Synodality is not populism, it means communion, says Pope Francis. Synodality is “a path of ecclesial communion that seeks to open minds and hearts to the will of the Holy Spirit.” What synodality is not, is a reorganisation of church structures, he emphasises. In a video message to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America last Read more
A Vatican-approved Chinese bishop remains in detention more than one year after his arrest for allegedly violating the communist country’s repressive regulations on religious affairs. Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu of Xinxiang in Henan province was arrested on May 21 last year. His arrest came a day after police arrested 10 priests and an unknown number Read more
The war in Syria is mostly over, and not a house was unaffected, said a nun based there. But now, the economy is so bad that people look back on the war and say, “at least then we had some food to eat, and we could feed our children.” Sister Annie Demerjian, delegation councillor for Read more
APO Group, Africa’s leading communications consultancy, has expressed its willingness to partner with the Catholic Church on the continent to ensure greater cohesion to the Church’s pastoral communications’ strategy. The statement dated May 26, given in the Vatican, noted that, “the leading Pan-African communications consultancy and press release distribution service, and the Symposium of Episcopal Read more
Vanuatu has become the first Pacific Small Island Developing State to declare it is facing a climate emergency. In a Twitter post, the leader of the opposition Ralph Regenvanu announced parliament passed a 17-point resolution declaring a climate emergency on Friday. Mr Regenvanu said under Point 1 of the resolution, “The Parliament declares that a Read more
Tastes change – and the beer made by the only Trappist brewery in the US isn’t hitting the spot any more. Rather than change the recipe they worked so hard to perfect, the 45 Trappist monks at St. Joseph’s Abbey have decided to close their brewery. The “Spencer brewery” venture, begun after much research in Read more
Moscow-affiliated Ukrainian Orthodox parishes are defecting to an autonomous Ukrainian Church. By the dozen. During most of April and May, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) has been losing four or five Ukrainian parishes a day. Most individuals and parishes leaving the UOC-MP are affiliating with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The OCU is Read more
A traditional priestly community, the Community of Saint Martin, has asked the Vatican for help to assess its rapid growth. The community is a public association of clerics founded by a French priest in 1976 under the patronage of the late Cardinal Giuseppe Siri of Genoa (Italy). It was established to send its priests, who Read more
In an interview with the Polish Catholic news agency KAI, the president of Poland’s Catholic bishops’ conference has said that the Vatican’s approach to Russia is “naive and utopian”. Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, 72, was asked about his meeting with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, following a May 17-20 visit to Read more
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly received the Eucharist in Washington DC two days after the archbishop of San Francisco announced he would bar her from receiving the sacrament in his diocese. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, who is known for his conservative views, said he would bar Pelosi from taking Communion in her Read more