Catholics bishops in England and Wales want the Government to justify closing churches in the latest lockdown. All places of worship must end acts of collective worship. There are exceptions – for limited-attendance funeral ceremonies, to broadcast acts of worship, for individual prayer, for formal childcare/school and for essential voluntary and public services, eg food Read more
One day after the US presidential election, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in a blockbuster religious freedom case. Fulton v. City of Philadelphia is one of the first cases of new Supreme Court appointee Amy Coney Barrett and one of the biggest cases of the Court’s term. The case could hand religious conservatives Read more
Washington D.C. Archbishop Wilton Gregory will be the first black American cardinal. He was one of 13 new cardinals announced by Pope Francis at the end of his Angelus address on October 25th. Nine of the new appointees are under the age of 80. They will be eligible to vote in a papal conclave along Read more
Tomislav Vlasic, a former Croatian Franciscan priest and Medjugorje spiritual advisor, has been excommunicated from the Catholic church. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) announced on 23 October they were throwing him out of the church. In 2009 Vlasic was accused of teaching false doctrine, manipulating consciences, disobeying ecclesiastical authority, and of Read more
Under new Covid restrictions passed into Irish law recently, a priest can now be fined, or imprisoned, or both, for saying Mass in public. The same applies to any minister of religion who holds a public act of worship. This is drastic, draconian and unacceptable and must raise questions about the Constitutionality of the measure, Read more
A Catholic official in Papua has condemned the killing of Rufinus Tigau, a catechist whom Indonesian security forces accused of being a separatist. “We are very concerned with this incident which targeted church servants,” Father Marthen Kuayo, apostolic administrator of Timika Diocese, told UCA News on Oct. 28. Tigau, 28, was reportedly killed on Oct. Read more
Pope Francis’ weekly general audiences, which had resumed with the public participating, will be moved back indoors and held virtually after one participant tested positive for the coronavirus, the Vatican said on Thursday. A statement said the audiences will be held from the pope’s official private library, as they were during the height of the Read more
A high court in Pakistan, ruling against a Catholic family whose 13-year-old daughter was allegedly abducted by a 44-year-old Muslim man, validated the girl’s marriage to her reported abductor. “Arzoo Raja had been taken from outside her home on October 13 and two days later, as the family searched for her, police announced that they Read more
Pope Francis has again indicated support for same-sex civil unions. His most recent comments were made in “Francesco,” a new documentary on his life and ministry. The film premiered Oct. 21 as part of the Rome Film Festival. In the film, Francis says that “Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. Read more
France’s president Emmanuel Macron says a teacher’s murder last week was the work of domestic militant Islamist group. The murdered teacher, Samuel Paty, had discussed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed with his class earlier this month. After the murder, 16 people were initially detained, by police. They included members of the killer’s family and five Read more