Next season’s South Park story lines will be taking on the catholic church’s sex abuse scandal. Comedy Central has released a guide for season 22 of the satirical TV show, which includes themes encompassing sexual abuse and religion is on the agenda for a forthcoming second episode entitled A Boy and a Priest. Read more
World
Networks, not division chosen for Communications Day theme
Thursday, October 4th, 2018Networks, not division will be the theme for the next Communications Day, Pope Francis says. Christians must do more to make sure the media, especially social networks, are places of dialogue and respect for others. Communicaitons should not provide a means of highlighting differences and increasing divisions, Francis’s new prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Read more
Priests suspended after publishing a book on celibacy
Thursday, October 4th, 2018Two Catholic priests from Slovakia have been suspended after publishing a book on celibacy. They say celibacy is “the wound of the Catholic Church that has been festering for eight centuries”. Read more
Defrocked: Pope laicises Chilean abuser
Monday, October 1st, 2018
Pope Francis has defrocked (laicised) Chilean child sexual abuser, Fernando Karadima. Juan Carlos Cruz, who is one of Karadima’s abuse survivors, is grateful for Francis’s decision. In a statement on Twitter, he called Karadima “a criminal who has ruined so many people’s lives with his abuse” and offered thanks to Francis, saying he hoped survivors Read more
Youth synod should be cancelled
Monday, October 1st, 2018
A US archbishop says the upcoming Youth Synod should be cancelled and its programme revised, given the abuse crisis in today’s Church. Publishing his views in the Italian newspaper Il Foglio, Archbishop Charles Chaput said: “After the Pennsylvania statewide grand jury report and abuse problems in Chile, Germany and elsewhere, the Church is in turmoil. Read more
Pressing for answers: Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò wants papal response
Monday, October 1st, 2018
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has written a second letter to the Vatican about former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick. This one condemns the Vatican for not responding to his first letter of 22 August. In that, he claimed Pope Francis and other senior Church leaders covered up allegations of McCarrick’s abusive behaviour, and that Francis not only Read more
Ordaining women as deacons possible
Monday, October 1st, 2018
The possibility of the Church ordaining women as deacons remains an open question, according to Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. Reflecting that he recently had ordained 14 men to the permanent diaconate, the Cardinal of Vienna said “perhaps one day also female deacons.” There had been female deacons in the Church in the past, he says. Read more
Pope calls for changes to marriage formation
Monday, October 1st, 2018
A ‘permanent catechumenate’ for marriage formation is needed, Pope Francis told a gathering organised by Diocese of Rome and the Roman Rota. The Rota is the Church’s highest appellate court which handles marriage nullity cases. A permanent catechumenate would guide couples beyond their marriage in preparation and celebration, into the first year of their life Read more
The Devil’s favourite sin
Monday, October 1st, 2018The Devil’s favourite sin is pride, according to Father Juan José Gallego, an exorcist from Spain. In an interview after his first decade as an exorcist, Gallego admitted in the beginning he “had a lot of fear”. “All I had to do was look over my shoulder and I saw demons… the other day I Read more
Pope issues month-long prayer appeal
Monday, October 1st, 2018Pope Francis has issued a prayer appeal to the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics. All Catholics should take some time during October to pray daily for their scandal-hit church, Pope Francis says. Read more