An indigenous performance at a tree planting ceremony in the Vatican gardens on Friday celebrated the feast of St. Francis and the opening of the Synod of bishops on the Pan-Amazon region. The ceremony was organised by the Global Catholic Climate Movement, the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network and the Order of Franciscan Friars Minor. Among those Read more
Pope Francis has chosen one of Italy’s leading anti-mafia prosecutors as president of the Vatican’s criminal tribunal. Giuseppe Pignatone’s appointment came two days after Vatican police raided the Apostolic Palace and seized documents and computers from the secretariat of state. The raid included searches of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF), which is tasked with Read more
At the opening Mass of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon region on Sunday the Pope Francis appealed to conservatives not to be bound by the status quo. The synod’s purpose will be to discuss the future of the Church in the Amazon. These discussions will include the possibility of married priests. Most of Read more
Bazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes clarified the working document’s purpose for the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon. It is is not official church teaching, he says. It is a way for bishops to listen to the local church’s concerns. The working document ( also called the Instrumentum Laboris) “isn’t a document of the synod, it Read more
President Rodrigo Duterte said he plans to invite Russian Orthodox missionaries to the Philippines as he hit the Catholic Church anew for supposedly “attacking” him. “I’m planning to invite the Russian Orthodox missionaries to come to the Philippines so that we can look for a place where we can build the Orthodox Church,” Duterte said Read more
Religious bigotry in Pakistan schools is forcing Christian parents to give their children Islamic names – according to a bishop there. Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that Christian children and other faith minorities were using different names to prevent them from being subjected to abuse. Read more
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn has been appointed by the Vatican to conduct an investigation of the troubled Buffalo diocese in New York, where Bishop Richard Malone faces accusations of covering up sexual abuse by priests. The announcement was made late October 3 by the Brooklyn Diocese, following a request from the papal embassy in Read more
LGBT champion Fr James Martin, SJ met Pope Francis on Monday in a private audience in the apostolic palace inside the Vatican. They spoke to each other, seated at the table where the pope meets his high-level visitors. This is the third time Martin, who is known for his pastoral ministry to the LGBT community Read more
The Church should “deepen its understanding of the uninterrupted tradition of priestly celibacy in the Latin rite” says Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. Ouellet says a deepened understanding of celibacy is preferable to grabbing at quick solutions to resolve the current lack of priests. He makes the claim in his newly Read more
Seemingly Greta Thunberg can do no wrong in Sweden. A comment about Jesus appointing Greta Thunberg as one of his successors has resurfaced. After initially defending the tweet, last December the Church of Sweden Malamö deleted the tweet and abandoned the account. However the church’s Twitter account has resurfaced, retweeting people who supported and praised Read more