An artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot told hundreds of people at a Lutheran service on Friday “to rise from the pews and praise the Lord.” The experimental church service was almost entirely AI-generated. A ChatGPT chatbot delivered a sermon at the church in Bavaria, Germany. What happened The sermon chatbot, personified by an avatar of a Read more
Pope Francis has sent a message of support to a conference that will discuss LGBTQ ministry in the Catholic Church this weekend, after right-wing online influencers organized a petition to try and stop the event. The pope is publicly backing the Outreach conference, a three-day meeting set to be held June 16-18 at New York’s Read more
A Vatican court convicted two environmental activists of aggravated damage Monday and ordered them to pay more than 28,000 euros (NZ$49,000) in restitution. The ruling came after the activists glued their hands to the base of an ancient statue in the Vatican Museums in a protest to draw attention to climate change. The two members Read more
On Sunday evening, Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth released a video message addressing his interventions at the Carmelite monastery in Arlington, Texas. Saying he would not be drawn into public discussion of the matter, the bishop attempted to refute accounts that the convent’s superior had been heavily medicated when allegedly admitting to sexual sins Read more
Shortly after returning from Ukraine, where he undertook a special peace mission on behalf of Pope Francis, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi stressed the importance of dialogue and said his visit was not an attempt at mediation. Speaking to journalists on the margins of a June 7 book presentation the day after returning from Kyiv, Zuppi Read more
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Justin Welby, has strongly criticised his fellow Anglican bishops in Uganda for supporting the East African country’s new law that makes homosexual acts illegal and subject to punishment even up to the death penalty. “This is not about imposing Western values on our Ugandan Anglican sisters and brothers,” said Welby, Read more
The ACT state government has been accused of using “bullying and standover tactics” in the forced takeover of Calvary Hospital, a Catholic health provider. The Australian Federal Coalition has called for a Senate inquiry into the ACT government’s forced takeover of Calvary Hospital after the Catholic health provider lost its legal bid to halt the Read more
The Vatican bank’s commitment to upholding Catholic ethics helped it achieve a profit of €29.6 million in 2022, according to its recently published budget. Officially known as the Institute for Religious Works or IOR, the bank, once a symbol of financial misconduct, has successfully rebranded itself as a pillar of transparency at the Vatican. Pope Read more
A bitter dispute between the Diocese of Fort Worth and a Carmelite monastery in Texas has reached new heights as charges and counter-charges of illegal activity, including drug use, have been made. The latest salvo in this protracted legal and public relations battle came from the diocese itself on Wednesday. The diocese released photographs purporting Read more
The surviving relatives of the late Pope Benedict XVI stand to inherit small amount of money from his legacy, according to the executor of his last will and testament. When the retired pope died at age 95 on December 31, 2022, his longtime assistant, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, got to work as executor of the will Read more