Uighurs and other Muslim minorities would be given the right to petition a UK high court judge to declare that genocide is taking place in China, requiring the UK government to curtail trade ties with Beijing, under proposals brought by MPs and peers. The cross-party parliamentary revolt is causing deep concern in government, where there Read more
World
Pope Francis recognizes miracle attributed to Italian laywoman who died in 1997
Thursday, October 1st, 2020Pope Francis advanced the sainthood cause Tuesday of an Italian laywoman who died in 1997 after touching the lives of thousands of people despite suffering from progressive paralysis. The pope authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints Sept. 29 to promulgate a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to Gaetana “Nuccia” Tolomeo, paving the way Read more
Pope Chooses Theme for World Communications Day
Thursday, October 1st, 2020The theme for World Communications Day is particularly relevant for today’s pandemic-isolated world. Even when physical proximity is impossible, Catholic communicators can use the media to reach out to people, help them experience the closeness of the church and invite them to follow Jesus more closely, the Vatican said. “Come and see: Communicating, encountering people Read more
Seafarers charity Apostleship of the Sea is renamed Stella Maris
Thursday, October 1st, 2020The Apostleship of the Sea, a Catholic charity helping seafarers worldwide, will now be known as Stella Maris. In a letter to the organization’s chaplains and volunteers released by the Holy See press office Monday, international director Fr. Bruno Ciceri said the change was necessary because the charity had different names in different countries, causing Read more
Thieves steal a vial containing Pope St John Paul’s blood
Monday, September 28th, 2020
Thieves have stolen a vial containing Pope St. John Paul’s blood from an Italian cathedral. On Wednesday last week the Spoleto Cathedral’ sacristan, who is in charge of protecting the building and its contents, discovered the vial was missing. Archbishop Renato Boccardo of Spoleto-Norcia, who was a close aide to John Paul for years at Read more
Catholic women unimpressed with ‘males only’ encyclical title
Monday, September 28th, 2020
Catholic women across the globe are speaking out against the title of the new papal encyclical title. Called “Fratelli tutti,” the encyclical’s title translates as “all brothers”. It indicates women are not included in the encyclical’s message, many women are saying. The Vatican says it is not reconsidering or adapting the title. Instead they have Read more
Mary McAleese to spend retirement challenging Church teaching
Monday, September 28th, 2020
Ireland’s former president Mary McAleese says blind obedience isn’t enough for people to stay in the Catholic Church. They are tired of “little old men” who continue to “beat the drum of obedience,” she says. “I am a person of faith but I am also a person with a thinking brain.” The hierarchy of the Read more
Cardinal Tagle opens up about contracting COVID
Monday, September 28th, 2020
The prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, has recovered from the coronavirus (COVID-19). Last Friday the cardinal discussed his experience during the coronavirus quarantine and his recovery. Speaking at an online conference for Catholic educators, he admitted struggling with “fear and anxiety” during the isolation. “But getting Read more
Church must tackle spiritual abuse
Monday, September 28th, 2020
Little is being done to target the spiritual abuse that allows the clerical sex scandals to happen says theologian Dr Rocio Figueroa. Figueroa is a lecturer in Systematic Theology at the Catholic Institute of Aotearoa New Zealand in Auckland. To understand the underlying causes of abuse the Church needs to rethink its ts power structure Read more
Francis’ sacking of Cardinal Becciu called “a shocker”
Monday, September 28th, 2020
A cardinal sacked by Pope Francis says he is “devastated,” he did not commit any crimes and has had no communication with the Vatican magistrates. Cardinal Angelo Becciu called his downfall “surreal.” Becciu, former ‘substitute’ (No 2) at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and until Friday, prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of the Read more