Students seeking refuge in a Catholic church in Nicaragua were shot at by police earlier this month. The armed police killed two students and wounded dozens of others. The students had been occupying the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua during two months of protests against President Daniel Ortega’s government. They were protesting particularly against Ortega’s Read more
The controversial Medjugorje apparitions are again in the spotlight. The local bishop has made it plain he does not believe the apparitions are of Our Lady, while an apostolic visitor has been appointed to oversee the pastoral needs at the site. Medjugorje has become a place of pilgrimage since six children claimed to have seen Read more
Protocols are needed to hold bishops accountable for sex abuse, says Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. Numerous accusations of sexual abuse of minors and adults have arisen against former Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. O’Malley acknowledged “a credible and substantiated allegation” involving a minor and McCarrick when the prelate was a priest in the Read more
A homoerotic dance featured in a newly ordained priest’s first Mass. Fr. Fabian Ploneczka, 33, of Germany’s Rottenburg-Stuttgart diocese, celebrated his first Mass on 15 July at his home church of St. Moritz in Augsburg. Read more
Antisemitism has changed in a profound way, says Harley Lippman. It has moved “from being a right-wing phenomenon to a left-wing phenomenon, from being a Christian phenomenon to a radical Islamic phenomenon, and from being a religiously based phenomenon to an anti-Zionist phenomenon,” he says. Lippman is the President of the Institute for Study of Read more
Bishop Thomas Tobin says Twitter is a major distraction,an obstacle to his spiritual life and provides an “occasion of sin” for himself and others. Read more
Prince Charles has told the British Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse that he was deceived by a former Anglican bishop who abused 18 young men. The Inquiry, set up in 2014, is investigating whether prominent figures in the establishment attempted to interfere in the criminal justice process. Victims have accused the Church of England Read more
A statue of Our Lady weeps perfumed olive oil, says an investigator at the New Mexico Diocese of Las Cruces. He says tears that the two metre-plus sculpture of Our Lady of Guadalupe weeps have the same chemical makeup as olive oil treated with perfume. If blessed, the tears would be chrism, a sacred oil Read more
Australia’s prime minister Malcolm Turnbull wants Pope Francis to sack Archbishop Philip Wilson. Wilson should not be allowed to remain an archbishop while he appeals against his conviction, says Turnbull, who is a Catholic. The National Council of Priests (NCP) in Australia agrees with Turnbull. “While the Archbishop is exercising his constitutional right to appeal Read more
The Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland cancelled its scheduled July 21 march in Glasgow after a member of the group spat on a priest a fortnight ago. The attack occurred as parishioners left the Saturday Vigil Mass on 7 July. The parishioners and Canon Tom White were treated to a barrage of anti-Catholic taunts as Read more