The Vatican has named a new director for its internal financial watchdog. In a statement April 15, the Holy See press office said that the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin had appointed Giuseppe Schlitzer as director of the Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF). He succeeds Tommaso Di Ruzza, who completed his five-year term of Read more
World
Kenyan court charges Catholic priest with spreading coronavirus
Monday, April 20th, 2020A Catholic priest was charged in Kenyan court on Thursday with spreading the coronavirus, the second person to face such charges in Kenya. Kenya, which has 234 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 11 deaths, has banned all public gatherings, limited the number of mourners at funerals, imposed a daily curfew and restricted movement in Read more
Cardinal Pell faces new child sex abuse allegation
Thursday, April 16th, 2020
Police are investigating a new child sex abuse allegation levelled at Australian cardinal, George Pell. The new allegation relates to an incident in the 1970s, when Pell was a priest in Ballarat, Victoria. At a Victoria police media conference on Tuesday this week, deputy commissioner Shane Patton was asked for his response to allegations police Read more
Another expert commission to study idea of women deacons
Thursday, April 16th, 2020
A new expert commission has been appointed to examine the possibility of women deacons. Pope Francis approved the 10-member commission, which is the second one he has appointed during his pontificate. The commission members include equal numbers of men and women representing the United States and six European countries. Deacons are ordained ministers who can Read more
Domestic violence victims need our support during lockdown
Thursday, April 16th, 2020
Society must support female domestic violence victims during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, says Pope Francis. Abuse during the crisis is increasing all over the world, he says. Women are helping in many frontline roles helping society cope with the pandemic, he says. Praising their efforts, he made particular mention of women in frontline roles such Read more
Holy Week and Easter see huge online engagement
Thursday, April 16th, 2020
The Vatican’s online Holy Week and Easter events reached millions of people around the world. New viewers, followers and fans inspired by Pope Francis’ words and gestures were among those taking part. “We have been struck by the many emails we have received, comments and posts on our social media from people, even agnostics and Read more
Pope visualises a more creative post-pandemic church
Thursday, April 16th, 2020
The Pope’s vision for a post-pandemic church will balance institutional rules and regulations with a more free-form church that responds to people’s pastoral needs creatively. Explaining his point, he gave the example of an Italian bishop who asked him if it was allowable to offer general absolution to hospitalised Covid-19 patients in isolation. A canon Read more
Australian Catholic University official speaks out for Pell
Thursday, April 16th, 2020The Vice-Chancellor of the Australian Catholic University, Gregory Craven, says the legal action against Cardinal George Pell was in reality “an atrocious and deeply frightening” campaign run by “The Victorian Police and the ABC”. On Tuesday, sex abuse convictions laid against Cardinal Pell were overturned by Australia’s highest court after he spent 405 days in Read more
Easter was the Bible App’s biggest day ever
Thursday, April 16th, 2020More people logged onto the YouVersion Bible App to read and share Scripture this Easter than any other time in the app’s decade-plus history. Easter is typically the busiest day for the app, and with the majority of Christians celebrating the holiday online, Sunday’s stats far exceeded the record set in 2019. This year, 40.6 Read more
103-year-old Italian says ‘courage, faith’ helped beat virus
Thursday, April 16th, 2020To recover from the coronavirus, as she did, Ada Zanusso recommends courage and faith, the same qualities that have served her well in her nearly 104 years. Italy, along with neighboring France, has Europe’s largest population of what has been dubbed the “super old” — people who are at least 100. As the nation with Read more