First Nations (Native...

A district judge in Northern Ireland has fined two men for posting anti-Catholic messages on Facebook. “I hope you realize how inappropriate and stupid your comments are,” Judge Richard Wilson...

Christians in a predominantly Muslim village in West Bengal have been victims of intensifying persecution over the last month, according to a news report. After a 22-year-old woman gave thanks...

Bishop Carlito Cenzon of Baguio--a city of 300,000 in the northern Philippines--has suspended Masses at a shopping mall to protest plans to remove 182 trees for the expansion of a parking...

On the eve of Pope Benedict’s eighty-fifth birthday and the seventh anniversary of his election to the papacy, the director of the Holy See Press Office offered an overview of the Pontiff’s...

Kony 2012--a short film that has been viewed more than 100 million times on YouTube and Vimeo since its March 5 release--has drawn attention to the devastation wrought by the Lord’s Resistance Army,...

In back-to-back investigative reports (accessible only to subscribers), the Boston Globe has revealed that a top-ranking Jesuit superior remains in influential posts, years after it emerged that he...

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his 85th birthday quietly on April 16, with a Mass of thanksgiving and a reception for bishops and pilgrims from his native Bavaria. "I am facing the final leg of my...

At his midday audience on April 15, Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI said that the peace of Christ is “the fruit of his victory over evil.” After his Resurrection, the Pope remarked, Jesus...

The Catholic cathedral of Trier, Germany, is expecting thousands of pilgrims for a display of the cloth that is said to be the robe worn by Jesus before his Crucifixion. The Heiliger Rock (“Holy...

With a story on young Catholic women who are promoting a more positive understanding of Natural Family Planning, the Washington Post reports—and at the same time illustrates—that the US political...

Responding to a fresh outbreak of rumors about the unresolved disappearance of a teenage girl, the director of Vatican press office has insisted that there are no clues being hidden at the...

Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, Australia, has called for a “proper investigation” into reports that there has been an unusually high rate of suicide among victims of clerical abuse. The...

Radio Sol Mansi, the Catholic broadcast station in Guinea-Bissau, has been shut down by the military leaders who seized power after a coup on April 13. A military junta took control just before a...

As commemorative stories multiplied on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, LifeSite News calls attention to the heroic role of the ship’s Catholic chaplain. Father Thomas Byles...

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) could be within days of reaching an agreement with the Vatican, ending a 24-year rift between the traditionalist group and the Holy See. Bishop Bernard Fellay,...

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople led the celebrations of Easter for the Orthodox world on April 15, releasing an Easter message in which he said that although men have been...

Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp, Belgium, has said that he would be ready to ordain married men, believing that non-celibate clerics could contribute to the pastoral needs of the Church. In an...

Religious tensions are mounting again in Vietnam after a series of physical attacks on Catholic priests. In the latest episode, on April 14, police beat a priest of the Archdiocese of Hanoi so...

As the Church throughout the world prepares for the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, led by...

Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria told the 500 men who attended the diocese’s annual men’s march and Mass that “the days in which we live now require heroic Catholicism, not casual Catholicism.” “We...

With the approval of the Holy See and the Chinese government, Father Joseph Chen Gong’ao, 47, is scheduled to be ordained on April 19 as bishop of Nanchong, a city of 7.3 million in central China....

Father Edwin Gariguez, a priest whose 11-day fast led the Philippine government to suspend a nickel mining project on the island of Mindoro, is one of six winners of this year’s Goldman...

Catholic Charities USA has awarded its Centennial Medal to NETWORK, a lobbying organization that has broken with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in its reaction to the Obama...

Church-state relations, religious freedom, and the early history of Europe will all be in focus during a Vatican conference this week. The conference, on the Emperor Constantine, is sponsored by the...

Father Emil Kapaun, a Catholic military chaplain who died in the Korean War, is being considered for a posthumous Medal of Honor. Father Kapaun was cited by comrades for his spectacular...

A priest of the Diocese of Stockton, California, has abruptly returned to his native Ireland, just before he was scheduled to testify in a sex-abuse lawsuit. Father Michael Kelly left a letter for...

Bishop Richard Lennon of Cleveland, Ohio, has announced that he will re-open 12 parishes, after the Vatican ruled that he had acted improperly in closing them. In February, opponents of the...

As he celebrated Mass on his 85th birthday, Pope Benedict XVI said that three feasts on the liturgical calendar for that day have influenced his life: the feasts of St. Bernadette, the feast of St....

A Harvard professor’s essay charging that Pope Pius XII deliberately helped Nazi war criminals escape punishment is a “verifiably false account,” according to a scholar who has written extensively...

Two Chinese bishops of the “underground” Church have been released by police after having been held for “political sessions” in which they were pressured to cooperate with the Catholic Patriotic...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has announced that it will appeal a federal judge’s ruling declaring that grants made to the USCCB to assist human-trafficking victims are...

A crowd of 70 people attacked eight Church workers, including two priests, at a Catholic school in Karachi on April 16. One lay worker was hospitalized following the attack. Local Catholics said...

Bishop Stephen Blaire, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said that proposed budget cuts recently passed...

A study of religious belief in 30 nations conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has found that “countries with high atheism (and low strong belief) tend to...

Gov. Jan Brewer has signed legislation banning late-term abortions in Arizona. “A great pro-life victory was achieved when Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2036 into law,” the Arizona Catholic...

The head of the first and largest Christian radio station in the Middle East has told Vatican Radio that Christian media have become particularly important as fear increases among the region’s...

A secularist group in Canada has called for a ban on exorcisms, after a report that the Diocese of Saskatoon has been looking for a qualified exorcist. Saskatoon Bishop Don Bolen began inquiring...

The ordination of a new Chinese bishop, scheduled for April 19, will call attention once again to the ongoing struggle between the Holy See and the Beijing government. Father Chen Gongao, who...

The Catholic Church seeks protection not in political or social programs but in the power of prayer, Pope Benedict XVI told his regular weekly public audience on April 18. In a meditation of the...

The Church has seen enormous growth in South Korea in recent decades. In 1960, Christians accounted for only about 2% of the country’s population; now that figure is 30%. Of these about one-third...

The Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, commonly known as the Angelicum, has announced plans to offer an unusual new academic program, providing a joint degree in philosophy and...

At the conclusion of his public audience on April 18, Pope Benedict XVI asked the faithful “to support me always with your prayers so that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I may continue my...

The Vatican is investigating the inexplicable healing of a California man from stomach cancer, which could be approved as the miracle required for the beatification of Father Franz Stock, a German...

The Vatican has confirmed receipt of a positive response from the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) to the “doctrinal preamble” that could form the basis for reconciliation between the traditionalist...

The Vatican has called for a thorough reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the umbrella group that represents most of the women’s religious orders in the US. After a...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is calling upon the Obama administration to lift “the existing embargo concerning Cuba, so that greater support and assistance may be...

As the ceasefire between the Syrian government and opposition forces breaks down, the apostolic nuncio in Syria has called upon the nation’s religious leaders to issue a joint appeal for...

Bishop Michael Bransfield, who was appointed Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston in 2004 and installed the following year, was accused during a Philadelphia clerical abuse trial of sexually abusing a...

Officials of the nation’s second-largest Lutheran denomination processed from a Lutheran church to the Catholic cathedral in Fort Wayne to “stand in solidarity” with the Catholic Church in defense...

In honor of the seventh anniversary of Benedict XVI’s election to the papacy, Vatican Radio has interviewed Father Joseph Fessio, publisher of Ignatius Press, and journalist John Allen. The Pope...

Amid political turmoil in the west African nation of Mali, the nation’s bishops have expressed concern about the potential for the imposition of Sharia throughout the nation. Sharia was recently...

Pakistan’s highest court has ruled that three Hindu women who were abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married to Muslim men must return to their husbands. The court ruled that the women...

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives has defended Republican budget plans against criticism by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), saying that the USCCB has failed to take into...

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has said that its officers are “stunned” by a Vatican decision to require sweeping reforms of the group. In a brief statement released on April...

A San Francisco parish with a long record of gay activism sponsored a drag show on April 14, the California Catholic Daily reports. Most Holy Redeemer Church played host to the 3rd Annual Miss...

Analyzing the Obama mandate and the US bishops’ response in a Catholic World Report essay, Msgr. Kevin McMahon, a moral-theology professor at the Pontifical College Josephinum, explains why...

In a guest op-ed piece of the Seattle Times, a lay Catholic explains why the archdiocese is right to support a bid for a referendum on the definition of marriage. “Every voter should have a...

The International Federation of Catholic Doctors Associations has come to the defense of a Spanish bishop prelate who has encountered heavy criticism for his comments on the self-destructive...

The April 19 ordination of a new Chinese bishop, with the full approval of the Holy See, was marred by the participation of a prelate who has been excommunicated for defying Vatican...

Bishop Richard Pates, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has joined dozens of religious leaders in calling upon...

The Anti-Defamation League of Chicago has called upon Bishop Daniel Jenky to apologize for stating that “Barack Obama--with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda--now seems intent...

Rep. Paul Ryan has dismissed the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops’ recent criticism of the House budget plan, of which he was the chief architect. “These are not all the Catholic...

A Philadelphia assistant district attorney has told the judge presiding over a clerical sex abuse trial that prosecutors are aware of allegations “of a fondling of a student by [Bishop Michael]...

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Bishop Michael Bransfield of Wheeling - Charleston, president of the board of trustees of the Papal Foundation, discussed the work of the Pennsylvania-based...

In an interview with MercatorNet, Dr. Anthony Caruso discusses his decision to stop using in vitro fertilization in his work with infertile couples. Caruso was president-elect of the Chicago...

The Diocese of Stockton, California, has reached a settlement in a sex-abuse lawsuit, after the priest accused of molesting a former altar boy fled the country to avoid testifying. The plaintiff...

A new poll of American voters by the Pew Research Center finds that presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney holds a substantial edge over incumbent President Barack Obama among...

As both Catholic and Orthodox Christians prepare to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the conversion of Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan, there is speculation that Pope Benedict XVI...

In a message to the Pontifical Biblical Commission, Pope Benedict XVI has observed that “the Word of God is not confined to writing,” but has “continued to be announced and interpreted by the living...

Irish essayist David Quinn questions the future prospects of the dissident Association of Catholic Priests, wondering whether the group’s members will the authority of the Church magisterium. “In...

The Boston archdiocese has locked the doors of a church, ending a vigil by former parishioners, 7 years after the parish was formally closed. Our Lady of Mount Carmel church was one of several in...

The Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig presented a concert at the Vatican on April 20 to honor Pope Benedict XVI for his 85th birthday. The program for the concert, which was held in the Paul VI...

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti paid a courtesy visit on Pope Benedict XVI on April 19, to deliver his best wishes as the Holy Father celebrated his 85th birthday and the anniversary of his...

Catholics in Turkey are seeking the return of 200 properties that were seized by the Turkish government. Citing a 1918 agreement with the Ottoman Empire, Archbishop Ruggero Franceschini of Izmir,...

Shouting insults, a mob of several hundred Muslims set fire to a Catholic parish in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, on the evening of April 21. The arson comes amid escalating conflict between Sudan,...

Six decades ago, the Greek Orthodox Church turned over most of its property to the state in exchange for government payment of priests’ salaries. Now, as a result of economic austerity measures, the...

Amid continued persecution, there is good news from the Church in China, writes Anthony Clark, professor of Chinese history at Whitworth University. As “China’s Catholics have embraced the New...

In the wake of recent celebrations of Pope Benedict’s 85th birthday and the seventh anniversary of his election to the pontificate, the director of the Holy See Press Office has devoted his weekly...

Representatives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have taken part in recent dialogues with Hindus and Muslims. The former dialogue, sponsored by the International Society for...

Writing in Fort Lauderdale’s leading newspaper, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami observes that “freedom of religion is under great stress if not under outright assault” as the result of “a...

The Vatican plans to slash the size of the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland, but the Irish bishops are resisting the plan, according to a report in the Irish Catholic. The Irish Catholic reports...

At his public audience on Sunday, April 22, Pope Benedict XVI recognized the presence of hundreds of Italian children preparing for their First Communion celebrations, and encouraged them—as well as...

Pope Benedict XVI strongly condemned sexual exploitation and the trafficking in human organs, in a message to the 7th world congress on pastoral care for tourists. The papal message affirmed the...

A Catholic priest in Kenya has been named the recipient of a human-rights award from the French and German governments. Father John Webootsa, a Comboni missionary in Nairobi ,was honored with the...

At least 40,000 people gathered in Moscow on April 22 to express support for the Russian Orthodox Church, after a series of unfavorable media reports calling attention to ties between the Moscow...

A Catholic legal expert has warned that if Great Britain recognizes same-sex marriages, churches will be compelled to solemnize such unions, regardless of the assurances that have been given by...

A Missouri court has ordered the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) to turn over records to lawyers representing priests who have been charged with sexual abuse. Jackson County...

A special papal commission on the Church in China met at the Vatican on April 23, just days after a Chinese bishop was ordained with Vatican approval, but an excommunicated bishop took part in the...

Meeting on April 21 with representatives of the Papal Foundation, an American charitable group, Pope Benedict XVI called attention to the vital role that women played in building Catholicism in the...

As part of a running exchange with William Saletan on religion and sexuality, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat—whose new book Bad Religion triggered the exchange—offers a simple and honest...

Security officials in Sudan have arrested three Catholic aid workers and closed down the office of Caritas in South Darfur as the three were traveling to South Sudan. Staff members of the...

The Canadian Secular Alliance and People for Education are expressing outrage that at least four teachers at a Catholic school in Mississauga, Ontario, have asked students to sign a petition in...

Mother María Inés Teresa of the Most Blessed Sacrament (1904-81), a Mexican nun who founded the Poor Clare Missionary Sisters in 1945 and the Missionaries of Christ for the Universal Church in 1979,...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced the publication of “Heaven and Earth Are Full of Your Glory: A United Methodist and Roman Catholic Statement on the Eucharist and...

The 35 Cistercian nuns of St. Mary’s Abbey in Glencairn have been entrusted with the task of producing 250,000 hosts for the International Eucharistic Congress, which will take place in June in...

Three newspapers--L’Osservatore Romano, the Milan-based financial daily Il Sole 24 ORE, and the Madrid-based daily La Razón-- are publishing Joseph Ratzinger: Teologo e Pontefice, an 88-page...

A Christian peace activist in Syria is being held in prison on charges of “membership of a secret organization,” after a military tribunal said that she was a member of a group “spreading false...

For the 2nd time in less than a week, a Catholic bishop is scheduled to be ordained in China, but the participation of another bishop who has cooperated with the government-backed Patriotic...

Writing in the Wilson Quarterly Nicholas Eberstadt makes an insightful and thoroughly chilling analysis of social trends in Japan, where fertility rates have plummeted for years and annual deaths...

The Media Research Center notes that CNN television broadcasts gave enormous coverage to Earth Day observations in Washington, after having virtually ignored the March for Life. Tens of thousands...

The Catholic Church in China reported over 22,000 baptisms on Easter Sunday. The Study Centre of Faith in He Bei reported a figure of 22,104 baptisms for the entire nation. However some dioceses...

Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle, who has been named by the Vatican to lead a reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), has praised “the wonderful contribution of religious...

Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro of Juba, the capital of South Sudan, has asked world leaders to help resolve the border dispute between Sudan and South Sudan. Heavy fighting along the border, the...

The chief public-affairs representative of the Russian Orthodox Church has said that Russia today offers a viable alternative to a capitalist economic system. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said...

Less than ten days after Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria cited Hitler and Stalin in criticizing President Obama’s “radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda,” 95 members of the faculty of...

On the eve of a scheduled lecture by Rep. Paul Ryan at Georgetown University, nearly 90 faculty members have written the Wisconsin congressman a letter to “challenge your continuing misuse of...

El Salvador’s leading prelate is calling for the closure of the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention camp. At the request of the US, El Salvador recently granted asylum to two prisoners released...

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...

Joined by 13 other Christian and Jewish leaders, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles called upon President Barack Obama and members of Congress to “reassert...

Caritas Internationalis--the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies--is appealing to the leaders of Sudan and South Sudan to step back from the brink of war. “Caritas appeals...

The Vatican has announced the formation of a special commission of cardinals to investigate the leaks of confidential documents from the Secretariat of State. Pope Benedict XVI has appointed...

The ordination of a new Chinese bishop on April 25 was marred by the control exerted on the ceremony by the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association. Bishop Timothy Qu Ailen, who was...

Countering the many superficial stories in the secular media that have suggested the Vatican is demanding changes in the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) because of the group’s...

Italian officials plan to open the tomb of a notorious organized-crime boss, hoping that it might yield information about the fate of a 15-year-old girl who disappeared in 1983. The unresolved...

George Weigel questions why the Catholic News Service, which is supervised and heavily subsidized by the US bishops’ conference, has provided a vehicle for Democratic Rep. Rose DeLauro of...

Unless our spiritual lives are nourished by daily prayer, “we risk suffocating in the midst of a thousand everyday things,” Pope Benedict XVI told his weekly public audience on April 25. The Holy...

During the past week Pope Benedict XVI has assigned the newly created cardinals to membership in various Vatican congregations and councils, and added a number of new assignments for other...

National Public Radio has broadcast a reasonably balanced examination of the Vatican's call for reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The NPR program included analysis and...

The Vatican has announced plans for a visit by Pope Benedict XVI to three Italian towns closely connected with the history of monasticism. The Holy Father will travel to Arezzo, La Verna and...

Pope Benedict XVI made a plea for safety on the roads as he concluded his regular weekly public audience on April 25. The Pope asked for prayers for those killed in a series of recent Italian...

Priests who hear confessions will not be exempt from the mandatory reporting of sexual abuse against children, according to Ireland’s justice minister. Commenting on proposed legislation, Alan...

Emily Herx, an Indiana Catholic school teacher who was fired for undergoing in vitro fertilization treatments, has filed a federal civil rights suit against the Diocese of Fort Wayne - South Bend....

Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Honduras is calling for renewed efforts to evangelize those who are active in the economic and political spheres. “Lack of ethics in finance or politics...

In a recent blog post, Cardinal Roger Mahony revealed that he has asked Pope Benedict to issue a document on migration. “My report to the Holy Father centered on the issue of immigration and the...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has ruled that discrimination against transgendered persons violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. “Intentional discrimination...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA, and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference are urging Catholic to contact senators about the...

An Illinois priest who resigned from ministry rather than agreeing to use the new English translation of the Mass has now retracted his resignation and is fighting to remain a pastor. “There have...

The Vatican’s delegation to the UN has decried a “disconcerting trend” to “downplay the role of parents in the upbringing of their children, as if to suggest somehow that it is not the role of...

An Iraqi prelate is hosting a meeting of Christian and Muslim leaders, aimed at “building bridges of peace” among different religious groups. Archbishop Louis Sako, the Chaldean Catholic...

Opposition to same-sex marriage in the US is rapidly diminishing, according to a new Pew Research study. In 2004 a solid majority of Americans (60%) were opposed to same-sex marriage, and the...

The Catholic bishops of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands have issued a reminder that priests should not be involved in partisan politics. “Unfortunately, once again, some of our brother...

A special papal commission on the Church in China has exhorted Chinese Catholics to resist the efforts by the government-backed Patriotic Association to control the Church. In a statement...

The Congregation for the Clergy has released its annual letter to priests in preparation for the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests, which is commemorated on the Solemnity of the...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a statement welcoming Connecticut’s repeal of the death penalty. “As Catholics we are dedicated to promoting a consistent ethic...

Speaking at Georgetown University, Rep. Paul Ryan again defended the compatibility of the House budget plan with Catholic social teaching. Ryan’s remarks followed the publication of a letter in...

Representing a Ugandan gay and lesbian group, an American legal advocacy organization has filed suit in federal court against Scott Lively, a Protestant pastor who spoke out against homosexuality in...

A blind attorney who has documented forced late-term abortions and sterilizations in Shandong province has made a daring escape from his home. Hiding in an undisclosed location in Beijing, Chen...

A group of Irish Catholic laymen have announced plans for a demonstration outside the office of the apostolic nuncio to protest the Vatican’s silencing of several dissident priests. We Are Church...

Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester, Massachusetts, has indicated that he will not alter his decision that Victoria Kennedy should not speak at commencement exercises for a local Catholic college,...

The Washington Post points out that presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is likely to choose a Catholic as his running-mate. Having defeated two Catholics (Rick Santorum and...

Canada’s House of Commons has voted unanimously to honor the memory of Archbishop Andrei Sheptytsky, the longtime leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, for his efforts to save Jew from the...

Two Catholic journalists have helped to clarify the reasons for the Vatican’s demand for reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), rebutting the widespread misconception that...

The new translation of the Roman Missal into German will include a literal translation of the words pro multis during the consecration of the Precious Blood, Pope Benedict said in a letter to the...

Worshippers at a university in the northern Nigerian city of Kano were victims of a bomb and gunfire attack during Sunday Mass. At least 16 people perished; the Islamist terrorist organization...

Cardinal Keith O’Brien has lent his support to calls for a “Robin Hood tax” on the financial sector. “My message to [Prime Minister] David Cameron is to seriously think again about this Robin...

Lamenting the closing of a parish school because of declining donations, Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison strongly defended priests who have instituted liturgical changes and asked parishioners to...

A California state senator--Sen. Ted Lieu, a Catholic--has introduced a bill that would prohibit psychologists from offering minors reparative therapy for homosexuality. “Under no circumstances...

The Vatican has announced the prayer intentions of Pope Benedict XVI for May 2012. The Pope's general intention is: "That initiatives which defend and uphold the role of the family may be...

A notorious Italian crime figure was buried in a Roman basilica after his widow pledged about $660,000 to the Church, according to an anonymous Vatican source speaking to the ANSA news...

On Sunday, April 29, Pope Benedict XVI ordained 9 new priests for the Rome diocese, and reminded them that their duty will be to lead the faithful “to true life, to life in abundance.” It is...

After ordaining 9 new priests on April 29, Pope Benedict XVI asked his midday audience that to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and “that all young people may be attentive to...

For the 2nd time in less than a month, a Catholic college has rescinded a commencement invitation because the local bishop objected to a proposed speaker’s views on issues involving the sanctity of...

The historic 1963 encyclical of Blessed John XXIII, Pacem in Terris “still much to teach us as we struggle to face the new challenges for peace and justice in the post-Cold-War era,” Pope Benedict...

A suicide bombing at a Christian church in Nairobi, Kenya, killed at least one person and left 16 badly injured on Sunday morning, April 29. The grenade blast inside God's House of Miracles...

An Italian missionary priest was found dead at his home in Bahia, Brazil on Monday, April 30. Father Luigi Plebani, who had worked in Brazil since 1980, died of gunshot wounds, police said....

PepsiCo has announced that it will discontinue use of tissues harvested from aborted human embryos to test flavoring ingredients for its soft drinks. PepsiCo had been using products provided by...

About 200 people—primarily priests and nuns—joined in a demonstration outside the residence of the apostolic nuncio in Dublin to protest the silencing of several Irish priests. The protesters,...

Two New York Times columnists, Nicholas Kristof and Maureen Dowd, have weighed in against the Vatican’s plan for reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. In each case—but more...