Three months after police shoved him to the ground during a protest over the death of George Floyd, Martin Gugino, the Catholic peace activist, has quietly moved back to his home in Buffalo, New York. The 75-year-old Gugino, who ended up in intensive care after he fractured his skull and suffered a brain injury, won’t Read more
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Buffalo Catholic peace activist Martin Gugino back on his feet, determined to protest
Thursday, September 17th, 2020Pope: enjoying food and sex is simply divine
Monday, September 14th, 2020
The pleasure we get from enjoying food and sex is “divine”, says Pope Francis. These pleasures have unjustly fallen victim to “overzealousness” on the part of the Church in the past which is “a wrong interpretation of the Christian message,” he says in a newly-published book of interviews with Carlo Petrini, an Italian culinary writer. Read more
Pope Francis: work for the common good during pandemic
Monday, September 14th, 2020
Working together for the common good during the pandemic is crucial or we’ll emerge worse off, Pope Francis told the crowd at his general audience last Wednesday. Focusing his talk on the common good, which is a central theme in the Church’s social teaching, he said: “A virus that does not recognize barriers, borders or Read more
Belarus re-invites Pope to visit
Monday, September 14th, 2020
Belarus has renewed its 2016 invitation to Pope Francis to visit the country. Vladimir Makei, the Belarus Minister of Foreign Affairs, reiterated the invitation during a meeting with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, who is the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States. Makei told Gallagher, who was visiting Belarus, that the invitation remained open despite tensions Read more
Western Australia recommends preserving the confessional seal
Monday, September 14th, 2020
A committee from Western Australia’s Legislative Council recommends preserving the confessional seal. In its report on the Children and Community Services Amendment Bill 2019, the Council’s legislation committee says: “Ministers of religion be excused from criminal responsibility [of mandatory reporting] only when the grounds of their belief is based solely on information disclosed during religious Read more
Most British Catholics will return to church, says survey
Monday, September 14th, 2020
Most British Catholics – 96 percent – will return to worship in a church once the coronavirus (COVID-29) pandemic is over. Results from a new survey say just 4 percent of Catholics in Britain won’t be going back to worship in church. The poll of 2,500 people was conducted by Catholic Voices, a group set Read more
Ex-Salvadoran colonel jailed for 1989 murder of Spanish Jesuits
Monday, September 14th, 2020A former Salvadoran army colonel who served as a government security minister has been sentenced to 133 years in prison after being found guilty of the murder of five Spanish Jesuits who died in one of the infamous atrocities of El Salvador’s 12-year civil war. Judges at Spain’s highest criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, on Read more
Vatican urges return to in-person Mass as soon as possible
Monday, September 14th, 2020The Vatican said Saturday it was “necessary and urgent” to return to in-person Mass as soon as anti-coronavirus measures permit. The head of the Vatican’s liturgy office, Cardinal Robert Sarah, said in a letter to bishops conferences that virtual liturgies, while useful, were no replacement for the real thing. He said physical presence by the Read more
Archbishop Charles Balvo, condemns ‘scourge of corruption’
Monday, September 14th, 2020
Archbishop Charles Balvo, Vatican nuncio to the Czech Republic, denounced the “scourge of corruption” at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Thursday. Archbishop Charles Balvo, head of the Holy See delegation to the OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum, also presented Pope Francis’ new law for limiting corruption and increasing Read more
Vatican-based Filipino cardinal tests positive for coronavirus
Monday, September 14th, 2020Filipino cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has become the highest-ranking Vatican official known to have tested positive for the coronavirus. The Vatican said on Friday that Tagle, 63, a Filipino who heads the Vatican’s missionary arm, had tested positive when he arrived in Manila on Thursday. Tagle, who met Pope Francis in a private audience on Read more