Catholic World News
Stories for week of February 26, 2012
Released Monday, Feb. 27
The Holy See participated as an observer at the “Friends of Syria” conference in Tunisia on February 24. Sixty nations took part in the conference, including the United States (represented by...
Warning that the Church is being “despoiled of her institutions” as “freedom of conscience and of religion become a memory from a happier past,” Cardinal Francis George of Chicago observes that “the...
Communist officials in Savannakhet Province, which is located in the south-central part of Laos, have confiscated three churches in recent weeks, according to Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious...
Stating that “Kuwait already has an excessive number of churches compared to the country’s Christian minority,” a member of parliament has called for a ban on the construction of new churches in the...
Amid austerity measures following a recession marked by the indebtedness of “families, businesses, financial institutions, and states,” the president of the Vatican Bank foresees an end to the...
Father David Neuhaus, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem’s vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics, has discussed his conversion from Judaism to Christianity. “It was at the age of 15 upon first...
Pope Benedict XVI called for more scientific research into the causes of infertility, when he spoke on February 25 to the Pontifical Academy for Life. Proper treatment on infertility, the Pope...
The head of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land has appealed to Israeli President Shimon Peres for help to curb attacks on Christian shrines. Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa wrote to Peres...
Pope Benedict XVI and the leaders of the Roman Curia began their Lenten Retreat on Sunday evening, February 26. Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Congo, is the preacher for this...
At his midday audience on February 26, Pope Benedict XVI said that Lent is “a time to renew and strengthen our relationship with God.” Commenting on St. Mark’s description of Christ’s temptation...
A determined and skillful group of computer hackers attacked the Vatican’s web site last year, but failed to penetrate the site’s security. Last August the “Anonymous” coalition of hackers tried...
Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Edinburgh has praised the slain Pakistani Catholic leader Shahbaz Bhatti as “a truly remarkable hero,” in a statement promoting a rally on the anniversary of Bhatti’s...
Although representatives of Catholic hospital associations have questioned a study that found many American Catholic hospitals perform sterilizations, the researcher who prepared the study has...
The head of a Catholic health-care company has criticized a group of women religious who have indicated their support for the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate, saying that the nuns did...
About 100 former Anglicans visited Rome, on a pilgrimage of thanksgiving for the establishment of the new Ordinate of Our Lady of Walsingham. The English ordinariate was set up last January,...
Vatican officials and Vietnamese government representatives are meeting in Hanoi to discuss the prospect of establishing diplomatic relations. The Vatican delegation, led by Msgr. Ettore...
A band of armed men forced their way into a Catholic monastery in Syria last week, searching the building and destroying communications devices before eventually leaving. The armed men—who were...
Released Tuesday, Feb. 28
A suicide bomber drove into a Protestant church in the central Nigerian city of Jos on February 26, killed three and injuring 38. The Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility. In...
An angry mob stormed a Christian school in Lahore after a teacher was accused of committing blasphemy by burning the Qur’an. The teacher, Saira Khokhar, is now in police...
Reflecting upon My Brother, the Pope,--his newly published book-length interview with Msgr. Georg Ratzinger--Michael Hesemann finds “not only an inspiration for young men who are called to the...
Following the completion of a high-level diplomatic conference on Somalia, the director of the Holy See Press Office has devoted his weekly editorial to the plight of the troubled nation. “It is...
In 1963, actress Dolores Hart abandoned her career, broke off her engagement, and entered the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis in Connecticut. In 2010, Archbishop Pietro Sambi--the late apostolic...
A bill pending in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta could make it illegal for Catholic schools and home schools to teach that homosexual acts are sinful, according to reports by LifeSiteNews and...
Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik, the president of the Korean Catholic bishops’ commission for migrants, has issued a call for acceptance of immigrants living the Asian country, and especially for...
Catholic Health Australia has apologized for its role in the forced adoption of the children, and called for a national apology for the practice. Martin Laverty, the head of Catholic Health...
The Vatican has released the full schedule for a May trip to Milan by Pope Benedict XVI, to participate in the 7th World Meeting of Families. The Pope will arrive in Milan on Friday afternoon,...
A Pennsylvania judge has rejected a bid by a former official of the Philadelphia archdiocese to dismiss charges of child endangerment. Lawyers for Msgr. William Lynn had argued that the late...
In Catholic World Report, Michael Miller presents a balanced report on the state of talks between the Society of St. Pius X and the Holy See. The sticking point, as always, is the authority of...
When public discussion of contraception heated up during a presidential election year, Hadley Arkes admits that he did not immediately recognize that liberal Democrats were raising the topic quite...
Representatives of the Vatican and the Vietnamese government have concluded a two-day meeting in Hanoi, issuing a joint statement that reported “positive developments on the basis of good will and...
The council of the Synod of Bishops, meeting in Rome to discuss preparations for the October session devoted to the New Evangelization, announced on February 28 that its primary focus was on the...
In Latin American, a “rich Catholic tradition” today “runs the risk of gradual erosion,” warned the Pontifical Commission for Latin America in a message for Spanish America Day. Spanish America...
A special exhibition of material from the Vatican Secret Archives will open on February 29 in the Capitoline Museums, marking the 400th anniversary of the Archives. The exhibition, which will be...
The National Catholic Register profiles Sister Carol Keehan, the head of the Catholic Health Association, who is once again at odds with the leadership of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. A...
The Journal of Medical Ethics has published an article calling for acceptance of “after-birth abortion”—the destruction of unwanted children after they are born. The article--written by two...
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster has affirmed his support for a controversial ministry to homosexuals in London. Rejecting complaints that the gatherings in Soho for weekly Mass...
Released Wednesday, Feb. 29
Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on February 28, Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport blasted the absurdity surrounding the HHS contraception mandate. “Ever since the mandate has been...
Father Romano Gonsalves, a Goa parish priest, and 1,500 parishioners have been charged with attempted murder following an attack on six policemen who were visiting the church. Parishioners had...
“A wave of mergers between Roman Catholic and secular hospitals is threatening to deprive women in many areas of the country of ready access to important reproductive services,” The New York Times...
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has welcomed the Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights, a voluntary set of Obama administration guidelines intended to influence future...
With much fanfare, President Barack Obama appointed an Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in 2009; it disbanded the following year after issuing a report. In the...
Lila Rose, the young pro-life activist who has used undercover videos to expose some of Planned Parenthood’s practices, has discussed her 2009 conversion to Catholicism in an interview with the...
Today--February 29, 2012--Pope Benedict XVI became the 6th-oldest Roman Pontiff in recorded history. Rome Reports, which took note of the landmark, observed that Benedict XVI—at 84 years, 10...
The National Catholic Register profiles John Garvey, the president of Catholic University, who has emerged as a leading spokesman for Catholic institutions in the battle against the Obama...
In an interview with Vatican Insider, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires said that the New Evangelization preached by Pope Benedict XVI means that “all ordinary activities of the Church...
The Holy See is watching the rising tide of violence in Syria with “great concern,” a Vatican spokesman said in an address to the UN’s human-rights council in Geneva. “We must not succumb to the...
The John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel has awarded to $2 million this year to support more than 200 self-help projects in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Msgr. Giampietro Dal Toso, the...
A French court has ruled that a law making it a criminal offense to deny the Armenian genocide is unconstitutional. The Constitutional Council ruled that the law, which would have imposed...
R. Albert Mohler, Jr, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, sides with Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum in his critique of the famous “Houston speech” by...
James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal recognizes that Rick Santorum has riled many Americans by saying that contraception has negative consequences, especially for women. However, Taranto...
The US Senate is scheduled to vote March 1 on a measure that would repeal the Obama administration’s mandate that requiring contraceptive coverage in health-care programs. The legislation,...
The Archdiocese of Washington, DC, has issued an apology to a woman who was denied Communion by a priest who had just learned of her lesbian relationship. Father Marcel Guarnizo declined to...
A Scottish court has ruled that midwives are required to supervise abortions. The Court of Session in Edinburgh rejected a plea from two Catholic midwives who had declined to be involved with...
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, made an oblique comment on the recent leaks of confidential Vatican documents on February 29, questioning the accuracy of the material that...
Released Thursday, Mar. 1
Writing on behalf of Pope Benedict to the bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has expressed alarm over the future of the Church in the Balkan...
A mob of 200 Muslims attacked a car in which American Presbyterian missionaries were riding, injuring three. The mob suspected that the missionaries were working to convert Muslims. Two teachers...
Commenting on the HHS contraceptive mandate, the director of media relations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging President Barack Obama and his administration to “render...
Cardinal Keith O’Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh has joined other Christian leaders, including Anglican Archbishops Rowan Williams and Desmond Tutu, in calling for repentance over indifference to...
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is asking Catholics to pray, fast, and give alms on Friday, March 2, to assist the 925 million malnourished people around the world....
On February 12, Father Gianfranco Grieco of the Pontifical Council for the Family lauded the newly released US movie Doonby in a L’Osservatore Romano review. Vatican Radio has again drawn...
The Vatican has released the prayer intentions of Pope Benedict XVI for March 2012. His general intention is: "That the whole world may recognise the contribution of women to the development of...
The US Senate has narrowly defeated legislation that would have rescinded the Obama administration’s mandate requiring coverage of contraception in health-care plans. By a vote of 51 to 48, the...
Michael Uhlmann, who served in the Reagan White House and now teaches politics at the Claremont Graduate University, draws up a political strategy for the US bishops to follow in their attempt to...
The student union at University College London has passed a resolution requiring pro-life groups to include pro-abortion speakers in any public forum on the issue. In a series of votes, the...
A liberal American Catholic group has issued a voter guide for the 2012 elections, emphasizing economic and foreign-policy questions and downplaying the importance of the central “culture of life”...
In an annual appeal for the Catholic churches of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, the prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches notes that “every Christian finds himself at home in that city and...
In a message to a conference organized by the Italian bishops’ conference, Pope Benedict XVI wrote that Christians have an obligation to help people understand “the real figure of Jesus...
Released Friday, Mar. 2
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a statement in response to the Senate’s decision to table the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. “The need to defend citizens’...
Thirty residents of the village of Kot Meerath in the eastern Pakistani province of Punjab brutally tortured Seema Bibi, a Christian woman, and paraded her through the streets because of her...
Amid rising abortion rates in England and Wales, the Telegraph has secretly filmed abortionists agreeing to perform sex-selective abortions, which are illegal in the United Kingdom. Cynthia...
China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission has directed officials not to use “nasty” slogans in enforcing the nation’s one-child policy, according to a Chinese media report....
Nearly 30 Jewish, Muslim, Christian leaders in the US--including Bishop Richard Pates, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, and...
Citing anti-discrimination and fair housing laws, a recent graduate of a Catholic college in Massachusetts has sued her alma mater. Lindsay Blankmeyer’s lawsuit states that she entered Stonehill...
David Quinn comments on the Scottish court ruling that midwives are required to supervise abortions, even in violation of their consciences. The decision, Quinn note, strikes at the heart of...
If Catholic hospitals close their doors because of the Obama contraception mandate, could the public sector absorb the cost of substituting for those medical services? The Fiscal Times examines that...
In the latest episode of the “VatiLeaks” scandal, an Italian newspaper has published confidential letters regarding an unsuccessful effort by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to take over Milan’s...
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has told a committee of the US House of Representatives that a mandate to cover contraceptive costs will not add to insurance premiums. “The...
The director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) repeatedly dodged questions during a January deposition by invoking a law that protects rape-crisis centers, although SNAP...
US Vice President Joseph Biden has conceded that the Obama administration “screwed up” in its handling of a mandate for contraceptive coverage, but insists that the “compromise” eventually offered...
More than 2 billion people in the world are denied the protections of religious liberty, according the Vatican’s representative at UN headquarters in Geneva. Speaking to the UN’s Human Rights...
The Obama administration has made it clear that it will not back away from a mandate requiring contraceptive coverage in health-care plans, reports Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, the president...
In his annual Lenten sermons, the preacher of the pontifical household will draw on the insights of four doctors of the Eastern Church: Sts. Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazienzen, and Gregory Nyssen....
Large pharmaceutical corporations have a keen interest in the current debate about mandated coverage of contraception in insurance programs, argues Peter Schweizer. The Obama mandate requires...
As he preaches the Lenten Retreat for Pope Benedict XVI and the Roman Curia, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Congo, has stressed the need for all Christians—and especially priests—to...
Anglican Archbishop John Hepworth has been removed from his position as head of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC). Archbishop Hepworth had announced his plans to retire from the TAC post...
Cuba’s Catholic bishops have issued a statement welcoming Pope Benedict XVI, who is scheduled to visit the island nation later this month. The Cuban bishops call on the faithful to prepare for...
Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi paid homage to the slain Pakistani Catholic leader Shahbaz Bhatti on the anniversary of his death March 2. The archbishop told participants in a commemorative...
Want more news? Visit the Archives.
