According to Italian media, recently-sacked Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu allegedly sent funds covertly to Australia during Cardinal George Pell’s child sex-abuse trial. Denying the claims, Becciu issued a strongly worded statement saying: “I categorically deny interfering in any way in the trial of Cardinal Pell.” Becciu called the allegations against him “surreal” and a misunderstanding. Read more
In a key speech, the French President Emmanuel Macron has outlined plans to halt the growing influence of radical Islamists in France, warned that some were pursuing an organised “politico-religious” project in sports clubs and youth groups to indoctrinate youngsters and adopting separatist behaviour in some workplaces. Speaking in Les Mureaux, north west of Paris Read more
Famed Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli will release an album based upon the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, after the singer drew praise from many Catholics for an Easter Sunday concert livestreamed from Santa Maria Nascente Cathedral in Milan during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy. The singer announced Wednesday that he Read more
Fabiola Gianotti’s life and work for the past several years have had a lot to do with collisions. But it’s the kind of collision that yields good things. If her work on a Vatican commission entails any sort of conflict with other members, such “collisions” could yield similarly good fruit. Pope Francis on Tuesday appointed Read more
Cardinal George Pell has returned to Rome. It is the first time Pell has returned to the Holy See since 2017, since he left to face historic child abuse charges. In 2014 Pope Francis appointed Pell, then aged 73, to lead the Vatican Secretariat of State. His role was to reform the Vatican’s finances. However, Read more
Standing up for his beliefs resulted in a Jesuit priest committing several crimes of conscience. So far Stephen Kelly has been incarcerated for 11 years and is currently being held in a federal prison for a 2018 crime. The event that proved to be the “last straw” before his most recent loss of freedom involved Read more
The Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher says US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to the Holy See did not include an audience with Pope Francis. Pompeo (pictured) has been openly critical of the Vatican’s relationship with China. Last month he published an essay in First Things suggesting the Vatican had compromised its moral Read more
A new probe into Vatican finances coincided with the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Becciu (pictured) last week. His resignation followed an unscheduled meeting with the pope. Francis told him he had lost his trust and ordered him to step down. News of Becciu’s resignation was followed by reports that Italian businessman Gianluigi Torzi has provided Read more
Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen is begging Pope Francis for a good bishop to be chosen to lead the Hong Kong Diocese. Zen flew to Rome to deliver his letter so it could be delivered without delay to the pope. His request came while Vatican diplomats are working against the clock to refresh the Vatican’s Read more