A clerical abuse survivor says convicted Australian paedophile Cardinal George Pell is “arrogant”. His claim relates to Pell’s prison-penned letter linking his suffering in jail to that of Jesus Christ suffering on the cross. Stephen Woods says he is not surprised by “anything other than the level of arrogance” in the letter, which was posted Read more
Recent Brexit discussions have resulted in an atmosphere of uncertainty in Northern Ireland, says the Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown. “Even the Unionists, that is those (in Northern Ireland) who feel they are rather more English, are of the opinion that from the economic point of view it would be better to remain part of Read more
A Brisbane rally to oppose anti-discrimination exemptions for religious groups will be held this weekend. The proposed legal changes could see organisations owned by religious groups, such as schools, hospitals and aged care facilities, be given the right under federal law to legally expel students and fire staff on the grounds of sexual orientation, trans Read more
Chinese state media is accusing Hong Kong Catholic schools of supporting pro-democracy protesters and training their students to join protest mobs. The media comments followed a video showing eight students taking part in air gun shooting practice while parading an American flag on the rooftop of Yu Chun Keung Memorial College, a diocesan school. Ta Read more
Melbourne’s Archbishop Peter Comensoli says he would rather go to jail than report admissions of child sexual abuse made in confession. He was referring to a bill in Victoria’s parliament which will make it mandatory for priests to report suspected child abuse to authorities, including abuse revealed in the confessional. Under current law, various professionals Read more
The Archbishop of Sydney has expressed his disappointment at the passage by the lower house of the New South Wales parliament of a bill to decriminalize abortion, and the failure to pass limiting amendments. The Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019 passed the Legislative Assembly on August 8 by a vote of 59 to 31. Read more
More than 5000 people have signed a petition in protest at the closure of a pilgrimage centre at Scotland’s national Catholic shrine, the Carfin Grotto in the Motherwell diocese. The diocese has announced the centre, opened in 1996, will close at the end of September and all staff will be made redundant. The grotto itself, Read more
The German Church’s income rose by 3.3 per cent to a record 6.64 billion euros in 2018, despite the massive exodus of 216, 078 German Catholics in the same year. The figures were published in a bishops’ conference brochure, “The Catholic Church in Germany: Facts and Figures 2018/19”, presented in Bonn on 8 August. “This Read more
A letter purporting to be from disgraced Australian cardinal George Pell to his supporters has been posted on Twitter. The full text of the letter dated 1 August was posted last Friday evening by the ‘Cardinal George Pell Supporters’ Twitter account. Prison authorities are investigating whether Pell broke Melbourne Assessment Prison rules by posting the Read more
Pope Francis is concerned about recent political rhetoric, warning against nationalism and saying recent political speeches “resemble those of Hitler in 1934. “’Us first. We … We … These are frightening thoughts.” “Sovereignism” or nationalism, represents an attitude of “isolation” and closure, he said in an interveiw with Italian newspaper La Stampa last week. “A Read more