Most Popular News Within Last 30 Days
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Pope Francis restricts celebration of traditional Latin Mass [News/analysis]
In a stunning exercise of papal authority, Pope Francis has virtually banned the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass in ordinary parish churches throughout the world. In a motu proprio...
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Bishops respond cautiously to papal directive on Latin Mass
While Pope Francis indicated that his motu proprio Traditionis Custodes should take effect immediately, many bishops have responded that the papal document will require study before...3
Vatican shows $78 million budget deficit, releases report on investments
The Vatican reported a deficit of €66.3 million ($78.29 million) for 2020, in balance sheets made public on Saturday, July 24. At the same time the Vatican also— for the first time— provided a...4
USCCB general secretary resigns amid charges of sexual misconduct
Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill, the general secretary of the US Catholic Conference, resigned on July 20, after the Pillar news site obtained evidence that he was engaged in regular sexual misconduct. Pillar reported that he had frequently used the “hookup app” Grindr on his mobile phone to arrange homosexual encounters. Msgr. Burrill’s duties, as the top official of the US bishops’ conference, had included dealing with the fallout from the McCarrick scandal.5
Vatican now claims ‘most virtuous’ financial safeguards [News/Analysis]
In its story on the annual report made public July 15 by the Vatican’s Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (ASIF), Vatican News makes a sweeping claim: The Holy See ranks among...6
Vatican officials using ‘hookup apps,’ data show
The Pillar news site has obtained cell-phone signal data that shows multiple devices inside the Vatican using hookup or dating apps. Although the data do not identify individual users, the devices were located in areas of the Vatican that are not ordinarily open to tourists. Pillar notes that in addition to the evidence that Vatican officials and employees are seeking sexual partners, the use of such apps also poses security risks. One popular app, Grindr, is now owned by a Chinese firm that has been cited by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States as a national security risk. The Vatican declined to comment on the report.The revelations follow closely after a similar discovery, also made public by Pillar, prompted the resignation of Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill as secretary-general of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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Vatican prosecutors to try ten in financial scandal
The Vatican is seeking indictments against ten people— including Cardinal Angelo Becciu— and four corporations in connection with a financial scandal over a London real-estate deal. In a 487-page...8
Most US bishops allow Latin Masses to continue
Most of the American bishops who have issued public statements responding to Traditionis Custodes have given permission for the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass (TLM) to continue while they study the pastoral implications.The continued celebration of the TLM has been authorized in the archdioceses of Baltimore, Boston, Denver, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, St. Paul—Minneapolis, San Francisco, Washington, and the Military Services; as well as the dioceses of Charlotte, Lake Charles, Madison, Manchester, and Pittsburgh—among others.
In the dioceses of Bridgeport, Trenton, and Duluth, bishops have asked priests to seek permission for the use of the TLM.
Bishop Anthony Taylor of Little Rock, Arkansas, has announced that the TLM will be allowed in parishes administered by the Fraternity of St. Peter, but must not be celebrated in the ordinary parish churches of the diocese.
In Springfield, Illinois, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, a noted expert in canon law, authorized the continued use of the TLM, citing Canon 87-1, which reads:
A diocesan bishop, whenever he judges that a dispensation will contribute to their spiritual good, is able to dispense the faithful from universal and particular disciplinary laws issued for his territory or his subjects by the supreme authority of the Church.
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President Biden’s new LGBTQI+ envoy said Catholic teaching on gender ‘fuels hate’
President Biden recently named Jessica Stern as the US Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons.While executive director of OutRight Action International, Stern issued statements condemning Catholic teaching on homosexuality and gender. Reacting to a June 2019 Vatican document on gender, Stern said that “the timing of this move by the Vatican, amid Pride month, when LGBTIQ movements around the world celebrate progress and our resilience, is despicable. This document is the antithesis of Pride. It perpetuates misinformation, and fuels hate.”
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Parents who gave $1.35M sue Florida Catholic school, ask for return of donation
Stating that the school has strayed from fidelity to Catholic teaching, the parents have sued the Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa. In a lawsuit, they allege that “the Academy lost its way, distancing itself from mainstream Catholicism, and embracing the new, politically correct divisive and ‘woke’ culture where gender identity, human sexuality and pregnancy termination among other ‘hot-button issues’ took center stage.”The school’s attorney responded, “We can discern no motivation behind the lawsuit other than attention-seeking by your clients, and a desire by you to build a brand.”
