To the delight of many, and perhaps the consternation of a few, the wheelchair-bound Pope Francis defied persistent rumours on Sunday by not announcing his resignation during a visit to the tomb of the last pontiff before Benedict XVI to voluntarily step down, instead offering locals a message of mercy and consolation amid suffering. L’Aquila, Read more
The Government was justified in blocking churches from holding large gatherings during the red traffic light setting under the Government’s Covid-19 response, the High Court has ruled. But a group of churches say the restrictions essentially forced them to excommunicate members and seriously infringed on the separation of Church and State. The measures included imposing Read more
A meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, appears to be scrapped after the cleric, who has been widely criticised for his justifications for the invasion of Ukraine, pulled out of a meeting of religious leaders in Kazakhstan next month. According to Reuters, a senior Russian Orthodox official Read more
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, Pope Francis’ ambassador to Ukraine, to express disappointment about papal comments regarding the death of Darya Dugina, a 29-year-old commentator with a nationalist Russian TV channel. In an 25 August briefing, Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba told journalists that summoning a nuncio to the ministry was Read more
The Cistercians of the strict observance, or Trappists, yesterday inaugurated their fourth monastery in the country, located in the village of Penggadungan, in the district of Sungai Melayu, West Kalimantan. The village where the new monastery is located in a remote area in the middle of the Indonesian forest, a three and a half hour Read more
Pope Francis has ordered that the Holy See and connected entities move all financial assets to the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), commonly known as the Vatican bank. The pope’s rescript, issued on 23 August, clarifies the interpretation of a paragraph in the new constitution of the Roman Curia, Praedicate Evangelium, promulgated in March. Read more
Young people from around Aotearoa New Zealand are invited to join a pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon next year and maybe see Pope Francis himself there. The Catholic bishops’ Council for Young People — made up of representatives from Catholic youth ministries across the country – has published a draft itinerary for Read more
Two state-sponsored church bodies in China have elected new leaders who promised to invigorate the Catholic faithful pastorally in line with the socialist principles of the Chinese Communist Party. The three-day 10th National Congress of Catholicism in China ended in Wuhan, the capital of Hebei province in central China, in August. The national conference is Read more