Michel Aupetit, recently relieved of his duties as Archbishop of Paris by the pope, has indicated that he plans to sue a popular French magazine that published insinuating photos it secretly took of him and a young woman. The 70-year-old archbishop said this week that his attorney is drawing up papers to sue the weekly Read more
Questions are being asked over the speed at which Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit. The unusually rapid acceptance has prompted speculation there is more to the issue than has been confirmed. Reporters on the pope’s flight from Greece to Rome asked the pope why he accepted the resignation Read more
The BBC has named a Catholic nun from Myanmar among Nobel laureates, politicians and professors as one of the 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2021. Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng became a symbol of Myanmar’s nationwide protests against a military takeover when, in March, she knelt in front of armed Read more
Pope Francis is urging people to be cautious in the way they interpret the report released in October about child sexual abuse by French Catholic clergy. The “historical situation” must be interpreted by the standards of the time, Francis says. The October report from an independent commission of inquiry confirmed extensive sexual abuse of minors Read more
The Ghanaian Catholic Bishops Conference have ignored Pope Francis by publicly supporting a draconian bill making its way through parliament that broadly targets LGBTQ+ rights. The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill states, “homosexual practices [should be made] illegal in Ghana”. The bill purports to criminalize many LGBTQ+ basic freedoms Read more
The pope has updated the Church’s procedural norms for dealing with delicts – serious crimes such as schism, sacramental desecration and abuse of minors. On Tuesday, Pope Francis publicised adaptations to the “Norms on the delicts reserved for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”. The following day on 8 December (the feast of Read more
Scientists are using human stem cells to create a structure that mimics a pre-embryo and can serve as a research alternative to a real one. They say these “blastoids” provide an efficient, ethical way to study human development and pursue biomedical discoveries in fertility and contraception. The latest effort was detailed Thursday in the journal Read more
Pope Francis said Monday there were plans for a possible second meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, after their historic 2016 encounter in Cuba became a landmark in mending relations severed by the 1,000-year-old schism that divided Christianity. Francis said he planned to meet next week with the Russian church’s foreign envoy Read more
The French president has slammed ‘woke nonsense’ and said the European Commission needs to focus its efforts on ‘recovery, power and belonging’. Emmanuel Macron said he does not ‘totally adhere’ to Eurocrats explaining the words ‘people can and can’t use’ just a week after Brussels withdrew its controversial guidelines for inclusive communication. The document details Read more
A group of Catholics have urged the Conference of Religious India (CRI) to investigate the recent suicide of Sister Mary Mercy, a member of the Franciscan Immaculate Sisters. A letter signed by senior nuns, theologians and laywomen said it would be helpful to “find out what needs to be done in order to prevent the Read more