Catholic World News
Stories for week of March 01, 2015
Released Monday, Mar. 2
Lamenting the centrality of the “god of money” and quoting Popes Leo XIII and Benedict XVI, Pope Francis lauded cooperative enterprises, called for investment in them, and offered suggestions for...
Pope Francis devoted his March 1 Angelus address to Christ’s transfiguration, the subject of the day’s Gospel reading at Mass. The goal of the Lenten journey of conversion, the Pope said, is...
At the conclusion of his March 1 Angelus address, Pope Francis renewed his call for prayers for Christians and others persecuted in Syria and Iraq. “We want to assure those involved in these...
Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher to the papal household since 1980, devoted his first weekly Lenten sermon to Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. Father...
The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, joined by the chairman of its Committee on International Justice and Peace, called upon President Obama and congressional leaders...
In an interview with the Rorate Caeli blog, Cardinal Raymond Burke called for devotion to the sacred liturgy and the study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in the midst of confusing...
Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, held a press conference on March 2 to highlight the work of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM). Formed...
The Vatican has announced the prayer intentions of Pope Francis for March 2015. The Pope's universal intention is: “That those involved in scientific research may serve the well-being of the whole...
Responding to allegations of excessive spending, the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy has issued a statement saying that its operating expenses have been “below the budget set when the office...
The Islamic State has released 19 of the more than 200 Syrian Christians who were captured during an offensive last week, after the payment of a large ransom. Estimates of the number of hostages...
A study in the British Medical Journal has found that maternal health statistics are best in jurisdictions with stricter laws regulating abortion. Contradicting an argument that has been made...
Pope Francis assured a group of bishops from northern Africa that they have the full support of the universal Church, during a meeting on March 2. The Pope met with members of the Regional...
Released Tuesday, Mar. 3
L’Osservatore Romano has published an update on the ecumenical dialogue between the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the World Evangelical Alliance. The dialogue is focusing...
Following the shooting of a 14-year-old boy by police, Cardinal Jorge Uroso of Caracas has called upon security forces to “stop murderous violence.” The prelate called upon the government of...
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church met with President Petro Poroshenko on February 28, according to the Religious Information Service of Ukraine. Poroshenko thanked Major Archbishop...
Speaking in Geneva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lamented growing pressures on Christians in the West. “I can't leave out problems which Christians have been experiencing in many...
Five weeks after it publicized a new film on Venerable Pius XII’s actions during the Holocaust, L’Osservatore Romano has published a brief negative review of the film’s artistic quality. Stating...
Stating that “no persecution can be committed in the name of God,” the Bishops’ Conference of France has issued a statement decrying the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. “We wish to...
Decrying threats to family life and the terrorism of Boko Haram, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has issued a statement entitled “Good Families Make Good Nations.” “In a contemporary...
Pope Francis has approved the statutes of the Secretariat for the Economy, giving an important victory to Cardinal George Pell in his quest for transparency and accountability in Vatican financial...
Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the official overseas charitable agency of the US bishops, has been promoting contraceptive use in a program in Kenya. The Population Research Institute, in...
The Vatican’s top security officer has said that although the Islamic State has threatened to attack the Vatican, there are no reports of any planned attack. “The threat exists,” said Domenico...
Two spokesmen for the US bishops' conference have joined in a message to Congress, urging lawmakers to preserve funding for federal programs serving the poor. Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami...
The Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, has launched a fundraising campaign to cope with a welcome problem: a huge increase in the number of young men preparing for the priesthood. The diocese has...
Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, met on March 3 with families of the 21 Christians who were beheaded by the Islamic State in Libya. The Coptic prelate has announced that...
Pope Francis will make a one-day trip to Pompeii and Naples on Saturday, March 21, the Vatican has announced. The Pope will travel by helicopter from the Vatican to Pompeii early in the morning....
Released Wednesday, Mar. 4
In remarks made after a recent Lenten liturgy, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church criticized the vanity manifested in discussions on social media networks. “Every person has a chance to say...
In a March 4 address to bishops who are friends of Focolare, Pope Francis thanked the movement for anchoring its promotion of unity in the Eucharist. The Eucharist, said the Pope, ensures that...
Following the recent release of 19 Syrian Christian captives, the Islamic State has released four more hostages, including a six-year-old girl, according to the Assyrian International News...
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, will visit Belarus from March 12 to 15, according to a report from the Belarusian Telegraph Agency. In sending Cardinal Parolin to visit...
Myanmar’s first cardinal has called for dialogue between the nation’s army and rebel groups, including the Kachin Independence Army. Addressing 50,000 pilgrims at a Marian shrine, Cardinal...
81 Philippine bishops have signed a statement calling for the passage of two bills that would extend 1988 agrarian-reform legislation. An estimated 50,000 farmers stand to become landowners if...
Pope Francis devoted his March 4 general audience to the elderly and obligations toward them. “Where the elderly are not honored, there is no future for the young,” he said. Citing Pope...
In an interview with BBC, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster discussed immigration and the UK general election, which will take place on May 7. “I think every party has to be tested on its...
After Syrian rebels fighting to oust the Assad regime rejected a UN proposal for a humanitarian truce, Bishop Georges Abou Khazen of Aleppo told the Fides news service that the country’s bloody...
More than 2,000 Catholics from Chile and Argentina gathered on the border between their countries on March 1, to attend a Mass in thanksgiving for the peace between their nations, the Fides news...
Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, will be canonized in October. Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, announced...
A Peruvian cardinal has charged that a popular smart-phone application is encouraging adultery. “Concerning mobile phones, how many people become unfaithful and how many families are broken by...
The Islamic State represents “a particularly perverted form of Islam,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York has said. “These are not pure, these are not real Muslims,” the cardinal said in an...
Released Thursday, Mar. 5
A Syrian Christian kidnapped from his village by the Islamic State and released nearly a week later said that he was treated well but constantly pressured to convert to Islam. “We said we would...
Alexey Komov, an official of the Family Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church, has told an Italian news agency that progress has been made in defending human life, marriage, and the family in...
The German Bishops’ Conference recently issued a statement renewing its condemnation of the “the illegal annexation of the Crimea by Russia and the continued military engagement of the Russian...
A French atheist who was baptized a Catholic and recently moved to Berlin has expressed outrage that the German government classified him as a Catholic for tax purposes, leading to the imposition of...
A federal court has granted a legal victory to the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa, after the former CFO of the city’s Catholic school system contended he lost his job because of religious...
Four American Catholic publications, with widely diverging editorial perspectives, have joined in a call for abolition of the death penalty in the US. The editors of the National Catholic...
“Abandonment is the most serious 'malady' to afflict the elderly, and also the greatest injustice they can suffer,” Pope Francis said in a March 5 message to the Pontifical Academy for...
A forthcoming papal encyclical on the environment will be published during “a critical year for humanity,” the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace told an Irish...
A Vatican spokesman has denied that he threatened to sue a Canadian blogger for defamatory statements. Father Thomas Rosica, a Canadian television personality who works with the Vatican press...
Pope Francis enjoys broad popularity in the US, a new public-opinion survey shows. The Pew Research Center, in February poll, found that 70% of the American public views the Pope favorably. Among...
The Palestinian Authority has urged the Vatican and the UN to take action to curb attacks on Christians and Muslims by militant Jews in Jerusalem. The Palestinian foreign ministry issued a...
Slovenia’s parliament has amended the country’s law on marriage, allowing for legal recognition of same-sex unions. The new law, approved by a vote of 51 to 28, redefines marriage to allow for...
Cardinal Edward Egan, the retired Archbishop of New York, has died at the age of 82. His death was attributed to cardiac arrest. A native of Illinois, Edward Egan was ordained as a priest of the...
A small community of nuns, which raised over $200,000 in donations after reports that their convent was without heat, has been exposed as a schismatic group with millions of dollars in financial...
The Council of Europe has announced that France must enact new legislation against spanking. The Council said that French law, which affirms the right of parents to discipline their children is...
San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone faces mounting opposition to his plan to ensure that Catholic-school teachers uphold the principles of the faith. Four-fifths of the teachers in...
Catholic doctors are being squeezed out of the fields of obstetrics and gynecology, the editor of a Christian law review has warned. John Duddington, the editor of Law and Justice, reports that...
Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich—the president of the German bishops’ conference, and a member of the Council of Cardinals—has expressed misgivings about the term “the new evangelization.” In an...
Released Friday, Mar. 6
Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, the worldwide leader of the Anglican communion, emphasized the centrality of evangelization in a March 5 lecture citing a wide range of Christian figures...
Twenty Protestant evangelists were detained and beaten by police in Jaipur, a city of 3.1 million in northwestern India. Following an intervention by a human rights group, police told the...
Archbishop Gregory Aymond has expressed disappointment at Xavier University of Louisiana’s selection of honorary degree recipients, among whom are outgoing US Attorney General Eric Holder and former...
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan has issued a statement on the 70th anniversary of the conclusion of World War II. Concerned about recent attempts “to rewrite the history of that time,...
Speaking on Italian efforts to combat tax evasion, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said that he hoped to “recover a little bit of money also from the Vatican”—prompting a statement from the director of...
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s leading diplomat at UN offices in Geneva, called for the international abolition of the death penalty during a meeting of the UN Human Rights...
Pope Francis has sent a telegram of condolence to Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York following the death of Cardinal Edward Egan. “Commending the late cardinal’s noble soul to God, the Father of...
Pope Francis has chosen a retired Italian bishop to write the meditations that will be read during the Way of the Cross on Good Friday at the Colosseum in Rome. Bishop Renato Corti, 79, served as...
A federal bankruptcy court has approved a compensation plan in which the Diocese of Helena, Montana, agrees to pay $21 million to 380 sex-abuse victims. The plan, which was approved...
Pope Francis met on March 6 with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan. A brief Vatican statement released after the meeting indicated that the conversation had focused on bilateral relations...
A Catholic college in Boston has announced that it is breaking off athletic competitions with a nearby Evangelical Christian school, because the president of the Protestant school has taken a stand...
Church leaders in Norway have come to the defense of Bishop Bernt Eidsvig of Oslo, who is under investigation on fraud charges. Bishop Eidsvig has been accused of improperly registering Norwegian...
Pope Francis gave his full support to the Neocatechumenal Way in a March 6 meeting with 7,000 members of the movement. “I confirm your calling, I support your mission, and I bless your charism,”...
The European Union should be built on the basis of “the sacredness of the human person, around inalienable values,” the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States said in March 5 address to legal...
In an op-ed column published in the Wall Street Journal, Ryan Anderson and Leslie Ford of the Heritage Foundation defend San Francisco's Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone against his critics. The...
The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons has ruled that doctors must provide patients with abortion referrals, regardless of their moral principles. The College took action on a 21 to 3...
The Maronite Catholic Church has agreed to encourage organ donors. In an accord with Lebanon’s national committee for organ donations, the Maronite bishops’ conference will form a committee to...
The Vatican bank has announced the appointment of a new deputy director. Gianfranco Mammi has been named the deputy director of the Institute for Religious Works (IOR). Having worked with the...
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