Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles took aim at president-elect Joe Biden in comments Tuesday. He called it a “difficult and complex” situation that the second-ever Catholic president-elect supports abortion rights. “When politicians who profess the Catholic faith support them there are additional problems,” Gomez, the president of the United States Conference of Catholics Bishops. Read more
World
Culture warrior Catholics empty of positive faith
Monday, November 16th, 2020
Culture warrior Catholics are falling prey to fundamentalism and bigotry says a Czechoslovakian academic. Warning the positive content of faith has become emptied, Father Tomáš Halík quotes the former Archbishop of Milan, Carlo Maria Martini; “I am not so much afraid of people who do not have faith; what disturbs me are people who do Read more
Call to end papal plausible deniability
Monday, November 16th, 2020
Pope Francis gets a pass mark, just, for his handling of Theodore McCarrick’s recidivist sexual abuse according to Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of BishopAccountability.org. While praising the Vatican for releasing the findings of the McCarrick report, survivors say more must be done. “In many ways, this is an impressive report—the Vatican’s first forthright account Read more
Stop and speak to the poor
Monday, November 16th, 2020
Archbishop Jason Gordon has called on citizens to stretch a helping hand to at least one person in need, saying the poor are not objects or statistics. Gordon, the Archbishop of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, said, “Find someone you know, reach out to one poor person. Not just to give money, but stop, Read more
Biden to raise refugee quota
Monday, November 16th, 2020
President-elect Joe Biden announced he will raise the refugee quota into the United States to 125,000 in his first year in office. This is a stark change from President Donald Trump’s steep cuts to the U.S. refugee program during his presidency. Biden made the announcement on Nov. 12 to a Catholic group that works with Read more
Australian corruption watchdog dismisses Vatican speculation in Pell case
Monday, November 16th, 2020
An Australian anti-corruption agency said it was not investigating speculation about the transfer of Vatican funds to Australia in the Cardinal Pell case. The anti-corruption agency statement contradicts Italian media speculation that the money might be linked to the overturned convictions of Cardinal George Pell for child sex abuse. Last month, several Italian newspapers reported Read more
Call for laity to be involved in appointment of bishops
Monday, November 16th, 2020
Swiss bishop of Basel, Felix Gmür, is calling for the laity to be involved in the appointment of bishops. Gmür says the Church’s history shows that over time there have been different election procedures for bishops. “It was only with the publication of the ecclesiastical code of law (CIC) in 1917 that the right to Read more
Mixed-marriage ban for Russian Muslims sparks backlash
Monday, November 16th, 2020A religious ruling that bans Muslim men in Russia from marrying non-Muslim women sparked backlash from senior Muslim clerics across the country this week. The ruling by the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia (DUM)’s advisory council of scholars says that interfaith marriages between Muslim men and non-Muslim women are allowed “in isolated cases” that Read more
Pope Francis and Joe Biden talk on phone
Monday, November 16th, 2020Pope Francis has offered US president-elect Joe Biden his “blessings and congratulations”, during a phone call Thursday morning. Biden, of Irish heritage, will be the second Catholic president of the United States. John F. Kennedy, who was elected in 1960 and also of Irish descent, was the country’s first Catholic president. Matteo Bruni, the director Read more
Don’t let terror attacks divide us, says cardinal
Monday, November 16th, 2020Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, head of the Comece association of Catholic bishops in the European Union, said recent Islamist terror attacks must not divide religious communities in Europe. “If the objective of the terrorists is to divide us, we all together – the countries of the European Union but also Christians, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Jews – Read more