Experts are drafting proposed new laws on the status of a retired pope. In the 728 years that have passed since St Celestine established this legal precedent, the right of a pope to resign remains ensured in church law. The law is not very detailed, saying only that the decision must be made freely and Read more
Nicaraguan police have banned a Catholic procession and pilgrimage in the capital of Managua on Saturday citing internal security reasons, the archdiocese said on Friday as the crackdown on the Church intensifies. In response, the archdiocese called for the country’s faithful to spend Friday praying and fasting and attend Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Read more
The Vatican reported that projections of an expected deficit of 33.4 million euros for 2021 ended in a shortfall of just 3.3 million euros. “We are not looking for surpluses but for sustainability of the Holy See’s service,” Jesuit Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, told Vatican News on Read more
For the first time since records began, more babies were born out of wedlock in England and Wales in 2021. New statistics reveal the number born to mothers who were unmarried or not in a civil partnership has overtaken the number being born to mothers in such relationships. However, the count coincided with the Covid-19 Read more
Ukraine’s health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines in areas its forces have occupied since invading the country six months ago. In an interview with The Associated Press, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said Russian authorities have repeatedly blocked efforts to provide state-subsidised drugs Read more
Eighty years after Edith Stein’s death at Auschwitz, a Vatican cardinal has said Mass in her honour near the former death camp. Raised as a Jew, Stein was an atheist philosopher who converted to Catholicism in 1921 when she was 30. She became a Discalced Carmelite nun in 1938 and took the name Sr Teresa Read more
A Canadian woman experiencing ongoing long covid symptoms more than two years after catching the virus has applied for voluntary euthanasia. Tracey Thompson, a Toronto resident in her 50s, told CTV News she had begun applying for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) due to her enduring illness and lack of financial support. MAiD first became Read more
The Archbishop of Canterbury has urged Anglican bishops to speak out against ‘unethical treatment’ of migrants and climate change, and failing to act would make them “one of the oppressors”. Justin Welby encouraged Church of England leaders to “take risks”. “To be silent on the unethical treatment of migrants or on war or oppression, on Read more
Taiwan’s ambassador to the Holy See has denounced China’s reaction to the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan as inflammatory. He said the Chinese response was irresponsible, juvenile and dangerous for the entire region. Matthew Lee, Taiwan’s Ambassador to the Holy See, told Crux News that he “strongly condemns the Chinese government Read more