Benedict XVI’s personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein has said that the pope emeritus’ illness is “subsiding.” In an interview with the German newspaper Südkurier, Archbishop Gänswein is reported to have said that Benedict XVI’s “illness is subsiding” and that his medication has been reduced. Benedict XVI has been suffering from facial shingles, a bacterial infection Read more
World
Surprise ice cream delivery reveals Pope Francis’ favourite flavour
Monday, August 17th, 2020Life in the eternal city in August is an oppressive affair and ice cream is a delicious way to cool off. With day after day of mid-90s heat and almost no reliable air conditioning, the romani often have but one last refuge: a cup or cone of dense, soft and blissfully cool Italian gelato. Just Read more
Women priests possible says new top female Vatican official
Thursday, August 13th, 2020
Ordaining women to the priesthood and opening top roles in the Vatican bureaucracy to women are both possible scenarios, says an appointee to the Vatican Council for the Economy. Law professor Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhof (pictured), who was recently appointed by Pope Francis as a member of the high-level group that oversees the Vatican’s finances, says in Read more
Vatican order closes Argentine seminary
Thursday, August 13th, 2020
The Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy ordered an Argentine seminary to close, says Argentine bishop Eduardo Maria Taussig of San Rafael. Taussig (pictured) says the closure of the seminary in his diocese was ordered after a controversy surrounding the reception of the Eucharist during the coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic. He also noted the Congregation said that due Read more
Priest says grace of God helped him save shark attack victim
Thursday, August 13th, 2020
A Catholic priest is crediting the grace of God for helping him when a great white shark attacked a fellow surfer. Fr. Liam Ryan was surfing in Western Australia when he noticed a distressed fellow surfer (Phil Mummert). “I saw him off his board, looking really lost and there was half a board floating there,” Read more
Faith wobbles sometimes says Pope
Thursday, August 13th, 2020
While everyone experiences faith-shaking trials, asking for God’s help is the key to survival says Pope Francis. “When we have strong feelings of doubt and fear and we seem to be sinking, (and) in life’s difficult moments when everything becomes dark, we must not be ashamed to cry out like Peter, ‘Lord, save me,’” he Read more
Bishops worry about looming mental health crisis
Thursday, August 13th, 2020
Australia’s Catholic bishops have identified a looming mental health crisis as their priority social justice focus this year. During the past year Australian’s resilience has been tested with the country coping with droughts and deadly bushfires followed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the uncertainty that goes with it. “People experiencing mental ill-health are not some Read more
Pope baptizes formerly conjoined twins, separated at Vatican hospital
Thursday, August 13th, 2020Pope Francis on Thursday baptized conjoined twins who had been separated at a Vatican-owned hospital in June. The announcement of the baptism came not from the Vatican but from Antoinette Montaigne, a politician from Central African Republic, where the girls were born with fused skulls on June 29, 2018, in the town of Mbaiki. When Read more
Paedophile priest Vincent Gerard Ryan has priestly faculties removed
Thursday, August 13th, 2020The notorious paedophile priest Vincent Gerard Ryan will no longer be permitted to celebrate the sacraments or dress as a priest, after a decision to remove his priestly faculties. The 82-year-old walked free on parole last month; he had served less than half of a three-year sentence relating to two altar boys. Ryan had previously Read more
An earthquake felt in North Carolina brings reading during Sunday Mass to life
Thursday, August 13th, 2020A 5.1-magnitude earthquake originating near Sparta was felt in Charlotte a little after 8 a.m. Sunday — just as parishioners at St. Gabriel Church were listening to the first reading of Sunday’s Mass: “At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. Then the LORD said to him, ‘Go Read more