The Vatican urged members of the UN Security Council to be “creative and courageous artisans of peace and weavers of constructive dialogue” to find a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine. Addressing a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Sept 20, Archbishop Paul R Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister, said Read more
News Shorts
Cleanup begins as rain eases in Southland
Monday, September 25th, 2023As the rain fell in Gore on Thursday, some St Peter’s College students were sitting practice exams in the hall as water seeped up from under the wooden floor boards. Principal Tara Quinney said all but two of the school’s ground floor classrooms had been inundated with water. Most students were sent home before the Read more
Spanish priests criticise radio personalities over Mother Teresa comments
Monday, September 25th, 2023Several priests with a presence on social media and the civil association Enraizados have protested derogatory comments made against St Teresa of Calcutta on a radio program in Spain. On Monday this week, a contributor to the Spanish radio station Cadena SER’s main news program, Roberto Enríquez Higueras, known as Bob Pop, claimed that St Read more
Two Chinese bishops attending the Synod on Synodality
Monday, September 25th, 2023The Vatican announced on Thursday that two bishops from mainland China have been added as official delegates in the upcoming Synod on Synodality assembly. Bishop Antonio Yao Shun of Jining and Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang of Zhoucun will travel from China to Rome to participate as full members of the Oct 4–28 Synod of Bishops Read more
Catholics call for removal of ‘abhorrent’ pro-abortion ad over depiction of Jesus Christ
Thursday, September 21st, 2023A non-profit Catholic advocacy group is speaking out against an ad in Ohio supporting abortion that depicts an image of Jesus Christ and a man praying inside a church to promote “abortion rights.” The ad in question, posted by Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, includes a shot of a man kneeling and praying inside a Read more
Salvation Army opens its first medical centre in New Zealand
Thursday, September 21st, 2023On Monday the Salvation Army opened its first medical centre in New Zealand. They hope to meet the medical and social needs of their clients in a one-stop shop. The Sallies are well-known for their op shops, their food banks and their social care – so why not health care? “Particularly health care that treats Read more
Blood of St Januarius ‘completely liquefied’ on feast day
Thursday, September 21st, 2023The blood of the martyr St Januarius again liquefied in Naples on Tuesday. “We have just taken from the safe the reliquary with the blood of our patron saint, which immediately completely liquefied,” the abbot of the chapel of the treasury of the Naples Cathedral announced on Sept 19. The declaration that the miracle had Read more
International Canon Law meeting hosted in Christchurch
Thursday, September 21st, 2023
Eighty canon lawyers and lay delegates met in Christchurch from 4 to 7 September for the 56th annual Canon Law Society of Australia and NZ conference. Annual Conference assist canonists in their ministry by providing continuous professional development. People working in the Canon Law field came from Oceania, Great Britain and Ireland, Canada, the US Read more
Bishop Strickland says he will not resign if pope asks. What comes next?
Thursday, September 21st, 2023Firebrand Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland, who has been subject to a Vatican investigation over his leadership style and right-wing comments on social media, has recently vowed not to resign or “voluntarily abandon” his diocese, even if Pope Francis asks him to do so. But the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law leaves Strickland little to Read more
Women who say a one-time Jesuit artist abused them denounce a rehabilitation effort
Thursday, September 21st, 2023Women who say a once-prominent Jesuit artist abused them said they had been revictimised by his superiors. The women said Pope Francis’ recent gestures and an apparent effort to exonerate him publicly showed church pledges of “zero tolerance” were just a “publicity stunt.” In an open letter published on an Italian survivor advocate site, the Read more