Despite the Japanese government lifting the COVID-19 state of emergency in many cities ahead of the Olympic Games, the Tokyo Archdiocese says it will maintain infection control measures. Tokyo Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi said Catholics would remain on their guard following the government’s easing of restrictions. He said pandemic control measures will be in place Read more
Despite raising nearly $300m for buildings since 2005, the Catholic Church only raised $3.9m of the $25m it promised for residential school survivors. In 2005 the Canadian government reached a deal with the Indigenous people as reparation for residential schools survivors. Part of the ‘Indian Residential School Settlement’ (IRSS) involved the Catholic Church raising $25m. Read more
The legal bill for Cardinal George Pell to defend sex crime charges amounted to A$3m (NZ$3.2m). The charges were eventually thrown out by the High Court. Pell confirmed there was still a “significant” amount of money to be paid, despite having walked free more than a year ago. Cardinal Pell’s legal team initially applied for Read more
Pope Francis has told the 34 metropolitan archbishops he appointed within the past year that the Church’s pastors “need to be set free time and time again” from worldliness, rigidity, dubious associations with power and fear of being misunderstood. “Like Paul, we are called to be set free from hypocritical outward show, free from the Read more
Pakistan’s Lahore High Court has released a 26-page judgment acquitting a Catholic mother and her partially paralyzed husband. The couple were on death row for seven years after a lower court convicted them of sending blasphemous text messages. Weeks after overturning the session court’s death sentence for the couple, Shagufta Masih and her husband, Shafqat Read more
An Italian high school teacher continues to wage a legal battle against his employer after being suspended in 2014 for removing the crucifix from his classroom. Franco Coppoli, who teaches literature and history in the Umbrian city of Terni, says he should have “the freedom not to teach under a religious symbol”. The 56-year-old professor Read more
US Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a moratorium on federal executions while the Department of Justice conducts a review of its policies and procedures, the department announced Thursday. The moratorium comes after the Trump administration had resumed federal executions after a 17-year hiatus. In a July 1 statement, Garland said the Department of Justice “must Read more
Online celebrities Ranz and Niana, SB19 and even a Catholic priest were big winners to TikTok’s first ever award show. The first-ever TikTok Awards in the Philippines was streamed on TikTok Philippines pages on the application itself, on YouTube and Facebook last Sunday, July 4. This year’s theme was “Ipakita Mo,” which translates to “Show Read more
Lebanese people must be given the opportunity to create a better future for their own country without undue interference, says Pope Francis. The country must remain a “land of tolerance and pluralism” he said as he welcomed Lebanon’s Christian patriarchs to the Vatican last Thursday. Francis prayed the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic before he and Read more
US Bishop Douglas Lucia wants Pope Francis to repudiate a series of papal decrees justifying European countries seeking to colonize other nations. He says papal decrees – called bulls – supporting the “Doctrine of Discovery” (the Doctrine) provided justification for “both political and personal violence against indigenous peoples.” He wants “a public acknowledgment from the Read more