A prominent Canadian cardinal has been accused of sexual assault in a civil suit filed against the Archdiocese of Quebec. Cardinal Marc Armand Ouellet has been named in a class action suit that targets more than 80 members of the clergy in the Quebec diocese, court documents showed. Ouellet is a prefect of the Congregation Read more
The results of Australia’s national diocesan synthesis on the Synod on Synodality reveals Australian Catholics need a Church that is missionary and a Eucharistic community that is inclusive. Trudy Dantis, director of the National Centre for Pastoral Research which prepared the booklet, said hundreds of submissions were made by groups and individuals. Australia’s Fifth Plenary Read more
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is reinventing the story of St Joan of Arc in an upcoming production in which the French-Catholic heroine will be portrayed as a non-binary “queer” character. The Globe announced its decision in a tweet, “Our new play ‘I, Joan’ shows Joan as a legendary leader who uses the pronouns ‘they/them’. We are Read more
Community and charity groups are dealing with plummeting rates of volunteering, and Charities Minister Andrew Leigh is on a mission not only to stem the drop-off but halt the crisis in community participation. Reports compiled by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) show the number of volunteers has been steadily falling each year. It Read more
A prominent order of catholic priests vowed last year to raise $100 million to atone for its participation in the American slave trade. At the time, church leaders and historians said it would be the largest effort by the Roman Catholic Church to make amends for the buying, selling and enslavement of Black people in Read more
Church officials from Atambua Diocese have begun an inquiry into the cancellation of a wedding that sparked outrage among catholics in Indonesia’s Christian-dominated East Nusa Tenggara province. Social media posts expressed outrage over the priest cancelling the marriage reportedly because the bride and groom focused on the celebrations rather than spiritually preparing themselves for the Read more
A criminal case has been filed against 16 people, including several nuns, for allegedly financing terrorists and violating the Philippines’ anti-terrorism law. The case was filed by the Justice Department on August 15 with a trial court in Iligan City in Mindanao. It accuses them of financing the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and Read more
Food insecurity, violence and climate change are forcing Africa into a corner. The continent is facing a looming food crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In better times, between 2018 and 2020, Africa imported 44 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine. “A striking phenomenon is the link between food insecurity, violence and Read more
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with Pope Francis on Friday, thanking him for his prayers and humanitarian support. Ukrainians would be glad to welcome him if he were able to visit, Zelenskyy told the pope. Francis had already mooted the idea, telling journalists on his return flight from Canada last month that he would like Read more
The Vatican’s top body on life issues has caused a stir for suggesting that one of the church’s most influential and controversial magisterial documents, Humanae Vitae, is not covered by papal infallibility. Over the weekend, a tweet sent from the Pontifical Academy for Life’s official Twitter account suggested that St Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Read more