It is now impossible to launder money at the Vatican bank, its chairman has said. Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, chairman of the Institute for the Works of Religion (the Vatican bank), said the institution had tightened its rules. The latest annual report of the IOR showed that 4935 accounts were closed between June 2013 and December Read more
Long-serving Marlborough councillor and farming identity Larry Pigou was a pragmatic visionary who lived by the motto “it was better to ask for forgiveness later, than ask for permission first,” his family say. Apart from three years as a boarder at St Patricks College, Silverstream in Wellington, Mr Pigou spent all his life committed to his family, the sheep and Read more
What would you do if you had only months left to live? It’s a question being put to residents of Auckland’s North Shore as part of Hospice Awareness Week. Hospice North Shore is putting blackboards up across the area inviting locals to share what they would do if they had just months to live, with Read more
A shooting just above a crowded Kalihi church courtyard injured a man who had just been baptised. Taleni Asuega said he had just arrived at the church when he heard a loud bang and saw that his uncle had been shot near a second-floor classroom at the Samoa Tokelau Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Banyan Street Read more
A poll has found that British churchgoers prefer clergy stick to serious topics in sermons rather than jokes or rambling anecdotes. The poll of 1400 regular churchgoing Christians found that they ranked explanations of the Bible as 27 times as important in a sermon as humour and “practical application” 42 times more highly than personal anecdote. Read more
A sex abuse survivor spokesman who accused Cardinal George Pell of bribery has been accused of not being transparent about his own record of abusing. David Ridsdale is the nephew of notorious Australian paedophile priest Fr Gerald Ridsdale. David Ridsdale has repeatedly called for Cardinal Pell and the Church to be transparent about what they Read more
Catholic women religious leaders have been warned against an “entitlement creep” that numbs them from confronting poverty and environmental destruction. St Joseph Sister, Sr Carol Zinn, issued the warning at the triennial assembly of the International Union of Superiors General in Rome The US sister said religious life has widely been a “first-world lifestyle” marked Read more
A donation made by the Diocese of Palmerston North Catholic Charities Allocations Group has provided an opportunity the Flaxmere Jarmy Army to buy warm clothes for families. “We negotiate with The Warehouse”, says Ana Apatu. “For every purchase of pyjamas, The Warehouse will donate a set of thermals. My friend Bev Te Huia emails me, Read more
The general secretary of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa has been dismissed and stripped of his ministerial title. The reverend Dr Afereti Uili is believed to have been dismissed by church elders on Tuesday. Read more
The governor general has visited the Little Sisters of the Poor Sacred Heart Home in Dunedin to say happy birthday to Sister Marie, a nun born Annie Fitzpatrick. He sent the 102 year old Sr Marie a birthday card on April 2, her birthday, and since he was in the city, took the opportunity to Read more