Pay cuts at the Vatican will see cardinals working at the Holy See taking a 10 per cent pay cut. Most other Vatican-based clerics’ salaries are also being reduced. Department heads and secretaries will have their salaries reduced by eight percent and clergy and religious by three percent. In addition, almost all employees will have Read more
After scientists successfully grew mouse embryos in an artificial uterus, ethicists are warning against any future extension of the human embryo experiments. On March 17, scientists reported that they had taken fertilized eggs of mice and grew mouse embryos in an artificial uterus for 11 to 12 days. This was longer than had ever been Read more
Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has criticised the Vatican for trying to stop priests from blessing same-sex unions. The Archbishop of Vienna has joined more than a dozen German-speaking bishops who have voiced displeasure with the Vatican’s recent effort to reinforce a ban on blessing gay couples. He said the responsum and explanation produced by the Read more
Pope Francis has appointed a prominent Chilean survivor of clerical sex abuse to a Vatican commission that focuses on education to prevent abuse in the Catholic Church. Juan Carlos Cruz, an international advocate for abuse victims, has been appointed to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The 59-year-old Cruz was abused as a Read more
The Catholic Church has defeated the Scottish Government in a legal fight over “unlawful” rules on communal worship during lockdown. Nicola Sturgeon confirmed yesterday that collective worship will be allowed in groups of up to 50 from tomorrow. A group of 27 church leaders launched a judicial review at the Court of Session arguing Government Read more
Church leaders across seven denominations have issued a statement criticising the UK Government’s integrated review of foreign and defence policies which proposes to increase the UK’s nuclear warheads from 196 to 260. They described this as “a retrograde step that will not make any of us safer” adding: “It is immoral that the UK government Read more
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) imposed sanctions Friday on David Alton, a leading British Catholic human rights campaigner who highlighted widespread abuses in Xinjiang. The Chinese authorities announced the measures on March 26 against Alton and eight other U.K. citizens, as well as four institutions critical of the country’s human rights record. The individuals are Read more
The Vatican plans to vaccinate 1,200 people living in poverty during Holy Week with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The Office of Papal Charities is offering doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, purchased by the Holy See and offered by the Lazzaro Spallanzani Hospital through the Vatican COVID-19 Commission, to “the poorest and most marginalized people who, Read more
Now is the time to take personal responsibility and begin living our faith, writes Robert Mickens, Editor in Chief of La Croix International. In his weekly Letter from Rome entitled ‘Blessing and Curses’, Mickens says, “We do not have to wait for permission. “The Church is vaster and much more diversified than we sometimes want Read more
Police in Ireland have fined a Catholic priest for celebrating public Masses during a nationwide lockdown. The Gardaí (police) fined Fr. P.J. Hughes, 500 euros (NZ$830) after he offered Masses with a small number of parishioners present. This was the second time Hughes defied the gardai’s request to lock the church’s doors when he celebrated Read more