Ministers of religion in Western Australia are now legally required to report child sexual abuse, even if the information was gained during confessions. Under new laws now in force, failure to make a mandatory report is an offence with a maximum penalty of $6000. A minister of religion will not be excused from criminal responsibility Read more
A study suggests that the Pope could significantly reduce global carbon emissions by urging Catholics to return to the traditional practice of not eating meat on Fridays. Cambridge University researchers assessed the impact of a return to meat-free Fridays for Catholics in England and Wales. In September 2011, following a 26-year hiatus, bishops called on Read more
The government and authorities in the Philippines have prohibited unvaccinated people from entering several cemeteries during the observance of All Souls Day to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The Santo Tomas cemetery in Daet province, southern Luzon, and the Holy Redeemer cemetery in Benguet province, northern Luzon, have made it mandatory for visitors to carry Read more
More than 10,000 unborn babies are alive today because of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a new report by a pro-abortion group suggests. Society of Family Planning’s #WeCount initiative reported on Friday that there were 5,270 fewer abortions in July and 5,400 fewer in August after the court’s June 24 ruling Read more
Eighty-seven-year-old Father John Bok was a physics teacher earlier in his life. Still, he just can’t wrap his head around the physics of how another car hurdled his own on his way to celebrate Sunday Mass in October. “It’s a miracle,” the Franciscan priest told CNA Tuesday of the near-death experience. Now retired — although Read more
The Myanmar junta’s Ministry of Health has fired 557 government-employed doctors who left their jobs to protest against the military government, revoking their licences at a time when medical professionals are in short supply, sources in the country’s medical community said on Tuesday, citing an official list. The striking doctors joined other government workers in Read more
The Global South region of the Catholic Church is missing out, says a member of the Vatican’s advisory commission on clerical sexual abuse. He admitted on Friday that the Church was failing to tackle the scourge of clerical sexual abuse in the southern hemisphere. There was a “disparity in training and prevention of child sexual Read more
Life is a constant imbalance, because life is journeying and finding, Pope Francis recently told seminarians during and audience in Paul VI Hall, Rome. Elaborating, he said life was about finding good things that take people forward, and discovering things that unbalance us. Asked how to find a balance between the two, Francis suggested it Read more
The head of the German Catholic bishops’ conference said on Thursday that the global synodal process has already changed the Church. Bishop Georg Bätzing (pictured) said, “After only one year, this Synodal Process has generated a dynamic that has led to a new understanding of the dignity of all the baptised, to a broader co-responsibility Read more
The Catholic Church in Cambodia is emerging from the dark period of Khmer Rouge oppression and is now enjoying religious freedom, one of its three bishops says. “We are in golden times at this moment. The government is helping us. We have the freedom to work and also enjoy the freedom of belief. We face Read more