Catholic World News

Following a recent terrorist attack on worshippers at a Mass in Kano, two leading Nigerian prelates criticized the government’s response to the Islamist terrorist organization Boko Haram. “At...

Father Pierre-Adrien Toulorge (1757-93), a Norbertine priest martyred during the French Revolution, was beatified on April 29 at the cathedral in Coutances, France. Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of...

This July, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church will decide whether to approve “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant,” a rite for the blessing of homosexual...

Chaudhry Irshad Younas, a Pakistani Christian involved in politics, was murdered in Lahore on April 27. Local sources told the Fides news agency that Younas was “a leader ready to speak out...

Catholics in Media Associates (CIMA)--an organization of Catholics in the entertainment industry--has bestowed its television award on the controversial ABC comedy Modern Family. Two...

An Australian priest has been removed from ministry after he revealed that he had secretly married last year. Father Kevin Lee defended himself by saying that many other priests were leading...

A local television station has reported that the Philadelphia archdiocese will soon reveal the fate of 27 priests who were suspended from ministry last year after a grand jury report criticized the...

The Coptic Orthodox Church will elect a successor to the late Pope Shenouda III in September, a spokesman has announced. Pope Shenouda, who had served a remarkable 40 years as leader of the...

Continuing his series of weekly talks on prayer, Pope Benedict XVI spoke at his public audience on May 2 about the defense that St. Stephen offered before his martyrdom. When he was accused of...

At his regular public audience on May 2, Pope Benedict XVI recalled the beatification of his predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, one year earlier. Acknowledging a group of Polish pilgrims in the...

In Catholic World Report, Carl Olson takes up the arduous task of pointing out all the errors of fact, logic, and syntax in a piece by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd excoriating the Vatican....

Early in the morning of May 3, police raided a building owned by the San Francisco archdiocese and evicted “Occupy” protesters who had seized the building the previous day. For the 2nd time in a...

The Italian daily Avvenire, owned by the Italian bishops’ conference, has called critical attention to a bid to legalize the medical use of marijuana. A regional council in Tuscany approved a...

The Catholic bishops of Myanmar have said that the participation of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in the nation’s parliament is “a good sign for the future of the country.” A...

At a May 2 press conference in Rome, members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences reported on the group’s 18th plenary session, which was dedicated to a discussion of the landmark 1963...

Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, is hearing new calls for his resignation after the airing of a BBC television program that probed his involvement in a 1975 investigation...

The Vatican has approved new statutes governing the work of Caritas International, after the Holy See intervened last year to reinforce the distinctly Catholic identity of the organization, which is...

The number of Mormons in the United States increased by nearly 50% between 2000 and 2010, while the number of “active members” of the Catholic Church declined by 5%, according to the latest...

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, the president of Caritas Internationalis, has welcomed the new statutes that will govern the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies. In...

The Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, also known as the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, are commemorating the 140th anniversary of their foundation by St. Maria Mazzarello (1837-81). The...

The most popular national Catholic newspaper in the United States is celebrating its centenary. Founder by the future Archbishop John Francis Noll, Our Sunday Visitor now has a circulation of...

Vatican Radio has conducted an interview with Sister Catherine Holum, CFR, a former Olympic athlete who entered the religious life after participating in World Youth Day in Toronto. Competing at...

A total of 134,562 people were baptized into the Catholic Church in South Korea in 2011—including over 100,000 adults--bringing the country’s Catholic population up to 5.3 million. Bishop...

American Catholics are evenly split in their preferences for the 2012 presidential race, according to a new Gallup poll. Catholics are seen by both major political parties as a key voting...

Pope Benedict XVI visited Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on May 3, to join in 50th-anniversary celebrations for the hospital’s teaching faculty. In his remarks there the Pontiff spoke of the urgent need to...

Thousands of families are leaving their homes in the Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo because of continuing rebel violence, a Catholic missionary reports. Father Loris Cattani...

Confirming earlier media reports, the Philadelphia archdiocese has announced that on May 4, Archbishop Charles Chaput will reveal the results of investigations into sex-abuse charges against some of...

Veteran Washington Post columnist George Will reflects on the 40th birthday of his son Jon, who in handicapped with Down syndrome but blessed with serenity and an “underdeveloped entitlement...

Several leading Irish politicians have called for the resignation of Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, after a BBC broadcast exposed new details about the future cardinal’s involvement in the...

A senior Al-Qaeda operative advised Osama bin Laden in January 2011 that Irish Catholics--and Catholics in general--are ripe for conversion to Islam, according to a letter released on the first...

The new Nepali constitution will make evangelization a crime punishable by imprisonment, a Nepali priest has told Vatican Radio. A Maoist insurgency helped transform the Hindu monarchy into a...

Despite intense efforts by pro-abortion and other organizations, the Holy See and a coalition of other states--including Russia and many African and Asian nations--were able to prevent “sexual...

Bishop Raffaello Martinelli of Frascati has announced that Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Sunday Mass in the city of 20,000 on July 15. Blessed John Paul II made a pastoral visit to Frascati,...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services have issued an “action alert” urging Catholics to encourage Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to promote peace between...

L’Osservatore Romano has published an essay by Msgr. Paul McPartlan, a theology professor at the Catholic University of America, that offers an overview of the International Theological Commission’s...

Roughly one-fifth of the Catholics in the US are not associated with a parish, a new study has found. While there are about 75 million Catholics in the US, “fewer than 60 million are associated...

“Even without great material resources, it is possible to be happy,” Pope Benedict XVI told a group of new ambassadors to the Holy See. Meeting on May 4 with new envoys from Armenia, Ethiopia,...

An organization of Australian women religious has sent a message of support to their American counterpart, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), which has been the target of a Vatican...

Pope Benedict XVI will attend a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony at La Scala opera house during his coming visit to Milan. The Holy Father will be in Milan for the World Encounter of...

Bishop Stephen Blaire, who heads the US bishops’ justice-and-peace committee, has been critical of the federal budget proposal advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan. Ryan, who is Catholic, has argued that his...

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has cleared 3 priests of sex-abuse charges and found 5 others unsuited for ministry, Archbishop Charles Chaput announced on May 4, as he explained the resolution of...

Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, was reportedly conferring with advisers on May 4, weighing the calls for his resignation. Cardinal Brady denied reports that he had...

The Catholic bishops of New York have issued a call for a raise in the state's minimum wage. The bishops argued that the current minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, in inadequate to maintain an adequate...

John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter offers an interesting suggestion as to how the Holy See could dramatize the plight of Christians who die for the faith: Here's the idea: Beatify...

A judge in federal bankruptcy court has ordered the Milwaukee archdiocese to engage in “meaningful settlement negotiations” with creditors, including sex-abuse victims. Judge Susan Kelley said...

Georgetown University has announced that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be one of the 14 speakers at commencement ceremonies that will take place later this month....

Discussing the situation of Christians in various Middle Eastern nations, Father Samir Khalil Samir describes the barrage of Muslim proselytism that Egyptian Christians regularly face. “The whole...

A Consolata missionary priest was brutally slain in his residence in Matola, a city of 750,000 in the southeastern African nation of Mozambique. Father Valentim Camale, 48, was beaten to death...

In 1920, jurist Karl Binding and psychiatrist Alfred Hoche published Die Freigabe der Vernichtung Lebensunwertem Lebens [Allowing the Destruction of Life Unworthy to be Lived], a work that helped...

The director of the Holy See Press Office has devoted his weekly editorial to the importance of the union faith and reason in medical research--a union that was a theme of Pope Benedict’s May 3...

Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan has said that Catholic Church leaders will not and should not mute their opposition to same-sex marriage in Italy’s current debates. The idea that religious beliefs...

An editorial broadcast to Cuba by Radio Marti has denounced Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana for cooperating with the Castro regime. Radio Marti, which is sponsored and subsidized by the...

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has suggested an independent investigation into the handling of sex-abuse charges against Father Brendan Smyth, the serial molester whose case has roused calls...

In the Indonesian province of Aceh, protests by Muslim militants have led to the closing of three Christians churches: two Catholic and one Protestant. Authorities in Aceh—where Islamic shari’a...

At his midday public audience on Sunday, May 6, Pope Benedict XVI offered a meditation on Christ’s words: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” At Baptism “the Church grafts us...

Pope Benedict XVI spoke at length about the need to preserve the Catholic identity of Church schools, during a May 5 address to a group of visiting bishops from the US. The Pope told the American...

Pope Benedict XVI met on May 5 with Albania’s President Bamir Topi. Their discussion centered on relations between Albania and the Holy See, ecumenical affairs, and Albania’s hopes for entry into...

Pope Benedict XVI met on May 6 with newly pledged recruits to the Swiss Guard, and encouraged them to “take advantage of the time you spend in Rome to develop your friendship with Christ, to...

US Vice President Joseph Biden surprised reporters when he said on May 6 that he would be “absolutely comfortable” with legal recognition of same-sex marriages. Biden—who is Catholic—said that he...

The Archdiocese of Birmingham, England has been set on the defensive by the revelation that archdiocesan officials were aware of a priest’s pedophile activities 25 years before he was convicted in...

Bishop John Namanzah Niyiring of Kano, Nigeria, said that Catholics who were killed during a terrorist attack on April 29 should be recognized as martyrs. The bishop was speaking at the funeral...

While stating that “our role as Church is not to anoint or endorse any leader or political party,” the bishops of Kenya are asking the nation’s citizens “to vote for persons who respect life and are...

In April, Gary Marx and David Jackson of the Chicago Tribune were named finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative journalism “for their exposure of a neglectful state justice system that...

A discussion of domestic and international threats to religious freedom will lead the agenda at the spring meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from June 13 to 16. As they...

Reversing course and citing diocesan policy, a Catholic school in Clinton, Iowa, will not permit a foundation representative to present a scholarship award to an openly gay student at the school’s...

The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace hosted a conference on May 8 devoted to human trafficking. The conference, organized by Bishop Patrick Lynch of Southwark, focused on prevention, the...

Catholic schools in Wales have been informed that they must provide their students with a “balanced” perspective on same-sex marriage. Welsh education minister Leighton Andrews told...

Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester, Massachusetts, has agreed not to attend commencement exercises at a local Catholic college, after he roused controversy by opposing the school’s choice of a...

For the 2nd time in recent months, members of the Pontifical Academy for Life are calling for the resignation of the academy’s top leaders. Austrian theologian Josef Seifert, a member of the...

Reflecting on the diplomatic tensions that arose in Beijing when pro-life activist Chen Guangcheng sought refuge at the American embassy, columnist William McGurn of the Wall Street Journal...

A team made up of young US priests and seminarians from the North American College in Rome has reached the finals of the “Clericus Cup” soccer tournament, the annual Vatican competition for clerical...

Anthony Esolen asks why it is that we all recognize what is proper to the nature of a dog, but educated modernists claim not to know what is proper to human nature. When we discard the meanings of...

An Australian priest left his parish voluntarily after revealing that he was secretly married, his bishop has disclosed. Bishop Anthony Fisher of Parramatta said that “no punitive action has been...

The Cardinal Newman Society has quickly collected more than 14,000 signatures on a petition opposing the appearance of Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), as a...

A day after the House Budget Committee voted 21-9 to approve a budget plan proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) renewed its criticism of the plan and...

By a 61%-39% margin, voters in North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment declaring that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or...

Shattering windows and spray-painting statues and other areas of the church, vandals have caused extensive damage to Holy Cross Parish in Santa Cruz. Founded in 1791, Mission Santa Cruz was one...

Cardinal John Njue of Nairobi is urging lawmakers to reject a government-sponsored report recommending the legalization of homosexual relationships and prostitution. “If the two are allowed to...

The recovery of Steven Thorpe--a young British man who recovered after four doctors declared him “brain dead”--has prompted Vatican Radio to examine the topic of brain death. “Cases like Thorpe’s...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has published the text of the Rite for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the...

Adding a personal touch to his series of weekly talks on prayers, Pope Benedict XVI told his public audience on May 9 that since his election as Pontiff, “I have always felt supported by the prayers...

The government of Portugal has announced plans to eliminate 4 public holidays. The government chose the dates only after consultations with the Holy See. In a bid to provide some stimulation for...

The American ordinariate for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church has received its first priest. Father Eric Bergman, a former Anglican cleric who has been serving in the Diocese of Scranton,...

The bishops of Sudan and South Sudan have indefinitely postponed a meeting of their episcopal conference because of the rising tensions between the two countries. Although South Sudan has won its...

US President Barack Obama has announced his support for legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Speaking just 3 days after Vice President Joseph Biden said that he was “absolutely comfortable”...

The Vatican is likely to move quickly to appoint a coadjutor who will succeed Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, the Irish Catholic reports. Citing informed Vatican...

Legatus, the organization for American Catholic business executives, has filed suit against the Obama administration’s mandate requiring contraceptive coverage in health-care policies. The...

The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a statement lamenting President Barack Obama’s support for same-sex marriage. “President Obama’s comments today in...

Pope Benedict’s teaching on ecology helps Catholics to avoid extremes in thinking about the environment, according to the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Nature is...

Papua New Guinea’s bishops have announced their “conscientious objection” to an education ministry directive that requires high schools to distribute condoms to students. “We cannot be forced to...

The chaplain of the Swiss Guards has revealed that some Swiss Guards have not been practicing Catholics or made an individual confession before joining the corps. “Although they are all baptized,...

North Carolina’s bishops have issued statements welcoming the passage of a marriage amendment to the state constitution. By a 61%-39% margin, voters in North Carolina approved a constitutional...

A Lebanese priest who baptized a Muslim woman has been kidnapped and released. The daughter of a Shiite cleric “said she was physically and psychologically tortured by her father for converting...

Pope Benedict XVI met on May 10 with a delegation from the Latin American Jewish Congress, and spoke about the progress in relations between the two faiths in the past 50 years. The Vatican II...

Pope Benedict XVI met on May 10 with students and faculty from the Pontifical Spanish College in Rome, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its current foundation. Remembering the many...

Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin believes that the 50th International Eucharistic Congress, which will be held in Dublin in June, will be an important moment for the Church in Ireland, “a Church...

Pope Benedict XVI has formally declared that Hildegard of Bingen is a canonized saint. Although she has been revered as a saint for centuries, and several Roman Pontiffs have referred to her by...

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has released a series of decrees paving the way for the canonization of 39 candidates, including 37 martyrs, and testifying to the “heroic virtue” of 11...

An official of the Pontifical Academy for Life has fired back at the group’s critics, charging that “those people” have stymied the work of the dicastery by complaining about conferences that have...

The secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts has said that there are no significant doctrinal problems barring the way to the reconciliation of the Society of St. Pius X...

An Australian pro-life activist has been sentenced to an 8-month prison term because of his “rescues” at abortion clinics. Graham Preston had been fined for attempting to block entrance to...

Christians in Faisalabad, Pakistan, gathered at the city’s cathedral for a memorial Mass honoring Bishop John Joseph, who took his own life in 1998 in a protest against the country’s blasphemy...

In contrasting statements about dissent within the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAL), a prominent Vatican cardinal found fault with PAL's internal critics, while the bishop who heads the dicastery...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a statement praising the voters of North Carolina for approving marriage amendment to their state constitution. The amendment,...

The members of ARCIC III--the third phase of dialogue of the Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission--have concluded their most recent meeting in Hong Kong. ARCIC I, which lasted from...

Three theologians who teach at Jesuit institutions--Paul Lakeland of Fairfield University, Daniel Maguire of Marquette University, and Frank Parella of Santa Clara University--blasted the United...

Bishop Alexander Sample of Marquette said that he is “thrilled beyond words” that Pope Benedict has approved the decree of heroic virtue of his predecessor, the Slovenian-born Bishop Frederic Baraga...

The teen birth rate in the United States has reached its lowest point in seven decades, in part because of declining promiscuity among high schools students, according to a report issued by the...

Pope Benedict XVI said that the need for evangelization is urgent today, “because after two millennia, a major part of the human family still does not acknowledge Christ, but also because the...

Vassula Ryden, a Swiss mystic who has claimed to receive personal messages from Jesus, has taken legal action to shut down a web site operated by one of her critics. Maria Laura Pio, who operated...

Spokesmen for the Legion of Christ have acknowledged that 7 priests of the troubled religious order are under investigation by the Vatican on sex-abuse charges. Responding to an AP query, the...

The Pontifical Irish College in Rome has announced a shift in leadership, with 3 of the institution’s 4 top officials leaving. The change comes in the wake of an apostolic visitation that saw a need...

US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says that her Catholic faith “compels me” to favor same-sex marriage. "My religion has, compels me--and I love it for it--to be against discrimination of any...

An Anglican ordinariate for Australia will be inaugurated in June. Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, the president of the Australian bishops’ conference, said that the Personal Ordinariate of...

L’Osservatore Romano has explained the process by which Pope Benedict XVI has declared St. Hildegard of Bingen to be a saint. The Pope’s May 10 announcement was a case of “equivalent...

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has indicated that she will not support a bid for legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Responding to questions raised by reporters after US President...

Pilgrims visiting the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompei, Italy, were shaken on May 10 when a man killed himself in the parking lot of the sanctuary. Arcangelo Arpino reportedly prayed at...

The Vatican issued a statement on May 11 condemning a bombing in Damascus that killed at least 55 people and wounded nearly 400. The statement, issued by Father Federico Lombardi of the Vatican...

Father Robert Barron, the noted evangelist and creator of the acclaimed Catholicism documentary series, has been named the rector of the Chicago archdiocesan seminary in Mundelein. A priest of...

The superior general of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) said in an interview that there may be a split within the society if it reconciles with the Holy See. “There are some discrepancies in the...

Members of the Syrian Liberation Army--one of the rebel groups battling the Assad regime--have expelled all Christians from a village in Hama province, according to local Christian...

A record crowd of 19,500 gathered in Ottawa on May 10 to attend Canada’s annual March for Life. Most attendees were under 30 years of age. “Who is our neighbor?” preached Archbishop Terence...

The Archdiocese of Prague commemorated the 450th anniversary of the reestablishment of its archbishopric during a solemn Mass on May 12, the anniversary of the dedication of St. Vitus Cathedral....

The Diocese of Davenport has reached a “compromise” that will permit a representative of a foundation founded by a gay activist to present a scholarship award to an openly gay student at a Catholic...

In the wake of a conference organized by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the director of the Holy See Press Office has devoted his weekly editorial to human trafficking. “The...

An Argentine newspaper has charged that the Vatican was informed about the plight of the desaparecidos, the thousands of people who “disappeared” under the military junta that came to power in 1976....

During a May 13 visit to the Italian region of Tuscany, Pope Benedict XVI said that during the current economic crisis, Christians should “show concrete signs of solidarity with those in need,...

After hearing a concert of sacred music on Friday evening, May 12, Pope Benedict XVI praised the conductor, Riccardo Muti, for his efforts to increase appreciation for “this rich repertory which...

Italian police investigators exhumed the remains of a notorious organized-crime leader, Enrico De Pedis, hoping to obtain some new clues regarding the unsolved disappearance of the daughter of a...

A lawyer who represented the Philadelphia archdiocese has testified that senior Church officials lied to him about the presence of a list of priests who had been accused of sexual abuse. In the...

The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Mission Societies will launch a worldwide Rosary campaign for the Year of Faith, which commences on October 11 and concludes on...

The Permanent Council of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a pastoral letter on religious liberty. The letter, dated April 2012, was released on May 14. Lamenting threats to...

Three years after a Vatican investigation led to the early resignation of two of the Central African Republic’s leading prelates, Pope Benedict named new bishops for four of the nation’s nine...

In 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which directed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue regulations requiring public companies to...

In May 2011, Bishop William Morris was removed from the leadership of the Diocese of Toowoomba after repeated Vatican requests for his resignation. The Australian prelate had encouraged widespread...

Niladri Kanhar, a Hindu village leader involved in the killing of Christians in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, converted to Christianity after an evangelical pastor prayed for the healing of...

Nearly three-quarters of British subjects still believe that Queen Elizabeth and her successors should retain the title of “Defender of the Faith,” a new survey shows. A ComRes survey of 2,591...

The Vatican has released the full schedule for a June trip by Pope Benedict XVI to Milan, where he will participate in the 7th World Meeting of Families. The Pope will fly from Rome to Milan on...

The Benetton Group has issued an apology to the Holy See for using the image of Pope Benedict XVI in a provocative ad campaign, and is making a donation to a Catholic charity as a goodwill...

The head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) was in Rome this past weekend for talks with the Ecclesia Dei commission, in what may have been the final steps toward a reconciliation...

Cardinal Sean Brady, the Primate of All Ireland, has adamantly insisted that he will not bow to calls for his resignation. But Michael Kelly, writing in Catholic World Report, notes that the...

Two US governors have signed new legislation protecting the conscience rights of their citizens. In Arizona, Governor Jan Brower signed a bill that allows employers to exclude abortion and...

Ambassadors accredited to the Holy See have been given a tour of the Vatican bank, the Institute of Religious Works (IOR), as part of a public-relations campaign designed to bolster confidence that...

A team of US priests and seminarians from the Pontifical North American College has captured the annual “Clericus Cup,” the soccer tournament among Rome’s pontifical universities and...

A conference of Caritas relief organizations from the Mediterranean region meets in Cagliari, Italy this week to discuss the problems facing immigrants from the Middle East and northern...

One of the best-known members of the Legion of Christ has admitted that he fathered a child. Father Thomas Williams, who has gained international prominence as a teacher, author, and television...

Attorneys for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reiterated that the HHS mandate “accommodation” offered to some religious employers is morally objectionable. Responding to...

The Archdiocese of Washington has issued a statement criticizing Georgetown University for selecting Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as the speaker at the commencement ceremony...

The director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Lebanon is warning that radical Islamic organizations are fanning the flames of conflict in Lebanon as well as in Syria. “The conflict is...

An official of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, joined by representatives of arms control groups and the Union of Concerned Scientists, met with a deputy national security advisor...

Franciscan University of Steubenville has announced that it will no longer offer a student insurance plan because of the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate. “The Obama Administration...

Writing for L’Osservatore Romano, the president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization said that the forthcoming Year of Faith “is aimed primarily at the whole Church, so that in the...

The Vatican has confirmed that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) met on May 16, 2012 to discuss a proposed reconciliation between the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and the Holy...

At his weekly public audience on May 16, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he had completed his series of talks on prayer in the Acts of the Apostles, and would now begin a new series on prayer in...

"Work should not be an obstacle to the family, but should rather sustain and unite it,” Pope Benedict XVI said at his general public audience on May 16. As he ended his weekly audience the Pope...

As the trial of Msgr. William Lynn continues in Philadelphia, the court heard testimony that a former archdiocesan official instructed Msgr. Lynn to conceal evidence of previous complaints against...

A Kenyan Catholic bishop has filed a lawsuit against the Irish RTE television network, saying that he was defamed by the same program that inaccurately accused an Irish priest of rape. Bishop...

An admitted Italian gangster has said that the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee was killed in 1983 because a criminal gang was irate over the loss of funds deposited in the Vatican...

Raymond Lahey, the former Bishop of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, has been laicized, the diocese has revealed. Lahey petitioned the Vatican to remove him from the clerical state after he was arrested...

In a lengthy address delivered on May 16 at the Angelicum, Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and of the Commission of the Holy See for Religious...

Following a briefing at the Vatican bank--the Institute of Religious Works (IOR)--Ambassador Nigel Baker praised the Holy See’s efforts to conform to international financial norms against money...

A granite “healing stone,” evocative of Celtic crosses and the stone that covered Jesus’ tomb, will be unveiled at the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in June in commemoration of the...

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has named an attorney, a corporate executive, and a college president to the National Review Board....

On May 20, the Church will commemorate the 46th World Communications Day. As has been customary since 1986, Pope Benedict released his message for the day (“Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization”...

An Australian archbishop has called for “a more missionary Church,” saying that the task of evangelization is “the Church’s greatest challenge in these times.” As he was installed as the head of...

A prominent Georgetown University alumnus has announced plans for a canonical lawsuit in a bid to restore the school’s Catholic identity. William Peter Blatty, the author of The Exorcist, is...

Pope Benedict XVI saluted “the longstanding commitment of the American bishops to immigration reform” as he spoke on May 18 to the final group of bishops from the US completing their ad limina...

Rome’s Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta (LUMSA) has announced the establishment of a faculty chair for Pope Paul VI. At a May 18 press conference announcing the new post, Cardinal Giovanni...

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna has indicated that he may take action against the dissident Austrian priests who have issued a “Call to Disobedience.” “We might take disciplinary...

On May 18, Pope Benedict XVI attended a screening of the new film Mary of Nazareth, directed by Giacomo Campiotti. After watching the movie, Pope Benedict commented that it shows the personal...

The Catholic and Anglican bishops of South Sudan have united in an appeal for peace, pleading with international leaders to show a “more balanced” approach to the border conflict with...

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone will take a break from his duties as the Vatican Secretary of State to attend the Italian Cup soccer final on May 20. The contest, to be held in Rome’s Olympic Stadium,...

Only 20 priests attended a May 18 meeting called by the Archdiocese of Armagh, Ireland, in support of embattled Cardinal Sean Brady. The archdiocese had asked nearly 150 priests to join in a...

A Texas court has convicted a former Catholic priest of attempting the arrange the murder of a young man who accused him of sexual assault. John Fiala could face a life sentence after being found...

Muslim activists in Turkey are restore the use of the Hagia Sophia as an Islamic place of prayer. The Young People of Anatolia, a religious group, have petitioned the government for permission to...

The Serbian Orthodox Church has decided not to extend an invitation to Pope Benedict XVI to attend celebrations marking the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan, which will take place in Nis in...

The US bishops’ Fortnight for Freedom campaign will begin on June 21 with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and conclude on July 4 with Mass at the Basilica of the National...

Addressing the commencement ceremony of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius invoked President John F. Kennedy’s famed speech to the Greater...

The typical member of the ordination class of 2012 is a 31-year-old cradle Catholic who prayed the Rosary and took part in Eucharistic adoration before entering seminary, according to a survey of...

Catholic Relief Services has issued a statement applauding President Barack Obama’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, a $3-billion public-private partnership designed to lift 50 million...

Cardinal Velasio de Paolis, the pontifical delegate for the Legionaries of Christ, has appointed new leadership for Regnum Christi, the apostolic movement associated with the Legionaries. Dr....

Dozens of Indonesian Christians have had to flee their neighborhood after homes and motorbikes were burned in Ambon, the site of violence between Christians and Muslims a dozen years ago....

Warning that "fundamental rights hang in the balance," 43 Catholic dioceses and apostolates have filed lawsuits arguing that the mandated coverage of contraception in health-care plans is...

At his midday public audience on Sunday, May 20, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the Ascension, recognizing that the feast of the Ascension is observed on Sunday in many dioceses. The Ascension,...

Bishop Francis Micciche of Trapani has been removed from office by Pope Benedict XVI, after an investigation triggered by reports of financial irregularities in the Sicilian diocese. The Vatican...

A Catholic elementary school in Toronto is under criticism for hosting a publicity event before last week's Miss Universe Canada pageant. St. John Vianney school welcomed the 62 contestants in...

A Spanish Catholic bishop has been barred from speaking at official public events because of his criticism of homosexuality. The city council of Alaca, Spain, announced that Bishop Antonio Reig...

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which announced the removal of 5 priests from ministry earlier this month, has now declared 2 other priests unfit for pastoral duty. The 2 priests, Msgr. George...

At the conclusion of his Sunday audience on May 20, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the "brutal violence" of a bombing at a school in Brindisi, Italy. The Pope asked for prayers for the 16-year-old...

Pope Benedict XVI defined solidarity as "a sense of responsibility on the part of everyone with regard to everyone," during a May 19 audience with members of Catholic charitable groups. Because...

“Your Movement has always been committed to defending human life, according to the teachings of the Church," said Benedict XVI in a brief address to the thousands of members of the Italian pro-life...

The Catholic bishops of the Philippines are asking government officials to cancel concerts by Lady Gaga. Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon said that the American pop singer would "promote...

About 300 cars drove through Moscow on May 20 in a public demonstration of support for the Orthodox Church and Patriarch Kirill, who has come under heavy public criticism. The motorists waved...

The Vatican has denounced the publication of secret papal documents as "a criminal act," after an Italian journalist launched a new book full of leaked correspondence. Gianluigi Nuzzi, who helped...

The government of the Philippines is apparently prepared to recognize the authority of shari'a law in the southern Mindanao province. Government representatives have signed a joint declaration...

Pope Benedict XVI asked for special prayers for the Catholics of China during his public audience on May 20. The Pope remarked that on May 24--dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Help of...

The Second Vatican Council’s declarations on non-Christian religions and religious freedom do not contain “binding doctrinal content,” Cardinal Walter Brandmuller said at a press conference on May...

The Traditional Anglican Communion has suspended Archbishop John Hepworth, the Anglican prelate whose desire for full communion with the Holy See helped occasion Pope Benedict’s 2009 apostolic...

An artist and designer who lives in Brooklyn made 100 popsicles out of wine that he claims had been “inadvertently blessed by the priest while turning wine into the blood of Christ during the...

On March 23, over 63,000 people took part in rallies for religious freedom in 145 cities. A new round of rallies has been scheduled in 126 cities on June...

The largest province of Franciscan (OFM) friars in the United States has issued a statement on climate change. “As we reflect on the signs of the times, we may realize that the edifice of the...

The Chicago Tribune has profiled Sister Kathleen Desautels, a 74-year-old peace activist who works for the 8th Day Center for Justice. Desautels, who has taken part in hundreds of demonstrations,...

The leader of the Legion of Christ knew in 2005 that a prominent Legionary priest had fathered a child, but kept the affair secret until recently. Father Alvaro Corcuera, the general director of...

“The exit of Christians from the Holy Land can be described as a real human hemorrhage,” according to the Latin-rite Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem. In an interview with the Zenit news agency...

The former official exorcist of the Diocese of Rome has advanced the theory that Emanuela Orlandi, whose disappearance in 1983 has never been explained, was abducted for sexual...

Italian public opinion remains firmly opposed to same-sex marriage, a new survey shows. Only 43.9% of respondents said that they would support homosexual marriage. The result was a disappointment...

Chinese government officials are discouraging pilgrims from participating in a May 24 pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan. But while citing “security reasons” to keep Catholics away, the...

A Wisconsin court has found the Diocese of Green Bay guilty of fraud in a sex-abuse case, and awarded $700,000 in damages to two abuse victims. The jury said that diocesan officials committed...

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Mary Ann Glendon--the Harvard law professor and former US ambassador to the Vatican--explains that in their lawsuits against the Obama administration, aimed to block...

At a May 22 press conference in Rome, Vatican officials outlined final plans for the 7th World Meeting of Families, which will be held in Milan from May 30 to June 3. Cardinal Ennio Antonelli,...

A dozen Christians have been sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in violence that took place in the north-central Egyptian city of Minya in April 2011. Eight Muslims were acquitted. The...

In 1921, the rector of the cathedral in Birmingham, Alabama, was murdered by a Methodist minister who was outraged by the marriage of his daughter to a Puerto Rican. The minister, Edwin Stephenson,...

In what the Associated Press describes as “the largest release of a religious order's files to date,” over 8,000 pages of testimony and internal files have been made public related to abuse...

The Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is urging lay Catholics to contact their senators over the Memorial Day recess and...

A parish in Syracuse, New York. has hosted a prayer vigil in support of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) after the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded that “the...

Human Rights Watch is calling upon the government of Vietnam to release four Catholic student activists who allegedly distributed pro-democracy leaflets and counseled women not to have...

Officials of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services are hosting an online discussion on May 23 at 1:00 Eastern time to help Catholics “prevent drastic cuts in...

America’s 3 largest television network virtually ignored the lawsuits brought by 43 Catholic institutions against the contraceptive mandate, notes Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center. Only...

A new Gallup poll finds support for legal abortion at its lowest ebb in America since 2000. Only 41% of Americans call themselves “pro-choice,” Gallup reports. That figure represents a dramatic...

Two brothers who won a sex-abuse lawsuit against the Green Bay diocese have decided not to press for punitive damages. Todd and Troy Merryfield were awarded $700,000 in compensation after a...

The Washington Post has published an op-ed piece by Cardinal Donald Wuerl explaining that lawsuit that the Archdiocese of Washington (among other Catholic institutions) has filed against the HHS...

The Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship has plans for a drive to revitalize the use of Gregorian chant, reports Sandro Magister of L’Espresso. But those plans may encounter some opposition...

The Catholic Church in Ireland will see the first married deacons ordained in June. While the Church elsewhere in the Western world began reviving the permanent diaconate in the years after...

In the trial of Msgr. William Lynn—the former Philadelphia archdiocesan official who is charged with endangering children—the defense has brought forth witnesses to testify that Msgr. Lynn was...

Continuing his series of weekly talks on prayer in the epistles of St. Paul, Pope Benedict XVI spoke to his public audience on March 23 about the Apostle’s words on “the Holy Spirit, who enables us...

The Church of England has taken a crucial step toward the ordination of women as bishops, according to a report in the London Daily Telegraph. The bishops of the Church of England gave their...

The English organizers of a conference dedicated to the defense of traditional marriage have been abruptly informed that they cannot hold their event in a government-owned facility. Christian...

Speaking May 23 to a meeting of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, the Vatican’s representative called for universal access to affordable health-care coverage. Archbishop Zygmunt Zimoski, the...

The chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development has expressed concern about the strategy of filing lawsuits against the HHS contraceptive mandate. “I do think...

Prodded by a 2011 Vatican document, the Italian bishops’ conference has issued guidelines on the clerical abuse of minors. 135 allegations were reported to Italian bishops between 2000 and 2012,...

Chinese authorities have stepped up their persecution of the Church in Inner Mongolia, the Chinese region that borders the independent nation of Mongolia. Local Catholics report that Father...

In separate editorials, two Catholic magazines associated with the Archdiocese of Havana ripped Cuban dissidents and exiles who have criticized Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino for not being more...

The dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne says that “Catholicism in Australia is in much the same state as Catholicism in America,” with “many suburban parishes...

The president of the Vatican Bank has been removed from his office by a unanimous vote of the board of directors. Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who took over the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) in...

This Saturday, May 26, a group of 17 former Anglican priests will be ordained as deacons in the Catholic Church, to serve—eventually as priests--in the new Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. But...

The principal defendant has taken the witness stand in a criminal case testing the responsibility for handling sex-abuse cases in the Philadelphia archdiocese. Msgr. William Lynn, who was the...

A Catholic chaplain has been told that he cannot celebrate Mass in a South Carolina jail. Msgr. Ed Lofton, who had been celebrating Mass at Charleston County jail for 15 years, was blocked from...

Pope Benedict XVI urged the Italian hierarchy to embrace the “new evangelization” as he addressed the 64th plenary assembly of the Italian bishops’ conference on May 24. Speaking in unusually...

Despite government effort, more than 3,000 Chinese Catholics joined in a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan on May 24: the day set aside by Pope Benedict XVI for prayer for the Church...

Pope Benedict XVI met on May 24 with President Rosen Plevneliev of Bulgaria and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of Macedonia. The two political leaders were making a traditional visit to Rome for the...

The persecution of the Church in China is becoming “more real and concrete,” Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the retired bishop of Hong Kong, said in a recent interview. “They are employing...

The United States Embassy to the Holy See has sponsored a panel discussion on the plight of women migrants. Participants in the May 24 event included Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò, president of the...

Ave Maria University has announced that it will no longer offer a student insurance plan because of the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate. “Recently our insurance carrier notified the...

Participants in Florida’s American Legion Auxiliary Girls State--which describes itself as “a nonpartisan program that teaches young women responsible citizenship and love for God and Country”--are...

The remains of female abortion victims are being fed to dogs in one Indian city in order to hide evidence that illegal sex-selection abortions are taking place, according to Indian press...

Vatican police have arrested the Pope's valet, reporting that he was discovered in possession of confidential documents, and are holding him for questioning. The director of the Vatican press...

Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the international relief and development agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, received nearly $350 million more in revenue from the US...

The board of directors of the Vatican Bank, the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), is “looking ahead to the search for a new and distinguished president who can assist the IOR to regain effective...

Pope Benedict XVI has granted a plenary indulgence for those who participate in the World Meeting of Families, under the usual conditions. The 7th World Meeting of Families will take place in...

In a speech delivered at the Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, who chairs the US bishops’ committee on religious freedom, explained the importance of...

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has again refused to counter calls for the resignation of Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh. Asked if he supported Cardinal Brady, whose resignation has been...

Pope Benedict XVI met on May 25 with Prime Minister Petr Necas of the Czech Republic. According to a Vatican statement released after the visit, the Pope spoke with Necas about his visit to the...

Four young Vietnamese Catholic activists have been sentenced to prison terms, ranging from 18 to 42 months, for “propaganda against the state.” As thousands of supporters waited outside the...

Most American voters doubt that Catholic bishops would shut down schools, hospitals, and charitable institutions in response to the federal government’s contraceptive mandate, a new Rasmussen poll...

Sandro Magister of L’Espresso notes that a number of influential officials in the Roman Curia, including a disproportionate number of Italian prelates—are likely to be replaced in coming weeks....

Several rooms and hallways in the Vatican Museums that have been off limits to ordinary visitors will soon be open for private tours. Dark Rome, an Irish-owned tour group, has arranged to provide...

A South Carolina sheriff has announced that he will allow a prison chaplain to bring sacramental wine into the jail, reversing a policy that had prohibited the celebration of Mass. Charleston...

During his Regina Coeli address on Pentecost Sunday, Pope Benedict announced that he will proclaim St. John of Avila and St. Hildegard of Bingen doctors of the Church on October 7, at the beginning...

Preaching at St. Peter’s Basilica on Pentecost Sunday, Pope Benedict contrasted Pentecost, “the feast of human unity, understanding and sharing,” with Babel. Babel, said the Pope, is the...

The director of the Holy See Press Office issued a statement on May 26 confirming that Paolo Gabriele, the Pope’s valet, has been arrested for “illegal possession of Vatican documents found in his...

One of Italy’s leading newspapers has published a memorandum listing the reasons why Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was fired from his position as president of the Vatican Bank, formally known as the...

Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton has clarified recent remarks in which he expressed concern about the strategy of filing lawsuits against the HHS contraceptive mandate. “I do think there are...

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington defended the lawsuits filed by the Archdiocese of Washington and 42 other Catholic institutions against the Obama administration’s...

Amid conflicting reports about the killing of more than 100 Syrians in Houla, the apostolic nuncio to Syria called upon Christians and Muslims alike to pray and fast for peace. While most press...

Citing St. Ignatius of Loyola and recalling recent remarks made by Pope Benedict on the Church militant, the director of the Holy See Press Office said in his weekly editorial that “we must choose...

A member of the ruling cabinet in Sri Lanka has accused a Catholic bishop of encouraging hostility toward Muslims, drawing a sharp response from the bishop’s defenders. More than 5,000...

Paolo Gabriele, the valet to Pope Benedict XVI who was arrested on May 25 for holding confidential papal documents, has promised to cooperate with a larger investigation into the source of leaked...

The modern world is insecure and fragmented, and needs the inspiration of the Gospel message, the Pope said as he met on May 28 with members of Italy’s Renewal in the Holy Spirit Association, which...

Pope Benedict XVI voiced his “solidarity with the Christian communities in Iraq and throughout the Middle East” in a message to the leader of the Assyrian Church of the East. The Pope’s message...

Pope Benedict XVI has made a contribution of €100,000 ($125,000) to support victims of a recent earthquake in Italy. Cor Unum, the papal charity, announced that the Pope’s donation would be...

Pope Benedict XVI met on May 28 with Costa Rica’s President Laura Chinchilla Miranda, for a discussion that centered on relations between the Central American country and the Holy See. A Vatican...

Catholic schools in Ontario are opposing legislation that would require schools to allow students to form “gay-straight alliances.” Education minister Laurel Broten has put forward a proposal...

The Coptic Catholic bishop of Giza has expressed concerns for the future of Christians in Egypt if the Muslim Brotherhood emerges victorious in the nation’s elections. “The Muslim Brothers say...

Rioters in Zanzibar City, the capital of the overwhelmingly Muslim Tanzanian region of Zanzibar, set fire to two Protestant churches on the night of May 26. Police said that the incidents were...

British physicians who refuse to prescribe birth control to unmarried women or who refuse to carry out “gender reassignment” surgery would be guilty of discrimination and thus could be barred from...

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has recounted how his priestly vocation developed in the midst of Soviet persecution. “I grew up in a completely atheistic society where all forms...

Four youths of “Maghreb origin”—that is, from northwestern Africa – entered a parish in Caracassonne, the famed walled city in southern France, during evening Mass on May 26 and threw small stones...

The president of the Service Employees International Union said in a recent newspaper interview that “I think of my Church as the Church of the people and not as the institutional hierarchy that has...

Archbishop Angelo Becciu, who directs the flow of Vatican paperwork in his capacity as sostituto or deputy Secretary of State, commented on the leaks of confidential papal documents, and on the...

Writing for Catholic World Report, Brian O'Neel reports on the kwalliso system in North Korea: the system of prison camps that house an estimated 200,000 people under brutal conditions. Any...

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has provoked a firestorm of criticism by saying: “I see abortion as murder.” “What’s the difference between killing a baby inside a mother’s womb and...

Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his sorrow at the news of a massacre in the Syrian town of Houla, and a Vatican statement noted that international leaders have “expressed unanimous condemnation of...

The Vatican has officially released a document providing guidelines for bishops in judging reports of apparitions. The guidelines were issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith...

An undercover video recorded by pro-life activists has shown a counselor at a Planned Parenthood clinic apparently encouraging a young woman to have a sex-selection abortion. Live Action, a...

Abortion rates rose in England and Wales last year, with a total of 189,931 abortions performed. That figure is only slightly (0.2%) higher than the 2010 number, but 7.7% above the rate 10 years...

The Archbishop of Toronto has joined Catholic-school administrators in Ontario in opposing a proposed new law that would require all school principals to allow students to form anti-bullying clubs...

Nearly half of all Russians believe that the Orthodox Church is under attack, according to a new poll. In a survey by the Vtsiom Center, 46% of respondents said that the Orthodox Church needs...

Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn applauds the decision by the University of Notre Dame to join in the lawsuit against the HHS contraceptive mandate. McGurn points out that with Notre...

A Protestant minister in Pakistan is being denounced for blasphemy after he quoted from the Qur’an in a sermon on inter-religious violence. Rev. Irfan Gill received death threats, and a local...

The director of the Holy See Press Office has denied reports that additional arrests have been made in the “Vatileaks” scandal and that cardinals are under investigation. “It is a great test for...

Following the lynching of a police officer who was the victim of mistaken identity, Bolivia’s leading prelate decried vigilantism and gang violence. “It is really scary to know when someone is...

Amid deepening persecution of the Church in parts of China, a prelate in southeastern China says that “spring has arrived” in the city of Shaoguan, the site of Father Matteo Ricci’s first Jesuit...

As the international community prepares for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, CAFOD--the official Catholic aid agency for England and Wales--is calling for the world’s...

Two months after Christians fled al-Qusayr, a city of 30,000 in west-central Syria, a priest who prefers anonymity is devoting himself to constant prayer and fasting there for the sake of peace and...

Writing in the International Geology Review, three scientists who have examined seismic data say that they believe that the date of Jesus’ crucifixion was Friday, April 3, in the year...

A member of one of the most flourishing orders of active religious in the United States has been named executive director of the Secretariat of Catholic Education of the United States Conference of...

In his first public comments on the “Vatileaks” scandal, Pope Benedict XVI said that the release of confidential papal documents has “brought sadness to my heart.” But the Holy Father said that his...

The late Bishop Francis Li Yi of Shanxi cannot be buried with episcopal honors, Chinese officials have told local Catholics. A leader of the “underground” Catholic Church, Bishop Li Yi died on...

The Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate for the Egyptian president has promised that the country’s Christians would have full legal rights under his leadership. “There could be a Copt deputy...

At his weekly public audience on May 30, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the consolation that the faithful experience in prayer, saying that it is “a concrete experience of God’s ‘Yes’ to...

Africa has enough difficulties confronting poverty and disease, Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, told a gathering of African religious leaders. “We cannot afford to add terrorism to our...

Cardinals Ennio Antonelli, Angelo Scola, and Gianfranco Ravasi addressed families from 150 nations at the Seventh World Meeting of Families, which began in Milan on May 30 and will culminate with...

Sierra Leone’s leading prelate welcomed an international court’s decision to sentence former Liberian President Charles Taylor to 50 years in prison for war crimes committed in Sierra Leone during...

Syrian Christians from the Homs area, fearful of being targeted in the wake of the Houla massacre, are fleeing for Lebanon, according to the Fides news agency. Even if they have not chosen sides...

Bolivia’s bishops have denounced legislation that would legalize same-sex unions in the South American nation. “We express our rejection because we consider the bill a serious threat to the...

Church leaders from conflict zones attended a conference in Rome on May 29-30 devoted to “New Challenges for Catholic Peacebuilding.” The conference was sponsored by the Pontifical Council for...

As the Seventh World Meeting of Families begins in Milan, Vatican Radio has drawn attention to “Mothers Prayers,” an initiative founded by Veronica Williams, an English Catholic, in 1995....

Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City has criticized a recent Maureen Dowd column on the bishops’ reaction to the HHS mandate. “In an effort to make a case against the Church’s objection to the...

For the 2nd time this week, Live Action has released a videotape showing a Planned Parenthood counselor encouraging a woman to procure a sex-selection abortion. The new Live Action video was made...

The Vatican has released the prayer intentions of Pope Benedict XVI for June 2012. The Pope’s general intention is: “That believers may recognize in the Eucharist the living presence of the Risen...

Only 51% of the Catholics in New York approve of the lawsuit filed by 43 Catholic dioceses and other institutions against the contraceptive mandate, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. The survey...

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee offered “a handful” of priests cash payouts to persuade them to leave the priesthood after they were implicated in sexual abuse. The payments of up to $20,000 were...

The Archdiocese of Boston has agreed to go forward with the sale of a parish property without legal guarantees that the property will not be used to house clinics or laboratories engaging in...

The Vatican is moving forward expeditiously with an investigation into the leaks of confidential documents, the director of the Vatican press office told reporters during a May 30...

Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger sees irony in the possibility that a Mormon (Mitt Romney) might be elected President because Catholic voters turn against Barack Obama, driven by the...

The Italian journalist who released a full book of leaked papal correspondence, precipitating a furor at the Vatican, has defended the motives of his sources, but refused to identify the individuals...