Catholic World News
Stories for week of April 29, 2012
Released Monday, Apr. 30
The new translation of the Roman Missal into German will include a literal translation of the words pro multis during the consecration of the Precious Blood, Pope Benedict said in a letter to the...
Worshippers at a university in the northern Nigerian city of Kano were victims of a bomb and gunfire attack during Sunday Mass. At least 16 people perished; the Islamist terrorist organization...
Cardinal Keith O’Brien has lent his support to calls for a “Robin Hood tax” on the financial sector. “My message to [Prime Minister] David Cameron is to seriously think again about this Robin...
Lamenting the closing of a parish school because of declining donations, Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison strongly defended priests who have instituted liturgical changes and asked parishioners to...
A California state senator--Sen. Ted Lieu, a Catholic--has introduced a bill that would prohibit psychologists from offering minors reparative therapy for homosexuality. “Under no circumstances...
The Vatican has announced the prayer intentions of Pope Benedict XVI for May 2012. The Pope's general intention is: "That initiatives which defend and uphold the role of the family may be...
A notorious Italian crime figure was buried in a Roman basilica after his widow pledged about $660,000 to the Church, according to an anonymous Vatican source speaking to the ANSA news...
On Sunday, April 29, Pope Benedict XVI ordained 9 new priests for the Rome diocese, and reminded them that their duty will be to lead the faithful “to true life, to life in abundance.” It is...
After ordaining 9 new priests on April 29, Pope Benedict XVI asked his midday audience that to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and “that all young people may be attentive to...
For the 2nd time in less than a month, a Catholic college has rescinded a commencement invitation because the local bishop objected to a proposed speaker’s views on issues involving the sanctity of...
The historic 1963 encyclical of Blessed John XXIII, Pacem in Terris “still much to teach us as we struggle to face the new challenges for peace and justice in the post-Cold-War era,” Pope Benedict...
A suicide bombing at a Christian church in Nairobi, Kenya, killed at least one person and left 16 badly injured on Sunday morning, April 29. The grenade blast inside God's House of Miracles...
An Italian missionary priest was found dead at his home in Bahia, Brazil on Monday, April 30. Father Luigi Plebani, who had worked in Brazil since 1980, died of gunshot wounds, police said....
PepsiCo has announced that it will discontinue use of tissues harvested from aborted human embryos to test flavoring ingredients for its soft drinks. PepsiCo had been using products provided by...
About 200 people—primarily priests and nuns—joined in a demonstration outside the residence of the apostolic nuncio in Dublin to protest the silencing of several Irish priests. The protesters,...
Two New York Times columnists, Nicholas Kristof and Maureen Dowd, have weighed in against the Vatican’s plan for reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. In each case—but more...
Released Tuesday, May. 1
The president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, which is hosting a conference on Blessed John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris, has told Vatican Radio that “there is nothing in...
The director of the Holy See Press Office joined that Vatican Secretary of State and other prelates in condemning terrorist attacks on Christians in Nigeria and Kenya. Father Federico Lombardi...
Speaking at a panel discussion at Harvard University, Cardinals Jaime Ortega y Alamino of Havana and Sean O’Malley of Boston agreed that greater freedom for the Church followed in the wake of...
Father Nwika Gbinu, a priest of the Diocese of Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria, has been released following a week in captivity. Gunmen kidnapped the priest from his residence on April 23 and...
Bill Ritter, a Catholic who served as governor of Colorado from 2007 to 2011, has blasted critics of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the US bishops’ controversial anti-poverty...
Speaking at a conference in Rome, the dean of the Roman Rota suggested the need for a more rigorous interpretation of a provision in canon law that is cited in many annulment cases. Bishop Antoni...
Pope Benedict XVI has made a donation of $250,000 to the English ordinariate for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church. Msgr. Keith Newton, the head of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of...
A survey of America’s youngest voters has found that many young people are drifting away from the religion in which they were raised. The study by Georgetown University’s Berkley Center found that...
Released Wednesday, May. 2
Following a recent terrorist attack on worshippers at a Mass in Kano, two leading Nigerian prelates criticized the government’s response to the Islamist terrorist organization Boko Haram. “At...
Father Pierre-Adrien Toulorge (1757-93), a Norbertine priest martyred during the French Revolution, was beatified on April 29 at the cathedral in Coutances, France. Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of...
This July, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church will decide whether to approve “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant,” a rite for the blessing of homosexual...
Chaudhry Irshad Younas, a Pakistani Christian involved in politics, was murdered in Lahore on April 27. Local sources told the Fides news agency that Younas was “a leader ready to speak out...
Catholics in Media Associates (CIMA)--an organization of Catholics in the entertainment industry--has bestowed its television award on the controversial ABC comedy Modern Family. Two...
An Australian priest has been removed from ministry after he revealed that he had secretly married last year. Father Kevin Lee defended himself by saying that many other priests were leading...
A local television station has reported that the Philadelphia archdiocese will soon reveal the fate of 27 priests who were suspended from ministry last year after a grand jury report criticized the...
The Coptic Orthodox Church will elect a successor to the late Pope Shenouda III in September, a spokesman has announced. Pope Shenouda, who had served a remarkable 40 years as leader of the...
Continuing his series of weekly talks on prayer, Pope Benedict XVI spoke at his public audience on May 2 about the defense that St. Stephen offered before his martyrdom. When he was accused of...
At his regular public audience on May 2, Pope Benedict XVI recalled the beatification of his predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, one year earlier. Acknowledging a group of Polish pilgrims in the...
In Catholic World Report, Carl Olson takes up the arduous task of pointing out all the errors of fact, logic, and syntax in a piece by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd excoriating the Vatican....
Early in the morning of May 3, police raided a building owned by the San Francisco archdiocese and evicted “Occupy” protesters who had seized the building the previous day. For the 2nd time in a...
The Italian daily Avvenire, owned by the Italian bishops’ conference, has called critical attention to a bid to legalize the medical use of marijuana. A regional council in Tuscany approved a...
The Catholic bishops of Myanmar have said that the participation of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in the nation’s parliament is “a good sign for the future of the country.” A...
At a May 2 press conference in Rome, members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences reported on the group’s 18th plenary session, which was dedicated to a discussion of the landmark 1963...
Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, is hearing new calls for his resignation after the airing of a BBC television program that probed his involvement in a 1975 investigation...
The Vatican has approved new statutes governing the work of Caritas International, after the Holy See intervened last year to reinforce the distinctly Catholic identity of the organization, which is...
Released Thursday, May. 3
The number of Mormons in the United States increased by nearly 50% between 2000 and 2010, while the number of “active members” of the Catholic Church declined by 5%, according to the latest...
Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, the president of Caritas Internationalis, has welcomed the new statutes that will govern the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies. In...
The Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, also known as the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, are commemorating the 140th anniversary of their foundation by St. Maria Mazzarello (1837-81). The...
The most popular national Catholic newspaper in the United States is celebrating its centenary. Founder by the future Archbishop John Francis Noll, Our Sunday Visitor now has a circulation of...
Vatican Radio has conducted an interview with Sister Catherine Holum, CFR, a former Olympic athlete who entered the religious life after participating in World Youth Day in Toronto. Competing at...
A total of 134,562 people were baptized into the Catholic Church in South Korea in 2011—including over 100,000 adults--bringing the country’s Catholic population up to 5.3 million. Bishop...
American Catholics are evenly split in their preferences for the 2012 presidential race, according to a new Gallup poll. Catholics are seen by both major political parties as a key voting...
Pope Benedict XVI visited Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on May 3, to join in 50th-anniversary celebrations for the hospital’s teaching faculty. In his remarks there the Pontiff spoke of the urgent need to...
Thousands of families are leaving their homes in the Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo because of continuing rebel violence, a Catholic missionary reports. Father Loris Cattani...
Confirming earlier media reports, the Philadelphia archdiocese has announced that on May 4, Archbishop Charles Chaput will reveal the results of investigations into sex-abuse charges against some of...
Veteran Washington Post columnist George Will reflects on the 40th birthday of his son Jon, who in handicapped with Down syndrome but blessed with serenity and an “underdeveloped entitlement...
Several leading Irish politicians have called for the resignation of Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, after a BBC broadcast exposed new details about the future cardinal’s involvement in the...
Released Friday, May. 4
A senior Al-Qaeda operative advised Osama bin Laden in January 2011 that Irish Catholics--and Catholics in general--are ripe for conversion to Islam, according to a letter released on the first...
The new Nepali constitution will make evangelization a crime punishable by imprisonment, a Nepali priest has told Vatican Radio. A Maoist insurgency helped transform the Hindu monarchy into a...
Despite intense efforts by pro-abortion and other organizations, the Holy See and a coalition of other states--including Russia and many African and Asian nations--were able to prevent “sexual...
Bishop Raffaello Martinelli of Frascati has announced that Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Sunday Mass in the city of 20,000 on July 15. Blessed John Paul II made a pastoral visit to Frascati,...
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services have issued an “action alert” urging Catholics to encourage Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to promote peace between...
L’Osservatore Romano has published an essay by Msgr. Paul McPartlan, a theology professor at the Catholic University of America, that offers an overview of the International Theological Commission’s...
Roughly one-fifth of the Catholics in the US are not associated with a parish, a new study has found. While there are about 75 million Catholics in the US, “fewer than 60 million are associated...
“Even without great material resources, it is possible to be happy,” Pope Benedict XVI told a group of new ambassadors to the Holy See. Meeting on May 4 with new envoys from Armenia, Ethiopia,...
An organization of Australian women religious has sent a message of support to their American counterpart, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), which has been the target of a Vatican...
Pope Benedict XVI will attend a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony at La Scala opera house during his coming visit to Milan. The Holy Father will be in Milan for the World Encounter of...
Bishop Stephen Blaire, who heads the US bishops’ justice-and-peace committee, has been critical of the federal budget proposal advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan. Ryan, who is Catholic, has argued that his...
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has cleared 3 priests of sex-abuse charges and found 5 others unsuited for ministry, Archbishop Charles Chaput announced on May 4, as he explained the resolution of...
Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, was reportedly conferring with advisers on May 4, weighing the calls for his resignation. Cardinal Brady denied reports that he had...
The Catholic bishops of New York have issued a call for a raise in the state's minimum wage. The bishops argued that the current minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, in inadequate to maintain an adequate...
John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter offers an interesting suggestion as to how the Holy See could dramatize the plight of Christians who die for the faith: Here's the idea: Beatify...
A judge in federal bankruptcy court has ordered the Milwaukee archdiocese to engage in “meaningful settlement negotiations” with creditors, including sex-abuse victims. Judge Susan Kelley said...
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