A new Vatican document warns against “lack of concern and sensitivity” towards the weak and elderly during the pandemic and its aftermath. The Pontifical Academy for Life, assisted by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, issued “Old Age: Our Future. The elderly after the pandemic” on February 9. It was signed by Archbishop Vincenzo Read more
A Catholic priest known for serving the poor living on a landfill has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Fr. Pedro Opeka, 72, is an Argentinian-Slovenian Vincentian priest who has worked with the poor in Madagascar for more than three decades. Janez Janša, the Prime Minister of Slovenia, nominated Opeka for the award. He Read more
Churches around the world have modified Ash Wednesday ceremonies due to the impact of Covid-19. The holy day of prayer and fasting is one of the highest contact observances on the liturgical calendar. It takes place on 17 February this year. Many churches mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent with clergy marking Read more
A French nun who has become the first woman to hold a voting position at the Vatican said Wednesday that her appointment is evidence the “patriarchal mindset is changing” as more and more women assume high-level decision-making responsibilities in the Catholic hierarchy. Sister Nathalie Becquart said during a news conference that her appointment as an Read more
The names of Winston Churchill and JK Rowling will be removed from houses at a secondary school after their views were branded “intolerant” by teenage students. Pupils at Seaford Head School in East Sussex stated that the wartime Prime Minister was responsible for “torturing many”, while the Harry Potter author was not “suitable” due to Read more
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the international organization that supports persecuted Christians around the world, has confirmed that a decade ago it received a “credible” allegation of “aggravated sexual assault” against its founder, Father Werenfried van Straaten. The Dutch-born priest founded ACN in 1947 and was its leader until his death in 2003 Read more
For more than 1,500 years Catholics have made pilgrimage to Rome’s Santi Apostoli Church to venerate two apostles, St. Philip and St. James the Younger – who is said to have been Jesus’ brother. Bones believed to belong to the martyred saints are enshrined at the basilica, and each encasing bears the name of the Read more
Japan and Korea’s Catholic bishops are decrying the Japanese government’s plans to clean-up Fukushima by releasing millions of litres of radioactive water into the sea. “We oppose the release of water containing the radioactive substance tritium into the ocean after purifying the contaminated water from Tepco’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant,” they said this week Read more
A Swiss bishop who recently warned of a potential schism caused by different opinions about ordaining women in the Catholic church has resigned unexpectedly. Denis Theurillat, who was the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Basel cited “the increasing burdens of his office” as his reason for resigning five years before the customary retirement age Read more
The Pope has appointed a woman as an undersecretary to the Synod of Bishops for the first time. Xaviere Missionary Sister Nathalie Becquart, from France, will have voting rights in the body, which advises the pontiff. The Synod debates some of the most controversial issues in the Roman Catholic Church. Sister Becquart will not be Read more