Catholic World News

The Vatican moved quickly on March 7 to counter rumors that a visit to Israel by Pope Francis might be cancelled because of a strike by workers in that country’s foreign ministry. Plans for the...

In a meeting at the Vatican, the head of the World Council of Churches told Pope Francis that “I believe that in our time God is opening new ways for us to unity, and for how the world can see our...

Four Christian villages in Riyom, an area in central Nigeria’s Plateau State, were attacked on March 5. An estimated 200 houses were burned down, and 16 people were killed, according to the...

Pope Francis encouraged coordination between lay activists and local parishes, in a message to a conference on the work of lay movements in the city. Every baptized Christian is “inseparably a...

Msgr. Alfred Xuereb, a Maltese priest who served as Pope Benedict XVI’s second secretary, recalled Pope Benedict’s resignation in a recent interview. Msgr. Xuereb subsequently became the first...

Cardinal Chibly Langlois, who became the nation’s first cardinal in February, has been invited to serve as a mediator in a national political crisis, the Fides news agency reported. President...

The bioethics commission of the Swiss bishops’ conference has strongly criticized a proposal to legalize surrogate motherhood. Citing Donum Vitae, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s...

Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George has disclosed that a cancer in his kidney is showing “signs of new activity,” and will require more aggressive treatment. Cardinal George, who survived an...

Pope Francis and the leaders of the Roman Curia will leave the Vatican on Sunday to begin their 5-day Lenten Retreat. The retreat, which will be preached by Father Angelo De Donatis, will be held...

Most of Rome’s hotels and group residences are nearly sold out for the weekend of April 27: the date of the canonization ceremonies for Popes John Paul II and John XXIII. The ANSA news service...

The prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches has appealed for generous support of the annual international Good Friday collection for the Church in the Holy Land. Quoting Pope Francis,...

Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston will join local bishops and the bishops who serve on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration in offering Mass for those who have...

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia will travel to Rome later this month with the city’s Mayor Michael Nutter and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, to confer with Vatican officials about...

Three panelists from the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute and the Family Research Council have strongly criticized the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child’s recent report...

The principal of a Catholic high school has been arrested for setting a fire that severely damaged his school in Dickinson, North Dakota. Thomas Sander, 30, faces felony arson charges, and bail...

During a March 6 meeting with priests of the Rome diocese, Pope Francis stressed the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and urged the priests to show Christ’s mercy to the faithful. “Do you cry for...

An appeals court in Minnesota has rejected a bid by the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis to block sworn depositions by Archbishop John Nienstedt and other archdiocesan officials regarding the...

A Jesuit seminary instructor who once taught Pope Francis says that the Pontiff is leading a “revolution of tenderness.” Father Juan Carlos Scannone, a veteran instructor at the San Miguel...

A team of Vatican-appointed medical experts has verified the authenticity of a miracle attributed to the intercession of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, moving the renowned preacher closer to...

The leaders of all of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches will gather at the headquarters of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople from March 6 to 9. The Interfax news agency...

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church welcomed Secretary of State John Kerry’s support for the new Ukrainian government. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk “thanked John Kerry for...

Christian Solidarity Worldwide has published a report surveying the persecution of non-Hindus in India. The report found that “the most significant threat to pluralism in India derives from the...

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem has issued a pastoral letter in which he described sacramental confession, along with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, as the four pillars of Lent. Prayer, said...

A new Pew Research Center survey has found that Pope Francis remains popular among Catholics in the United States. According to the survey, 85% of Catholics view Pope Francis favorably, up from...

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, joined the president of Catholic Charities...

Observing that “we live in an increasingly artificial world” in which “we exclude God from our horizon without even realizing it,” Pope Francis said that the season of Lent calls us “to remember...

Pope Francis and the leaders of the Roman Curia will travel by bus from Rome to the Casa del Divin Maestro in Albano, Italy, for their annual Lenten Retreat that begins on March 9. Pope Francis...

“We cannot let our ethnic background or our religion divide us now,” a Catholic bishop in Crimea has said about the unfolding crisis in the Ukrainian region. Bishop Jacek Pyl, an auxiliary of the...

An Italian priest who was beaten to death was saluted by his bishop as a “discreet martyr of charity.” Father Lazzaro Longobardi was found dead near his parish church in Sibari on March 3. Local...

Pope Francis has strongly endorsed a Lenten campaign by the Catholic bishops of Brazil to rally opposition to human trafficking. The Brazilian bishops have chosen human trafficking as the theme...

A German bishop has said that the unpopularity of Church teachings on sexuality points to the need for a change, igniting an open debate within the German hierarchy. Bishop Stephan Ackermann of...

In his Ash Wednesday general audience, Pope Francis emphasized that Lent is a time of conversion in which the faithful grow in awareness of Christ’s redemptive work and recall the mystery of...

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Pope Francis praised Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical on contraception. Emphasizing that confessors should be merciful, Pope Francis said that his predecessor’s “genius proved prophetic: he had the courage to stand against the majority, to defend moral discipline, to exercise a cultural ‘brake,’ to oppose present and...

For seven years, a Spanish diocesan missionary priest, has been laboring alone in an eastern Ethiopian city, 700 miles from the nearest priest. Describing the territory of Ogaden as a “totally...

The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops asked Catholic parishes around the country to pray for a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis. “The heroic witness of...

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has issued a Lenten message on poverty. The conference’s president, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, called upon the faithful to work against the...

The chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission...

The bishops of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have criticized a government proposal to end direct elections of provincial and local officials. Under the proposal, voters would choose...

The Fides news agency and World Vision in Progress have drawn attention to the case of Shafaqat Emmanuel and Shagufta Kausar, a husband and wife who were arrested for blasphemy in July. A month...

In an interview with the National Catholic Register, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has again tossed cold water on speculation about a change in Church teaching...

“At present, Christians are the religious group which suffers persecution in the largest number of countries on account of its faith,” Cardinal Peter Turkson told participants in a conference on...

Christians will always face opposition, and sometimes persecution, “because the world does not tolerate the divinity of Christ,” Pope Francis told the congregation at his morning Mass on March 4....

Malaysia’s supreme court will hear arguments this week in a challenge brought by Catholic Church leaders against a ban on the use of the word “Allah” in the country’s Catholic newspaper. Last...

On orders from Pope Francis, the gardens of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo have been opened to the public. The 135 acres of the Castel Gandolfo estate include the famous Barberini...

Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello has been named the president of the commission of cardinals supervising the Vatican bank, the Institute for Religious Works (IOR). In January, Pope Francis...

The Vatican has released a new series of coins featuring an image of Pope Francis. The coins—the first Euros minted by the Vatican that feature the new Pontiff—were released for sale to...

Armed forces have been deployed in Odisha, the eastern Indian state formerly known as Orissa, following an attack on a Christian prayer hall that was under construction. The assailants also...

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor in Eastern Orthodoxy, traveled to Hungary on March 2 and 3. During his visit, he met with the nation’s Catholic...

In an interview with Avvenire, the daily newspaper owned by the Italian bishops’ conference, Cardinal Walter Kasper said that women should be involved in the preparation for the Synod of Bishops on...

Vandals have desecrated the chapel in the Olympic village at Grenoble, the site of the 1968 Winter Olympics. Le Dauphiné libéré, a regional newspaper, reported that the vandals stole a ciborium...

Uganda’s leading Anglican prelate has told Agence France-Presse that the Anglican church in his nation may become independent from the Church of England over the issue of homosexuality. “If they...

Amid a spate of child kidnappings, many of which have taken place in front of schools, a Mexican bishop led 5,000 faithful in a “march for peace and the family.” Bishop Ramón Castro Castro of...

A leading Russian Orthodox official has lent his support to Russian military action in Crimea, the Religious Information Service of Ukraine reported. “The Russian peacemaking mission in Ukraine...

Thirty-three Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders from the United States said in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry the two-state solution is the “only realistic resolution” to the...

Cardinal George Pell, who was installed last week as head of the Vatican’s new Secretariat for Economy, does not expect that Pope Francis will close the Vatican bank. In an exclusive interview...

Leaders of the Christian churches in Ukraine have joined in a plea to Russian leaders to “abandon the military and other… interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine.” The statement by the...

The Catholic bishops of Papua New Guinea have protested the detention of refugees at the country’s Manus Island holding center, and urged “a truly human response to the question of refugees and...

A Catholic priest was founded beaten to death in Calabria, Italy, on March 3. Father Lazzaro Longobardi was apparently killed by blows from an iron bar, which was found on the site of the murder...

The Holy See and Burundi have formalized an accord that “guarantees the juridical status of the Catholic Church” in the East African nation, according to the Holy See Press Office. The agreement,...

Pope Francis met on March 3 with representatives of the Italian Federation of Spiritual Exercises (FIES), a group that is marking its 50th anniversary. In his remarks to the group, the Pope...

The Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, is planning a capital campaign designed to raise $100 million over the next several years. Archbishop John Myers has told the faithful of the archdiocese...

Bishop George Thomas of Helena, Montana, has said that bankruptcy proceedings will leave the diocese poorer, but in a stronger position. In February the Helena diocese filed for federal...

A disabled Nigerian Christian has described atrocities that he witnessed during a terrorist attack on a seminary, in a report to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Andrew (whose last name was...

Pope Francis has named his private secretary, Msgr. Alfred Xuereb, to be the secretary-general of the newly created Secretariat for the Economy. Msgr. Xuereb, a native of Malta, had been serving...

Pope Francis has summoned leaders of the world’s religious orders to Rome for a weekend meeting on the proper use of their financial assets, the National Catholic Reporter has learned. Although...

At a March 3 audience with the bishops of Spain, who were concluding their ad limina visits, Pope Francis took note of the “indifference of many of the baptized” and a “worldly” culture that...

A Latin-rite bishop in the Crimea appealed for calm as Russian troops occupied the autonomous peninsula, which is part of Ukraine. Auxiliary Bishop Jacek Pyl of Odessa-Simferopol urged the...

Religious repression is on the rise in Kazakhstan, according to a recent report by the Forum 18 news service. Legal or police action has recently been taken against Presbyterian, Baptist, and...

Taliban forces have killed a Christian girl in northern Pakistan, according to a Fides news agency report. The girl had been in hiding with her cousin, a convert from Islam to Christianity. When...

The chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage has endorsed the State Marriage Defense Act of 2014, which has been...

Twenty-five Protestant families in Unión Juárez, a town of 14,000 in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, had their electricity and water disconnected after they refused to contribute to a...

As Russian military forces intervened in the Ukraine’s Crimean region, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church said that “we must stand up for our country” and “be ready, if necessary, to sacrifice our lives in order to protect the sovereign, free, independent, and unified state.” “The entire world community is on the side of Ukraine, as Russia is the aggressor,” said Major Archbishop...

Reflecting on the Mass readings of the day, Pope Francis devoted his Sunday Angelus address to the “beautiful thought” of God’s Providence. The Pope said that it is tempting in the face of human...

Pope Francis received Prime Minister Victor Ponta of Romania in audience on March 1. The prime minister, who assumed office in 2012, conveyed greetings from Patriarch Daniel, the head of the...

Suffering from mild flu-like symptoms, Pope Francis cancelled a scheduled visit with Rome’s seminarians on Friday evening, February 28. Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press...

A severe fiscal crisis in the city of Rome could create enormous problems for Vatican officials planning the April 27 ceremonies for the canonizations of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII. Newly...

In his homily at a Mass on February 28, Pope Francis said that Christians should reach out to help those whose marriages have broken down, without engaging in “special pleading” about their...

Christian leaders from more than a dozen countries formerly belonging to the Soviet bloc have joined in an appeal for peace in Ukraine, the AsiaNews service reports. As tensions rise in Ukraine,...

A Filipino prelate, newly elevated to the College of Cardinals, has pledged to continue his work for peace in the troubled province of Mindanao, the AsiaNews service reports. Cardinal Orlando...

Pope Francis met privately on February 28 with a inter-religious group from Argentina that had recently completed a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The Argentine group was composed of 45 people,...

More than twice as many black babies as white babies are aborted in Mississippi, the CNSNews service has found. Using federal statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, CNSNews reported...

In a February 28 meeting with members of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, Pope Francis spoke on the importance of providing pastoral care for young people “who live in conditions of...

The Vatican has released the prayer intentions of Pope Francis for March 2014. The Pope's general intention is: "that all cultures may respect the rights and dignity of women." His intention...

A newly ordained priest saved the lives of 700 Muslims in Boali, a town of 9,000 in the Central African Republic, according to a report in The Globe and Mail, one of Canada’s leading...

Pope Francis met with former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin on February 26, the Interfax news agency reported. “We discussed the support of Christians in the Middle East, the need for...

Stating that “the danger has not yet passed,” the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church called for respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nation. “In some regions of...

The Turkish government has restored 60 acres of land to Mor Gabriel, a Syrian Orthodox monastery founded in 397, according to a report in Hürriyet Daily News, an Istanbul-based newspaper. “We are...

The Virginia legislature has passed legislation that would permit students to “voluntarily pray or engage in religious activities or religious expression before, during, and after the school day in...

A grenade was thrown at the only Catholic parish in Gaza and exploded in the church’s courtyard. The church was not damaged in the attack, and there were no injuries, according to multiple media...

The Holy See will join 139 other nations in taking part in the next world’s fair, officially known as Expo Milan 2015. The theme of the fair, which will take place from May to October, is “Feeding...

A leading Orthodox prelate has said that differences between Constantinople and Moscow are threatening the process of ecumenical dialogue with Rome. Metropolitan Ioannis Zizioulas of Pergamon,...

Pope Francis met on February 27 with a group of bishops who are supporters of the Focolare movement, and encouraged them to ensure that the strengths of the movement are “put to the benefit of the...

“Scandal kills,” Pope Francis warned his congregation in his homily at a Mass celebrated in the Domus Sanctae Marthae on February 27. Christians whose lives contradict the principles of their...

Pope Francis met on February 27 with the members of the Congregation for Bishops, and spoke at some length about the characteristics of the leaders the Church needs. In the process of appointing...

For the first time, the Maronite Catholic Church will ordain a married man to the priesthood in the United States, the St. Louis archdiocesan newspaper reported. The ordination of Deacon Wissam...