Some Catholic priests in Nigeria are telling parishioners if they don’t have a Permanent Voter Card (PVC), they won’t be allowed to come to Sunday Mass. The Independent National Electoral Commission issues the cards. The priests justified their stance in denying entry to those without a PVC, telling them it’s because “there is no way Read more
A Franciscan province in Germany has elected an openly gay member as its new superior general. Br Markus Fuhrmann (centre) publicly came out as homosexual a few weeks ago. “If I am gay myself, then I want to show that I can also be part of the Church in this ministry,” he said in explanation Read more
An online video shows a nearly naked woman disrupting Mass at a Catholic church in Michigan by standing on a pew and shouting pro-abortion chants. “Overturn Roe? Hell, no!” the woman shouted, interrupting the priest’s homily. “Abortion without apology!” Two other women visible in the video joined her in the chants. They held green cloth Read more
The chairman of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial thanked Pope Francis on Thursday for giving scholars access to the Holy See’s World War II-era archives. Dani Dayan, who met with Francis at the Vatican, said the pontiff described the archives’ opening as “an issue of justice”. Francis visited the memorial during a 2014 pilgrimage to Read more
Palliative care experts have welcomed the NSW state government’s plans to boost the sector with an additional $743 million in funding over the next five years. This highlights some of the work that needs to be done to ensure quality end-of-life care is available to all. Premier Dominic Perrottet announced the package in the lead Read more
Pope Francis said in an interview published on Tuesday that he told the leader of Germany’s Catholic bishops that the country already had “a very good evangelical church” and “we don’t need two.” The pope recalled his remark to Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the German bishops’ conference, during a conversation with the editors of Read more
A papal advisor has dismissed media rumours of the pope’s likely resignation as nothing more than “a cheap soap opera”. According to Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, who advises the pope within the Council of Cardinals, news reports suggesting Pope Francis’ physical decline will soon lead to a new conclave are “fake news”. The rumours Read more
Indonesian seminarians are being provided with an additional set of skills – and not ones you’d necessarily expect. A Catholic group in Indonesia’s conflict-torn Papua province is teaching the seminarians to report on events in remote areas where there is limited access for journalists. Rights activists often criticise Indonesia’s mainstream media for reporting news based Read more
The Archbishop of Dublin has acknowledged that his diocese, the largest in Ireland, is facing “great challenges” due to a shortage of priests. Archbishop Dermot Farrell (pictured) has pledged to respond “positively and swiftly” to new proposals put forward by his parishes to deal with the challenge. “We face a particular challenge in the shortage Read more
Dioceses in northern Vietnam are building new churches to replace those damaged or abandoned during the Vietnam War. An estimated one million people, including clergy and religious, moved to the south of the country after communist forces defeated French troops and took control of the north in 1954. Local Catholics suffered religious restrictions. They were Read more