Cardinal George Pell says his Christian faith helped him survive prison, and offered advice on how to overcome grief and stressful situations. Pell spoke to an online silent retreat hosted by the Australian Catholic Students’ Association about suffering and the tools one can use to remain steadfast in faith through hard times. Pell says his Read more
Women’s ordination and married priests are still on the agenda for Germany’s new bishops’ conference leader, Bishop Georg Bätzing. The new president says throughout the Church’s recent history, “different popes have explained and underlined that women’s access to the priesthood cannot be decided by the Church and Pope Francis is no exception.” “In the Catholic Read more
At mass on Sunday the Archbishop of Lima, Carlos Castillo, looked out over a cathedral full of faces — none of them alive. The cleric had his church filled with more than 5,000 portraits of those who have died in the pandemic that is spreading across Peru, using his broadcast homily to criticise a health Read more
Pope Francis has appointed Fabio Gasperini, a lay financial advisor, as secretary of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA). The 58-year-old Roman was named to the post, second highest at APSA, on June 15. He is the first layperson to get that position and succeeds Msgr. Mauro Rivella who completed his Read more
Vatican prosecutors on Monday provisionally released Gianluigi Torzi, an Italian middleman in a controversial deal in which the Vatican used Church money to purchase a luxury building in London as an investment. A statement from the Vatican press office said Torzi, who was arrested in the Vatican on June 5, was granted provisional liberty after Read more
An Argentine bishop close to Pope Francis has gone back to work at the Holy See’s financial administration office while under investigation in his native Argentina and at the Vatican for alleged sexual abuse. The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, confirmed Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta had resumed work at the APSA patrimony office but said it in Read more
An evangelical Argentinian pastor has reopened his church as “the worship bar” with bar tables and pastors dressed as waiters with Bibles on their trays. His reason for the mock service? The government is allowing bars and restaurants to reopen after being closed for several weeks due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic but a ban Read more
President Trump praised former papal nuncio Archbishop Carlo Viganò in a tweet last week. “So honored by Archbishop Viganò’s incredible letter to me. I hope everyone, religious or not, reads it!” Trump tweeted, linking to a letter which the controversial former papal nuncio addressed to him on Sunday. With that tweet, Trump introduced Viganò to Read more
“Every effort” should be made to protect children from exploitation “which deprives boys and girls of their childhood and which jeopardizes their integral development”, says Pope Francis. Children’s situations have been made worse because of “the current health emergency situation,” Francis says. Many children and young people are “forced into jobs that are inadequate for Read more
A German diocesan plan that would merge 800 parishes into 35 mega-parishes has been stopped by the Vatican. Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier met with the Cardinal Beniamino Stella and Archbishop Filippo Iannone, who lead the Congregation for Clergy (the Congregation) and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts (PCLT). Diocesan officials also attended the meeting, Read more