Most Popular News Within Last 30 Days
Pope Leo, Secretary of State Rubio exchange views
Pope Leo XIV received U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio today (video), three days after President Donald Trump renewed his criticism of the Pontiff. Secretary Rubio subsequently met with...
Cardinal Müller, former CDF prefect, blasts Synod report on doctrinal issues
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the prefect of the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2012 to 2017, blasted the newly published Synod report on doctrinal issues, which...Abducted Nigerian parishioners freed after 3 months in captivity
The chancellor of the Diocese of Kafanchan, Nigeria, announced that all parishioners abducted on February 9 from Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Karku have been released.Father Nathaniel Asuwaye, the parish priest, was released earlier this month.
Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space established inside Vietnamese cathedral
A Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space was inaugurated inside Phú Cường Cathedral on May 8, sparking controversy among Vietnam’s Catholics.Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) was the founder of the Indochina Communist Party and the president of North Vietnam. The cathedral is located in the former South Vietnam, conquered by North Vietnam in 1975. Venerable Nguyễn Văn Thuận (1928-2002), the coadjutor archbishop of South Vietnam’s capital, was then imprisoned by the Communist regime for 13 years.
At Phú Cường Cathedral, “Father Anton Hà Văn Minh said that the teachings of Jesus Christ and the ideology of Hồ Chí Minh shared similarities in their humanistic values and aspirations toward freedom,” UCA News reported. “Within hours, clips of the interview spread across Vietnamese Catholic social media, triggering an intense backlash.”
Man vandalizes, sets fire at Missouri Catholic school
A man broke into a Catholic elementary school in Missouri, damaged images of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and set a fire in the building.The incident at Immaculate Conception Elementary School in Springfield is one of over 400 acts of vandalism, arson, and other destruction at parishes and other Catholic sites in the United States since 2020.
Nigerian priest found guilty of abusing adult women in Texas
A priest of the Diocese of Uyo, Nigeria, who ministered in the United States was convicted in a Texas courtroom of three counts of sexual assault of adult women.Father Anthony Odiong, who was arrested in Florida in 2024 for child pornography, also “fathered at least one child with another woman in Louisiana who had been under his spiritual direction,” according to the prosecution’s DNA evidence.
The case “highlights the Catholic Church’s ongoing challenges in addressing clergy sexual predation of adults in situations where they are vulnerable, particularly in relationships of pastoral care or spiritual guidance, while states such as Texas and Georgia have passed laws to criminalize such acts,” noted Gina Christian of OSV News.
‘Queer voices were strong’ at Katholikentag, group says
New Ways Ministry, which dissents from Catholic teaching on homosexuality, said that “queer voices emerged loud and proud in both their worship and their calls for reform” during Katholikentag (Catholic Day), the biennial German Catholic gathering first held in 1848.During the gathering, which took place in Würzburg from May 13 to 17, “more than 200 people attended a queer worship service,” according to New Ways Ministry. Held inside the Order of Saint Augustine’s church, the service was “prepared by the initiative #OutInChurch, the Augustinian Monastery in Würzburg, the Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ), the Network of Catholic Lesbians, the Ecumenical Working Group on Homosexuality and the Church (HuK), and ‘Queer and Christian in the Diocese of Würzburg.’”
New Ways Ministry was the subject of a notification by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1999) and a statement by the US bishops (2011). Pope Francis, however, praised Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of New Ways Ministry, in a handwritten letter, and subsequently met with Sister Gramick and other leaders of the group.
Pope Leo breaks new ground with encyclical on AI [News/Analysis]
In choosing to be known as Pope Leo XIV, our current Pontiff made tribute to Leo XIII, the author of Rerum Novarum, the encyclical that formed the foundation of Catholic social teaching. Now Leo XIV...Cardinal Fernández criticizes 2006 CDF notification on Father Jon Sobrino’s works
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, criticized the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s Notification on the...In India, Catholics who confronted Hindu mob are charged with attempted murder
Two weeks after a Hindu mob disrupted a Mass in a remote Indian village—and police arrested Catholics who confronted the mob—the Catholics remain behind bars, with bail twice denied.“When the hooligans disrupted the Mass on May 1 shouting ‘conversion,’ our people forced them out,” said Bishop Devprasad John Ganawa of Udaipur. “Instead of registering a criminal case against the intruders, the police have charged our people with ‘conversion and attempt to murder’ and arrested nine Catholics of Bandaria Parish.”
