Archbishop Anthony Fisher has called on the Australian government to release the Ruddock report on religious freedom, which it has kept under wraps since May. Read more
World
Charismatic Catholics to get new international organisation
Monday, November 5th, 2018
The Vatican has appointed a new body to lead international activities for Charismatic Catholics. “Charis” will combine the two bodies that presently provide leadership for the world’s Charismatic Catholics. These are the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service and the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships, which will cease to exist on Pentecost Sunday Read more
Catholic clerics want Israel’s nation-state act repealed
Monday, November 5th, 2018
Israel’s Nation-state Act gives Jews a “unique” right to self-determination, which discriminates against members of the country’s other faiths, say Catholic clerics. The act holds Israel to be the historic homeland of the Jews and demotes Arabic from its former status as an official language. Senior Catholic clerics in Jerusalem are among those who want Read more
Bishops say stay Catholic to keep Poland independent
Monday, November 5th, 2018
Polish bishops are telling Catholics to stay Catholic. The bishops advice – delivered in a recent pastoral letter – was made both to mark Poland’s centenary of independence and to warn the nation’s Catholics that freedom could be lost again if Poles abandon their Catholic faith. They explained independence is not just about “armed struggle, Read more
St Mark’s Basilica in Venice damaged by metre-high flood
Monday, November 5th, 2018
St Mark’s Basilica is one of the many victims of the series of storms that hit Venice this week. The landmark tourist destination was flooded under nearly a metre of water, which damaged part of the 1,000-year-old marble mosaic floor in front of the altar of the Madonna Nicopeia, a 12th-century icon. The baptistry and Read more
Vatican denies Spanish government’s take on Franco reburial
Monday, November 5th, 2018
The Vatican has issued a statement saying the Spanish government’s suggestion that it opposes reburying General Francisco Franco‘s remains at Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral are incorrect. The Vatican press office says no agreement on the matter has been made. The confusion about what had been agreed to arose in the media early last week after Spain’s Read more
Australian Border Force blocking church baptism of detention-born baby
Monday, November 5th, 2018The Australian Border Force is preventing a baby who was born seven months ago in a Melbourne immigration detention centre from being baptised in a church, according to the family and a Catholic priest. A United Nations body is now examining whether Australia is breaching its human rights obligations by holding the infant in arbitrary Read more
Screaming man interrupts TV network’s live mass
Monday, November 5th, 2018A screaming man interrupted the live, televised Mass on a global Catholic network on Sunday. The unidentified man yelled “this is it!” and profanities as a priest lifted the chalice during EWTN Global Catholic Network’s live Mass. Read more
Pope’s eco-agenda will loom large in Amazon synod
Monday, November 5th, 2018Pope Francis’s eco-agenda – as expressed in Laudato Si’ – will put care of our common home at the center of the Church’s concern, and that of the world, says Brazilian Bishop Vilson Basso. “We need the care of the whole world, that it be a place where everyone can live. “This is integral ecology. Read more
Asia Bibi acquitted from death sentence
Thursday, November 1st, 2018
Asia Bibi, the Catholic woman condemned to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, has had her conviction overturned by the Supreme Court in Pakistan. She has now been released from jail. Observers who’ve watched the Bibi’s story unfold over the past eight years say the Pakistani Supreme Court’s decision to acquit the mother of five of Read more