Catholic World News

The bishops of the Democratic Republic of the Congo – a nation whose wars have claimed over 5.4 million lives since 1996 – organized a “march of hope” on August 1 in support of peace and the unity...

Nine Christian nurse trainees in Karachi were served poisoned tea on July 29, prompting calls for a judicial inquiry. “The government has turned a blind eye to the persecution of minorities,”...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has joined with over 100 other organizations in calling upon members of Congress to support the Help for Separated Families Act. The...

The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked enforcement of an Arizona law that would have banned most abortions after the twentieth week of pregnancy. In doing so, the court overturned a...

Two Israeli scholars have uncovered archaeological evidence dating from the eleventh century BC that may lend support to the Old Testament account of Samson. A seal depicting a man with long hair...

Pope Benedict XVI has completed the 3rd and final volume of his work, Jesus of Nazareth, the Vatican has disclosed. The Pope’s latest book, which focuses on the Gospel accounts of Christ’s...

A leftist group in Massachusetts has returned a $40,000 grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), fearful that the group would be asked to comply with Church teachings regarding...

The British medical journal Lancet has produced a series of essays arguing that “homophobia is a key driver” in the spread of AIDS, and calling for an end to laws and social attitudes that...

American Catholics generally agree with their bishops regarding the threats to religious freedom, a new Pew Forum poll shows. However, despite tensions between the US hierarchy and the Obama...

Pursuing the argument against the HHS contraceptive mandate from a different direction, Edward Morrissey explains in the Fiscal Times that the policy will harm the US economy, by imposing new costs...

The Kansas City priest at the center of a sex-abuse scandal has pleaded guilty to child-pornography charges in federal court. Father Shawn Ratigan pleaded guilty on 5 counts of child pornography,...

Officials at the school known as the Pontifical University of Peru have charged that Opus Dei orchestrated the Vatican decision to strip the university of its “pontifical” and “Catholic”...

An estimated 100 Christian families have been driven from the Egyptian village of Dahshur, south of Cairo, after a clash with local Muslims. The violence in Dashur erupted after a local Muslim...

The Vatican newspaper has noted with approval the drive by the US Catholic bishops to keep together the families of illegal immigrants. L’Osservatore Romano reports that the American bishops,...

A team of Israeli researchers have announced the discovery of what they believe to be the burial box of the high priest Caiaphas, who sat in judgment of Jesus. The ossuary, recovered from...

More weddings in Scotland are now conducted by the Humanist Society than by the Catholic Church, according to newly released government statistics. Of the 29,135 marriages that took place in...

A British judge has ruled that a 10-year-old Jewish girl may convert to Anglicanism and seek baptism. “Clearly her upbringing for the first eight years of her life lacked any significant...

The conflict between indigenous Christians and Muslim settlers in the eastern Indian state of Assam has now displaced 400,000 people, according to Catholic Relief Services. In addition to working...

A leading Pakistani prelate has asked the National Commission for Justice and Peace, a Catholic advocacy organization, to investigate the poisoning of Christian nurse trainees in Karachi. “Was it...

One of the five British generals who have been honored with the title of field marshal says that “torture is wrong and shouldn't be allowed, and people who torture should be apprehended, with the...

A New Zealand bishop has issued a pastoral letter decrying plans to establish an abortion clinic a hospital. The pastoral letter will be read at all Sunday Masses in the Diocese of Dunedin on August...

The director of media relations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has welcomed a federal judge’s decision to issue a temporary injunction halting the implementation of the HHS...

In an annual message to the world’s Muslims, the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue advocates “the education of young Christians and Muslims for justice and peace.” Opening with...

The Diocese of Fiesole, Italy has become the arena for an unusual conflict within the Church, Vatican Observer reports. Bishop Mario Meini has taken formal disciplinary action against a monastic...

A judge in Maine has dismissed a sex-abuse lawsuit against the Portland diocese, saying that the diocese was not responsible for covering up information about a priest’s misconduct. The Maine...

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, has added to speculation that Pope Benedict XVI is writing a new encyclical for the Year of Faith. Cardinal Bertone, who is vacationing...

Pope Benedict XVI will meet on Friday evening, August 3, with a large delegation of pilgrims from his native Bavaria. Led by Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, the Bavarian delegation of about 450...

Syria is slipping into a “war to the bitter end,” warns Father Bernardo Cervellera, the director of the AsiaNews service. Taking note of the decision by Kofi Annan to resign as the UN’s peace...

Malnutrition is claiming the lives of 5 children and 2 adults daily in refugee camps in South Sudan, the Fides news service reports. The refugees are arriving at the refugee camps from the states...

Pope Benedict XVI has sent his greetings to an Inter-religious Gathering of Prayer for World Peace, being held in Japan. The Pontiff noted that the meeting—an annual event held on Mount Hiel—evokes...

A leading Malaysian government official is warning non-Muslims that state governments can take punitive action against those who attempt to convert Muslims. “Distribution of reading materials and...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is urging Congress to take action to rescind the “unprecedented and misguided” HHS mandate. “One year ago, for the first time, the federal...

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Knights of Columbus sponsored a Guadalupe Celebration at the Los Angeles Coliseum on August 5. Media estimates of attendance at the event, which included prayer,...

The layman who coordinates the Church’s outreach at the Olympics is reporting solid attendance by athletes at daily Masses. “I am delighted to be able to report that aside from there being three...

Communion was distributed to a dog at a August 5 liturgical celebration of “Inclusive Catholics,” a Melbourne movement launched by Father Greg Reynolds, a suspended archdiocesan priest. After...

As Scotland’s government takes steps towards the legalization of same-sex marriage, Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen asked why bigamy and incest should not be legalized as well. “You can’t have a...

Pope Benedict XVI has warned of the "unprecedented gravity" of threats to religious freedom of Catholics in the US. In a message to the 130th Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus, which...

At his Sunday audience on August 5, Pope Benedict XVI commented on the 6th chapter of St. John’s Gospel, in which Jesus speaks of Himself as the Bread of Life. In this discourse, the Pope told...

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, who has been charged by the Vatican with responsibility for supervising a reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), has been told by the...

Lawmakers in the Philippines have moved closer to approval of a sweeping family-planning bill, despite strong opposition from the Catholic Church. “May God have mercy on our Congress,” said...

Msgr. William Lynn has lost a bid to be freed on bail pending his appeal of child-endangerment charges. Judge Teresa Sarmina, who had sentenced the former Philadelphia archdiocesan official to a...

On August 6, Vatican Radio marked the 34th anniversary of the death of Pope Paul VI by interviewing veteran television journalist Bob Miller, who remembered him as a “misunderstood and underrated”...

The head of the Vatican Observatory, Father José Gabriel Funes, SJ, has said that he looks forward to results from the rover Curiosity, which landed August 6 on Mars to begin a 2-year exploration...

Saudi Arabia has deported 35 Ethiopian Christians following seven months of imprisonment. The six men and 29 women were arrested after police stormed a prayer vigil at a private residence in...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has sent its condolences to the Sikh community following the murder of six worshippers in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. “In this time of...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Relief Services, and National Catholic Rural Life Conference are urging Catholics to ask their senators and representatives to “support and...

Five leading African prelates, including four cardinals, paid tribute to Pope Paul VI during a August 1-2 conference at the Catholic University for Eastern Africa in Kenya. Over 300 were in...

The population of Amish in the United States and Ontario is expected to quadruple from 251,000 to over a million over the next four decades, according to a study released by Ohio State...

Robert Oscar Lopez, an English professor at the University of California at Northridge, discusses his experience of growing up as a child of his mother and her lesbian partner. “To most outside...

Gunmen killed at least 19 people and left an unknown number wounded in an August 7 attack on a Christian church in central Nigeria. The armed assault on Deeper Life Bible Church in Okene came on...

The Catholic bishops of France have asked the faithful to pray for their country on August 15, as a Socialist government considers legalizing same-sex marriage and euthanasia. The French bishops...

Violent attacks on Christian churches in Africa are likely to continue, says the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. But those attacks will not deter Christians from bearing...

The mission of the Knights of Columbus today is “a combination of defending liberty, working for a culture of life and also building a culture of life by being our brothers keeper, in reaching out...

The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) reports on St. Luke’s parish in Bladensburg, Maryland: an Anglican community that has entered the Catholic Church through the new US ordinariate. Rev. Ian...

Manny Pacquiao, who is noted in the Philippines not only as a boxing legend but also as a prominent politician, has staked out a position firmly against the family-planning legislation now pending...

Columnist David Goldman compares the contraceptive mandate in the US with recent bids in Europe to outlaw circumcision and kosher slaughter. “The vehemence and thoroughness of the campaign against...

Gunmen have stolen property from a Syrian Catholic monastery that dates to the sixth century. The monastery had stood abandoned until an Italian Jesuit, Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, founded a community...

A new survey conducted by the Gallup International Association has ranked citizens of 57 countries by their religiosity. Overall, 59% of those surveyed described themselves as religious, 23% said...

The Archdiocese of New York has confirmed that Cardinal Timothy Dolan has invited President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner and that both have accepted...

By an 83%-17% margin, Missouri voters have passed a state constitutional amendment that ensures that “that any person shall have the right to pray individually or corporately in a private or public...

Alleging clerical abuse dating back to the 1930s, nearly 300 plaintiffs have joined in a lawsuit against the Diocese of Helena. Many are Native Americans who allege they were abused by priests in...

A pioneer in the research and treatment of post-abortion syndrome and a nun who has helped found numerous crisis pregnancy centers are the 2012 winners of the People of Life Award, an honor bestowed...

Pope Benedict XVI continued his weekly talks on the “School of Prayer” during his public audience on August 8. Noting that the day was the feast of St. Dominic, the Holy Father devoted most of his...

A terrorist attack on a mosque in central Nigeria shows that “Boko Haram is a threat to everyone, not just Christians,” observed Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja. Four people were killed when...

For Catholic employers at secular firms, the imposition of the HHS contraceptive mandate poses immediate moral problems. The law—which has now taken effect for secular employers, although...

The Vatican will announce on August 13 whether Paolo Gabriele, the Pope's valet, will face trial for stealing confidential papal documents. Gabriele's lawyer has already conceded that it is...

A Pakistani Catholic family faces death threats after attempting to stop the demolition of a chapel in Lahore. Augustine George, who cared for the small chapel, lost his battle to save the...

A head caretaker at Castel Gandolfo, who has cared for the papal summer residence for 50 years, provided CNA with an interesting sketch of the history of the estate, which has served Popes since the...

Sister Megan Rice faces criminal charges after allegedly breaking into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and pouring blood on a facility used to enrich uranium for use in nuclear...

In a column on legal acceptance of same-sex marriage, Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George remarks that the public debate in America has been artificially limited. A full debate, the cardinal argues,...

A senior district court judge has upheld the constitutionality of a Hawaiian law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. “It is not beyond rational speculation to conclude that...

A Pentecostal evangelist was killed in his home on August 6 in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri. The Islamist terrorist organization Boko Haram (“Western education is a sin”) is...

Despite pressure from an online petition drive, a Pennsylvania Catholic college is remaining firm in its resolve not to recognize a student LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered)...

Call to Action Pennsylvania, Catholics for Social Justice, Pittsburgh Area Pax Christi and the Association of Pittsburgh Priests are seeking permission from a judge to file a friend-of-the-court...

A group of visiting bishops had high praise for Crystal Cathedral, the Protestant church acquired by the Diocese of Orange for $57.5 million following a bankruptcy court ruling. The building is...

The bishop who ministers to over two million Catholics in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia is moving his apostolic vicariate’s headquarters from Kuwait to Bahrain. “After thoughtful...

An Ohio parish has been named the United States’ 74th minor basilica. The web site of St. John the Baptist Church, located in Canton, describes the basilica as “the oldest Catholic parish in...

New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie has vetoed a bill that would have allowed more liberal use of surrogate parents. "Permitting adults to contract with others regarding a child in such a manner...

Commenting on a poll that found a sharp drop in religious faith in Ireland, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said that the results underline the need to educate all Catholics in the faith—adults...

At the annual assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), members have been asked not to speak to reporters about the issue on everyone’s mind: the LCWR response to a Vatican...

The Wall Street Journal reports on a summer camp run by "underground" Catholics of the Wenzhou diocese, giving young people a thorough grounding in the Catholic faith. Attending the camp...

Speaking at a conference in Sydney, Australia, the president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization observed: “We cannot conduct a new evangelization without new...

In Crisis, Father George W. Rutler gives a hilarious explanation of his reason for feeling ambivalent (at best) about taking vacations. A few samples: But every vacation strikes me as a form of...

Marie Stopes International, a leading abortion provider in Britain, is seeking a legal injunction to stop pro-life activists from praying the Rosary outside a London clinic. The legal threat is...

San Francisco’s most notoriously “gay-friendly” Catholic parish has announced that drag queens will not be allowed at a fundraising event this year for the first time. The policy change for Most...

At a campaign appearance at the University of Denver, President Barack Obama lauded mandatory insurance coverage of contraception and asserted that “we worked with the Catholic hospitals and...

Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore has told Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review Online that Catholics should not vote for candidates who support intrinsic evils. “This is a big moment for...

Iran’s court of appeals has upheld a six-year prison sentence for Farshid Fat’hi, a convert to Christianity who organized a house church. Arrested in 2010, Fat’hi was sentenced on charges of...

Attorneys for the Obama administration have said that the Department of Health and Human Services will not enforce the HHS mandate against Legatus, the Weingartz Supply Company, and company...

Citing Amnesty International’s maternal-health campaign, Elizabeth Charnowski of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute writes that Amnesty International, a human rights organization...

At the second day of the annual assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the publisher of the National Catholic Reporter called upon the sisters present to “just say no” to...

The Diocese of Peoria has joined dozens of other dioceses and Catholic organizations in filing suit against the Department of Health and Human Services in an attempt to halt the implementation of...

An Iraqi bishop has told Vatican Radio that Middle Eastern Christians outside Lebanon are eagerly awaiting Pope Benedict’s upcoming apostolic journey there. “Despite all the difficulties that...

Writing to Catholics about a November ballot initiative that would implement same-sex marriage in the State of Washington, Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane emphasized that “the Catholic Church has no...

The newly appointed Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives and Librarian of the Vatican Library has told L’Osservatore Romano that the two institutions “are to be considered jewels on the crown of...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers will be hosting a webinar on “Families and Forming Consciences for Faithful...

Nearly four months after the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released its doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the conference’s officers pledged to...

The president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod—the second-largest Lutheran body in the US—has joined with the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference in decrying the...

Caritas, the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies, is now assisting 13,000 persons who have been affected by the conflict there, including Syrian refugees who have fled their...

On the eve of a protest that saw nearly 500 people march in support of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle issued a statement in praise of the...

Father Bartholomew Mun Jung-hyun, who was celebrating Mass outside the proposed site of a controversial naval base in South Korea, was knocked down by police who then stepped on the Eucharist,...

A long-awaited meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow could take place in Finland, Finnish Christian leaders believe. In June, Patriarch Kirill met with three Christian...

Paolo Gabriele, the Pope’s valet, has been formally indicted for aggravated theft in connection with the release of confidential papal documents. Another Italian layman was also indicted as an...

Security concerns could endanger a September trip by Pope Benedict XVI to Lebanon, according to a Lebanese newspaper report. The daily Ad Diyar said that the Vatican is “beginning to study the...

Pope Benedict XVI expressed concern for the victims of natural disasters in the Philippines, China, and Iran at the conclusion of his regular public audience in Sunday, August 12. The Pontiff...

At his Angelus audience on Sunday, August 12, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the 6th chapter of St. John’s Gospel, in which Jesus identified Himself as the “bread of life,” and the difficulty that...

A group of 130 diocesan priests in Zambia have protested their government’s decision to expel a Rwandan priest. Father Viateur Banyangandora was deported after he delivered a sermon complaining...

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have been exploited to bring highly questionable charges against another prominent Christian, the AsiaNews service reports. Rev. Zafar Bhatti, who heads the Jesus World...

A retired Supreme Court judge has been selected by Australia’s parliament to lead an investigation into the handling of sex-abuse complaints by Catholic Church officials. Judge Frank Vincent will...

Following a concert presented at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo on August 11, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the “radiant beauty and life force of the Creator” that is expressed in great...

The JP Morgan investment bank has announced that it is closing down the Global Catholic Ethical Balanced Fund, which had been launched to attract Catholic investors seeking to place their...

A Fordham University symposium on humor, featuring Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and comedian Stephen Colbert, will be closed to the media. The Fordham event, announced in July, had prompted...

Deal Hudson, who has helped organize Catholic voters for the Republican Party, believes that the choice of Congressman Paul Ryan as the party’s vice-presidential candidate sets up an interesting...

Father Dwight Longenecker examines the thought of Barbara Marx Hubbard, the keynote speaker at last week’s assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and concludes that she is a...

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church will visit Poland on August 16-19 and sign a joint declaration with the nation’s Catholic bishops. Patriarch Kirill I is traveling to Poland to visit...

The indictment of Paolo Gabriele, the Pope’s valet, and Claudio Sciarpelleti, a computer analyst employed by the Vatican Secretariat of State, is not the “last word” in the “Vatileaks”...

In its annual Labor Day statement, the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called for a “national economic renewal that places...

Lee Kuan Yew, who served as founding prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990, is lamenting his nation’s birth rate, which ranks last in the world. “If we go on like that, this place will...

A federal appellate court has upheld New Jersey Transit’s decision to fire Roger Fouche, a born-again Christian bus driver who refused to work on Sundays. “To accommodate his request, New Jersey...

Nellie Gray, the founder of the annual March for Life in Washington, DC, was found dead at her home on August 13. A native of Texas and convert to Catholicism, Nellie Gray was instrumental in...

The bishops of the Maronite Catholic Church have issued a warning that Lebanon risks an “economic collapse,” akin to the crises that has struck Greece. The Maronite bishops said that the...

Belgian Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who resigned as head of the Bruges diocese in April 2010 amid charges of sexual abuse, has now been hit with another similar charge. Bishop Vangheluwe was accused...

The in-vitro fertilization industry has failed to maintain accepted ethical standards for egg donors, a new study charges. The study in Fertility & Sterility reports that organizations that...

The editorial offices of CWN will be closed on August 15, so that our staff can celebrate the feast of the Assumption. Barring an unexpected development, there will be no news stories posted...

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York has defended his decision to invite President Barack Obama to the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. Emphasizing that Americans wish for greater...

On the Feast of the Assumption, the Church in France prayed for four intentions, including a more generous solidarity during the economic crisis, a commitment to the common good by lawmakers, and...

Lamenting the “resurgence of violence currently spreading throughout the world,” the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople--the Eastern Orthodox see that holds the primacy of honor--issued a...

The worst US drought in 50 years has helped contribute to a steep increase in grain prices since June, and one of the Vatican’s leading diplomats called upon the international community to take...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a statement mourning the death of Nellie Gray, the organizer of the March for Life and a convert to Catholicism. Deirdre...

The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change “and our partners,” which include the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Relief Services, and Catholic Charities USA, are inviting...

Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which came under fire in July for its ties with groups that promote contraception overseas, is now being criticized for its affiliation with a group that apparently...

A gay activist staged a solo armed assault on the offices of a leading pro-family group in Washington, DC, on August 15, wounding a security guard before he was disarmed. A man identified as...

In Catholic World Report, Anne Hendershott reports on the groups that arise in the US each election year to encourage Catholic support for liberal political candidates. Analyzing groups like...

Msgr. William Lynn, who had sought release on bail pending his appeal of a child-endangerment conviction, is appealing a Pennsylvania judge’s decision to deny that request. Msgr. Lynn’s lawyers...

Saudi Arabia has entered an objection to the Vatican’s bid for a new “.catholic” internet domain. In an appeal to ICANN, the international body that controls internet domains, Saudi officials...

Missouri’s top court has denied an appeal by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), which had resisted a court order to release internal records. The state’s supreme court...

Escalating violence in Syria is now threatening the people of Aleppo, reports the city’s Melkite Catholic leader, Archbishop Jean Clement Jeanbart. Archbishop Jeanbart said that the struggle to...

Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message of support to a pro-life pilgrimage in Poland. The Pope relayed his greetings to participants in the 301st annual pilgrimage from Warsaw to the Marian shrine...

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the feast of the Assumption on August 15 by presiding at Mass in the parish church of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo. In his homily, the Pope said that...

Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, has been named this year’s Pax Christi International Peace Laureate for his work to promote understanding between Christians and Muslims despite the...

Making clear that he was endorsing no candidate, Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison praised vice presidential contender Paul Ryan as a Catholic who “is very careful to fashion and form his conclusions...

Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former Romanian intelligence leader who defected to the United States, has coauthored a forthcoming book with Ronald Rychlak on the Soviet Union’s framing of Pope Pius XII as...

Communist officials compelled Catholics in a south-central Vietnamese village to remove the altar, tabernacle, cross, and Marian image from a Catholic chapel. The objects were taken to a lay...

Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, writes that the political “parties’ retreat from...

As the verdict in their trial on charges of hooliganism approached, members of the Russian feminist punk rock band Pussy Riot defended their decision to hold an impromptu concert at the altar at an...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services have announced that they will be hosting on online discussion on the Syrian refugee crisis on August 22. Participants...

The leaders of the Russian Orthodox and Polish Catholic churches have signed a historic statement calling for reconciliation between their peoples. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and...

The Vatican has overturned a decision by Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, to close down a church, although the Vatican order does not require the bishop to reopen the parish. The ruling...

The Archdiocese of Atlanta, Georgia, has received a 50% share in the literary rights to the novel Gone With the Wind. Gone With the Wind, published in 1936, received the Pulitzer Prize and...

John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter analyzes the finances of the Catholic Church in the US, and finds that although it is commonly believed that bishops control most of the funds, the...

The Australian Diocese of Maitland-Newscastle is nearing agreement with sex-abuse victims for a blanket settlement that would provide $15 million in compensation for about 100 victims. The...

Samuel Gregg calls attention to the 30th anniversary of the publication of The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, by Michael Novak. Novak’s book, which explored the moral roots of capitalism, has...

Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople has staked out his opposition to a plan by the Turkish government to convert an ancient church in the town of Trabzon into a mosque. Turkey’s...

Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message of condolence to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church on the death of Patriarch Abuna Paulos. The Ethiopian Orthodox leader died on August 15 at the age of 76 after...

The president of the Nigerian bishops’ conference has denounced the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram and called upon European Christians to urge their governments to intervene on behalf of...

The head of the Maronite Catholic Church, an Eastern church in full communion with the Holy See, expressed concern that the conflict in Syria could spread to neighboring Lebanon, which Pope Benedict...

The Iranian Protestant pastor whose 2010 death sentence on charges of apostasy was not carried out following an international outcry faces a new trial on charges of banditry and extortion....

Stating that “the attacks of this world, the flesh and devil seem particularly ferocious in this current moment,” Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria is urging the faithful of his diocese to consecrate...

The chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs has offered “a greeting of peace and my congratulations” on the occasion of Eid,...

A statue of the Virgin Mary outside the second-oldest Catholic church in St. Louis has been vandalized in a manner described as a “Satanic hate crime” and “horrible act of desecration” by one of the...

After the miracle of the loaves and fishes, Jesus made an extra effort to discourage his followers from thinking that He would establish an earthly kingdom, Pope Benedict XVI observed during his...

Pope Benedict XVI hailed a historic joint statement by Russian Orthodox and Polish Catholic leaders, as he addressed a public audience on August 19. At the conclusion of his Sunday audience, the...

Pope Benedict XVI hailed a historic joint statement by Russian Orthodox and Polish Catholic leaders, as he addressed a public audience on August 19. At the conclusion of his Sunday audience, the...

Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, a veteran Vatican diplomat currently serving in Australia, has been named the new apostolic nuncio to Israel. Archbishop Lazzarotto has previous diplomatic...

The Vatican has no plans to postpone a scheduled September visit to Lebanon by Pope Benedict XVI, despite security concerns in the region. Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican...

A young Christian woman with Down syndrome has been arrested for allegedly violating Pakistan’s blasphemy law. The arrest of 11-year-old Rimsha Masih has sparked angry protests among Christians...

The Catholic bishops of Zambia are opposing a plan to identify the African country as “a Christian nation” in the preamble to a new proposed constitution. In explaining their stand, the bishops...

A New York Times notice about the wedding of two homosexual men listed a Catholic priest as “assisting” at the ceremony. A Lutheran minister presided at the same-sex wedding, celebrated on a...

An Australian man has revealed that he secretly taped a meeting with the local head of a Catholic religious order, as part of a police investigation into sex-abuse complaints. Peter Murphy, who...

An article in the Charlotte Observer, on a former Catholic priest who has started his own religious congregation, illustrates the dangers of relying on religious reporting from secular...

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago has disclosed that he has been diagnosed with cancer in his kidney and liver. The cardinal’s medical prognosis is uncertain. He is likely to undergo further...

Pope Benedict XVI has sent a supportive message to the 33rd annual meeting in Rimini, Italy, sponsored by Communion and Liberation movement. The Pope’s message addressed the theme that has been...

Coptic Christians are under attack in some towns in southern Egypt, according to Arab-language media reports summarized by Coptic Solidarity, a US-based organization. Recent incidents of...

After destroying part of a school, gunmen attacked a Catholic parish and police station in Yobe State in northeastern Nigeria but were repulsed. “Attacks launched against Damagun police division...

Speaking on Sirius Catholic Channel radio, Cardinal Timothy Dolan lauded vice presidential contender Paul Ryan as a “great public servant.” Recalling a Wisconsin Lutheran college commencement...

A leading prelate in Cameroon has come under fire for reportedly calling homosexuals “corrupters of society” during a homily on the Feast of the Assumption, according to a tendentious Radio...

The cathedral church of the Diocese of Charlotte is hosting a continuous Eucharistic vigil for liberty during the Democratic National Convention, which will take place in Charlotte from September...

Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn laments the disappearance of a liberal Catholic tradition that posed real challenges to American conservatives. Today the liberal impulse in American...

Father James Schall observes that the study of natural law has been enormously popular in our time: I think of Maritain, Simon, Rommen, Veatch, Finnis, Hittinger, Kreeft, Fortin, Benestad, Rice,...

As 215 members were sworn in to a new parliament in Somalia, the Vatican’s representative for that country voiced his hope that Somalia would finally bring order to the African nation, after 21...

Attorneys for Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City are arguing in a Missouri court that evidence of a priest’s involvement in child pornography should be excluded from the bishop’s trial on related...

A federal judge in Oregon has rejected the argument that the Vatican is the “employer” of parish priests, and should therefore be held responsible for clerical abuse. “There are no facts to...

Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Edinburgh has ended talks with the Scottish government on a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage. The cardinal took action after the government rejected his plea for a...

A popular Italian Catholic journal has engaged in open criticism of the Communion and Liberation movement’s annual conference in Rimini, charging that the organization is currying favor with...

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has issued a warning that the hierarchy may remove the “Catholic” designation from schools that promote dissent from Church...

The medical school at Creighton University, a Jesuit institution in Omaha, has established a second campus at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. Bishop Thomas Olmsted stripped the...

The bishop of Pune, a city in southwestern India, appealed for calm following attacks directed against residents of the city who come from northeastern India. Jawaharlal Nehru, the nation’s first...

Speaking at Communion and Liberation’s annual meeting in Rimini, Italy, the primate of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus discussed the desecration of churches in northeastern Cyprus, which has been...

At an Eid ceremony that marked the end of Ramadan, Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois decried attacks on Muslims and lauded religious freedom. Quinn, who knelt toward Mecca during the ceremony, called...

L’Osservatore Romano has published an editorial praising Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s actions opposing the prospective legalization of same-sex marriage in Scotland. The cardinal’s decision to break...

The Virgin Mary “will not fail to intercede for us with her Son,” Pope Benedict XVI assured his weekly audience on August 22, the feast of the Queenship of Mary. In his remarks to the crowd that...

Chinese authorities have closed down the seminaries of the Shanghai diocese, in another apparent retaliatory measure after the newly ordained Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin announced his resignation from...

Presenting a vision for the future of Catholicism in Ireland, the Pope’s newly appointed representative reminded the faithful that “the night is often darkest before the dawn.” Archbishop...

An American Catholic Hispanic group has issued a voters’ guide that places high priority on culture-of-life issues, and gives Mitt Romney a more favorable rating that President Barack Obama. The...

More than 12,000 Syrian Catholics are trapped in the town of Rableh, near Homs, where there lives are endangered by hunger and disease, the Fides news service reports. Rebel forces have...

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is handing off control of 17 archdiocesan high schools to an independent foundation, embarking on a new approach to the administration and financing of Catholic...

Three protesters disrupted Mass at the cathedral of Cologne, Germany on August 19, in a show of solidarity with members of a Russian punk band who had been sentenced to 2 years in prison for a...

Cardinal Paul Shan Kuo-hsi, the retired head of Taiwan’s Kaohsiung diocese, died on August 22 at the age of 88 after a long battle with cancer. Born in mainland China, Paul Shan entered the...

Michel Samaha, Lebanon’s former information minister and an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has been arrested on allegations of planning bomb attacks that would have coincided with the...

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York will offer a prayer of benediction at the Republican National Convention on August 30 following Mitt Romney’s nomination acceptance speech. “Cardinal Dolan is...

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, has conveyed Pope Benedict’s condolences following the death of Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s prime minister since 1995. “His Holiness Pope...

Citing recent articles in three medical journals, Dr. Denise Hunnell of HLI America has found increasing acceptance of voluntary euthanasia within the medical community. “This has serious...

In a lengthy interview with Vatican Radio, William Carroll, a member of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Oxford, distinguished the scientific findings of evolutionary biology from a...

An Israeli journalist has complained that the appointment of Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto as apostolic nuncio is an insult to the state of Israel. Menachim Gantz of Yediot Ahronoth argues that...

The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, a traditionalist community based on an island off the coast of Scotland, has been granted official status as a “clerical institute of diocesan right” in the...

In a column for the Chicago archdiocesan newspaper, Cardinal Francis George has called for “a more human and just system of protecting our borders and of admitting immigrants legally.” Cardinal...

An influential Filipino legislator, Senator Vicente Sotto III, has announced that his is on a “mission from God” to block passage of a controversial family-planning bill that would introduce...

American voters have confused and conflicting ideas about legal abortion, a new Pew Research study shows. According to the new survey, 49% see the Democratic Party as more representative of their...

David Gibson provides a generally sympathetic report on women religious belonging to the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR), the umbrella group for religious orders that do not...

More than 400 complaints of sexual abuse have been entered against the Christian Brothers in the US and Canada. When the Christian Brothers in North America filed for bankruptcy, an August 1...

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has announced that a renegade priest faces “immediate excommunication” if he does not promptly renounce his plans to establish a new church. Father David...

Christianity and especially Catholicism is under ideological attack in many parts of the world, warns the Vatican’s permanent observer at UN offices in Geneva. Speaking to the annual Rimini...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will discuss religious freedom and his own Mormon faith during an exclusive interview to be broadcast by the EWTN network on Thursday evening, August...

Anticipating a serious shortage of priests in the near future, the Irish Catholic bishops are actively planning for priestless parishes and lay-led Sunday services, the Irish Catholic newspaper has...

Security concerns in Lebanon have not dampened enthusiasm for the scheduled September visit by Pope Benedict XVI, the chief organizer of the trip reports. Archbishop Camille Zaidan of Anteliea,...

Pope Benedict XVI encouraged lay people to take an active role in public life “in the light of the Church’s social magisterium,” in a message to an international conference of Catholic Action held...

Following the withdrawal of UN peacekeeping forces from Syria, the apostolic nuncio called for peace and lamented actions taken by both sides of the conflict. “At this moment we must require all...

South Africa’s leading prelate told Vatican Radio that most South Africans remain in shock a week after the police shooting of 34 striking miners. “The first feeling is a feeling of sorrow and...

A Baptist college in Louisiana has filed suit against the HHS mandate. “The HHS mandate will force us to cover abortion pills in our health plans at no cost to employees,” said Joe Aguillard,...

Wishing “to end this ordeal and the threat that the litigation” posed, a Vermont inn that refused to host a lesbian wedding reception has settled with the American Civil Liberties Union. “We have...

The director of media relations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is strongly criticizing a recent Economist article on Church finances. “The article is filled with errors, such...

Samuel Yaqoob, an 11-year-old Christian boy from an impoverished family, has been brutally tortured and murdered in the eastern Pakistani province of Punjab. “We neither received any phone call...

L’Osservatore Romano has published a generally positive assessment of the work of populist US novelist Jodi Picoult, who has incorporated bioethical themes into some of her writings. Giulia...

The former chief financial archdiocese of the Philadelphia archdiocese has been sentenced to a 2-7 year prison term after pleading guilty to embezzling $900,000 in church funds. Anita Guzzardi...

The Vatican publishing house has reached agreement with Apple to make the works of Pope Benedict XVI available in electronic form, accessible to a variety of high-tech devices. The Libreria...

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who will offer a closing benediction at the Republican Party's national convention next week, offered to lead prayers for the Democratic convention as well. His offer was...

The Polish bishops’ conference will meet in Czestochowa this weekend, to plot out programs following up on a historic statement calling for reconciliation between the peoples of Poland and...

The Italian Jesuit priest who was expelled from Syria in June describes himself as the “chaplain of the revolution” and insists that the country’s people have the right to fight against an unjust...

Pakistani government representatives are cooperating with Christian leaders, human-rights activists, and even some Islamic officials to safeguard the life of a Down-syndrome girl who has been...

Some 79 members of the US House of Representatives have signed amicus curiae briefs in support of the 40 Catholic institutions that have brought suit to halt enforcement of the Obama...

Anne Hendershott argues in First Things that the Vatican’s decision to strip the “Catholic” designation from a Peruvian university signals a new seriousness about expecting Catholic institutions to...

John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter notes that in two important recent cases, the Vatican has shown an unusual willingness to expose its internal policies to public scrutiny, and in each...

The bishops of Scotland have issued a pastoral message on marriage that was read throughout Scottish parishes on August 26. “We write to you having already expressed our deep disappointment that...

Catholic Relief Services has responded to a LifeSiteNews.com report charging that the relief agency has a “history of hiring employees with strong ties to pro-abortion and pro-contraception...

The Liberty Institute and the Family Research Council have published a 135-page report documenting lawsuits and other acts that have exhibited hostility towards the free exercise of...

Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington attended the funeral Mass of Nellie Gray, the organizer of the March for Life and a convert to Catholicism. The Mass was...

The HHS mandate, writes Ave Maria University president Jim Towey, “is disillusioning for us who felt it is possible to be a good Catholic and a good Democrat.” “I remained a Democrat the entire...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit on behalf of Ashanti McShan, a Pentecostal teenage girl who was not permitted to begin work at a Burger King restaurant because she wished...

Vatican investigators could investigate 20 more people in the connection with the leaks of confidential papal documents, the Italian news service ANSA reports. Citing “well-placed Vatican...

St. Peter and the other apostles understood the message of Jesus because they first believed in Him, Pope Benedict XVI told his Sunday Angelus audience on August 26. Continuing his reflections on...

The Polish Catholic bishops have ordered that the full text of a joint Orthodox-Catholic statement on reconciliation between Poland and Russia should be read at Mass in all parishes. Meeting this...

The Fides news service has called attention to “a long trail of Christian children killed for different reasons” in Pakistan, as well as many incidents of young Christians kidnapped, raped, and...

Marking the anniversary of the election of Pope John Paul I, who was chosen by the conclave on August 26, 1978, the Vatican newspaper offered a retrospective on the short reign of the “smiling...

Christian evangelizers must find new ways to deliver the Gospel message to a “religiously illiterate” generation, the prefect of the Congregation for Religious told an audience in...

Any effort to legalize abortion in Ireland will be “vigorously and comprehensively opposed,” the Catholic Primate of All Ireland has promised. Speaking in Waterford, Cardinal Sean Brady said that...

Melkite Catholic Archbishop Jean-Clement Jeanbart of Aleppo, Syria, has sought refuge in Lebanon after his offies were ransacked by rebel troops. The offices of the Maronite Catholic archdiocese...

In a column for the Catholic Voice, the newspaper of the Oakland diocese, Archbishop-elect Salvatore Cordileone (who will soon be installed as head of the San Francisco archdiocese) argues that the...

Catholic-school teachers and administrators will join with other educators in Australia’s state of Victoria in a strike scheduled to begin on September 5. The teachers are asking for a 30%...

John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter explains why the September trip to Lebanon by Pope Benedict XVI will be a severe test of papal diplomacy. The Vatican has carefully avoided taking...

L’Espresso provides a fascinating glimpse at a publication that few Catholics will ever see: the hefty account of “activity of the Holy See”—which, although technically “unofficial,” is published...

As American politicians debate whether the "Obamacare" health plan will increase the rate of abortion, analysts turn to the record in Massachusetts, where coverage of abortion (ironically introduced...

Police in California report that Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the newly appointed head of the San Francisco archdiocese, was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. The archbishop...

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who was appointed head of the San Francisco archdiocese on July 27 and is scheduled to be installed on October 4, has apologized for the "disgrace" caused by his...

Safety measures taken in the wake of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake have led to the discovery of a fourth-century catacomb in the village of San Lorenzo di Beffi. The catacomb’s main tunnel is 100...

The Fides news agency is reporting that 500 women religious, 80% of whom are “very young,” now belong to the Franciscan Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a community devoted to education...

The bishops of Venezuela have issued a statement following an oil refinery explosion in Amuay that has left 48 dead, injured more than 80, and damaged over 200 homes. As they prayed for the...

The international charity Aid to the Church in Need has issued an appeal to assist 12,000 Syrians trapped in a village near the Lebanese border. The Fides news agency has reported that the villagers...

Muqadas Kainat, a Christian girl who lived near Sahiwal in the eastern Pakistani province of Punjab, was raped by at least five men and brutally murdered on August 14. No arrests have been made in...

New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan has accepted an invitation from Democratic officials to deliver the closing prayer at the Party's national convention in September. Cardinal Dolan had already...

In an interview with Vatican Insider, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller says that Catholics should not be surprised by the continuing confusion over the teachings of Vatican II, even 50 years after the...

In an editorial decrying the statement by Cardinal Sean Brady that the Catholic Church would oppose legalization of abortion in Ireland, the Irish Times has expressed surprise and disappointment...

Panama’s President Ricardo Martinelli has announced plans to build the world’s tallest statue of the Virgin Mary. The statue of Santa Maria la Antigua will rise over Panama City to a height of...

Dr. Thomas Hilgers, a Creighton University obstetrics professor and director of the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction, has revealed that statistics show women are less...

Pope Benedict XVI met on August 28 with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, for a discussion that focused on the challenges facing the European Union. The Pope’s meeting with Monti, held at the...

The Denver City Council has backed away from plans to present a “Good Citizenship Award” to a local company that has challenged the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate in court. Hercules...

The annual meeting of the Ratzinger Schülerkreis--the seminar for former students of Pope Benedict XVI—will be devoted to ecumenism, with a particular focus on relations with Lutherans and...

Australia’s federal government has rejected calls by Church leaders for an increase in welfare and unemployment benefits. Representatives of Catholic Social Services had argued that the...

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a minor revision in the rules governing the implementation of the contraception mandate. But an attorney representing a Christian...

Registration has opened for groups planning to attend the World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations in Rio de Janeiro in 2013. WYD organizers have announced that they are accepting registrations,...

Members of Ireland’s Fine Gael party are asking the government to ensure that lawmakers would have a “conscience vote” on any proposal to change the country’s law on abortion. Brian Hayes, a...

A Pakistani court has ruled that the case of a Down-syndrome girl who was arrested on blasphemy charges should be handled by a juvenile court. The decision, which allows for more lenient treatment,...

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that an Italian law restricting artificial reproduction violates the laws of prospective parents by not allowing them to screen embryos for disease...

On the eve of a new Eastern Orthodox liturgical year, which begins September 1, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople issued an encyclical calling for repentance for environmental...

Citing state finance laws, the State of Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission has ruled that parishes in the Diocese of Yakima cannot hold a special collection on behalf of Preserve Marriage...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services has published its 2011 annual report. According to the report, over 92.5% of Migration and Refugee Services’ $72.1...

Following the arrest of a Pakistani Christian girl on blasphemy charges, 100 Christians from her Islamabad neighborhood have left their homes and begun to live in the forest. Some of the Christians...

Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies, has issued a $3.1-million appeal to assist persons affected by drought in Ethiopia, where nearly 3.8 million...

Sister Simone Campbell--the head of the liberal Network lobby, and chief organizer of the "Nuns on the Bus" tour criticizing Republican budget plans--has been invited to speak at the Democratic...

“The truth is the truth and there is no compromise,” Pope Benedict XVI told his weekly public audience on August 29, the feast of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. St. John the Baptist died...

The Vatican newspaper has called attention to the flight of Christians escaping Islamic persecution in Mali. As many as 200,000 Christians from Mali have found their way to refugee camps in...

A series of terrorist bombings outside Damascus have struck Christian targets, testifying to the rising danger of sectarian violence in a country where the Christian minority has previously felt...

Italian police report that a relic of Blessed John Paul II was stolen on Tuesday, August 28, but recovered later in the day. A priest carrying a vial of blood from the late Pontiff, which was to...

A Brazilian notary has recognized a civil union involving 3 persons: a man and two women. The three parties to the union, who have declined to be publicly identified, have been living together in...

Police in Rome have allowed dozens of unlicensed merchants to sell counterfeit goods on the streets outside St. Peter’s Square, the ANSA news service reports. Undeterred by occasional police...

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, who revealed earlier this month that he has been diagnosed with cancer for the 2nd time, will begin chemotherapy next week. Cardinal George, who is 75, had...

New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat, a practicing Catholic, offers his thoughts on American politics and religion in an interview with the National Catholic Register. Regarding the...

Five Protestant churches in Mombasa, Kenya’s second-largest city, were attacked following the August 27 killing of a Muslim cleric, according to Sabahi, a web site sponsored by the Africa Command of...

In May, 43 Catholic dioceses and other organizations nationwide filed suit in various federal courts against the HHS mandate. On August 6, the Obama administration filed a brief urging the courts to...

The Episcopal Conference of Colombia has welcomed President Juan Manuel Santos’s decision to engage in peace talks with rebel forces. The decades-old conflict between the government and rebel...

A 90-year-old Chinese bishop has directed that each parish in his diocese offer a public daily Rosary and a program of study devoted to the Catechism of the Catholic Church during the upcoming Year...

Decrying the conflict in Syria, the Conference of Latin Bishops of the Arab Regions is expressing its “closeness and solidarity” in a message to the apostolic vicar of Aleppo, Syria’s largest...

The August 30 issue of Origins includes “Help for Bishops in Rebuilding Trust,” a recent talk by Bishop Daniel Conlon of Joliet, chairman of the US bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children...

The LifeSite News service has criticized Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for hiring employees who engage in pro-abortion activism. That criticism has drawn a disclaimer from CRS, which issued an...

The Vatican has quiet dropped a lawsuit that had been filed against a German satirical magazine, Titanic, because of a retouched photo ridiculing Pope Benedict XVI. The July issue of Titanic...

“The current administration will regularly subordinate rights relating to human life, rights relating to religious freedom, to their agenda items on the gay rights agenda and the abortion rights...

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, who will be among the participants in a weekend seminary along with other former theology students of Pope Benedict XVI, spoke with Vatican Radio about both...

The University of Texas has dismissed a scientific-misconduct charge that was brought against a researcher whose study showed that children raised by same-sex parents suffered negative...

The September visit to Lebanon by Pope Benedict XVI is intended not only for that country but for the entire region of the Middle East, the Latin-rite Patriarch of Jerusalem remarked in a Vatican...

A Catholic cathedral in Nigeria has announced that women will no longer be permitted to wear the traditional elaborate headwrap called the gele in the church. Father Uche Obodoechina said that...

Islamic leaders in Pakistan have objected to a medial commission’s report that a Christian girl should be tried in juvenile court on blasphemy charges. Disputing the medical commission’s report...

Carlo Fusco, the lawyer for “Vatileaks” suspect Paolo Gabriele, has dropped off the case, citing differences of opinion over the conduct of the legal defense. A second lawyer representing...

Following presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s speech at the Republican National Convention, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,...

Lamenting a clerical culture dismissive of canon law in the decades following the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Raymond Burke addressed a Kenyan canon law convention on August 28 about “the...

In an interview with the National Catholic Register, Father Benedict Groeschel said that some victims of clerical sexual abuse seduced their attackers and that first-time offenders should not be...

Several Muslim leaders in Pakistan are calling for leniency for Rimsha Masih, a medically handicapped Christian girl who has been imprisoned on blasphemy charges. “In order to prove the charges...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Migration Policy and Public Affairs has published a document offering advice to immigrants eligible for the Obama administration’s...

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the retired Archbishop of Milan, died on August 31 of complications from Parkinson’s disease, at the age of 85. An acclaimed Scripture scholar and urbane Catholic...

An Australian priest faces criminal charges for failing to take action on sex-abuse reports while he was serving as principal of a Catholic school. Father Tom Brennan, a former vicar general of...

The Israeli government has dismissed a journalist’s charge that the recent appointment of Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto as apostolic nuncio is a “slap in Israel’s face.” The Israeli foreign...

The Vatican has released the prayer intentions of Pope Benedict XVI for September 2012. The Pope’s general intention is: “That politicians may always act with honesty, integrity, and love for...

In his prayer intentions for the month of September 2012, Pope Benedict XVI includes the petition that “politicians may always act with honesty, integrity, and love for the truth.” Vatican Radio...

Pope Benedict XVI will soon set up a new pontifical academy to promote the study of the Latin language, according to the leading Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli of La Stampa. The “Pontificia...

A employee of the Diocese of Kansas City, Missouri, reportedly testified that Bishop Robert Finn said that “boys will be boys” when he was informed that a priest had been found with disturbing...