Reuniting separated families who were pulled apart at the US-Mexico border has been given a deadline. Matching parents and children is not straightforward, however. A California judge told US border authorities on 27 June they had 30 days to reunite the families. Less if children are under the age of five. Families with under five Read more
Australian Archbishop Philip Wilson has appealed his 12-month detention sentence for failing to report allegations of child sexual abuse. The allegations involved two altar boys who were abused by a paedophile priest. They disclosed the abuse to him in the 1970s. Wilson, who is 67, is the most senior Catholic official in the world to Read more
An Australian Jesuit priest has been banned by the Catholic Archbishop of Hobart from speaking publicly about same-sex marriage in the archdiocese. The ban was announced after Fr Frank Brennan SJ defended Catholics’ right to speak according to their conscience about the issue. He had been invited to speak at a CatholicCare Tasmania conference in Read more
Governments should honour the commitments they made at the 2015 Paris climate conference to curb climate change, Pope Francis said last week. Francis was speaking at an International Conference “Saving our Common Home and the Future of Life on Earth” on the third anniversary of his encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’ (Praise Be). Delegates included Read more
Priests lack the necessary experience to offer marriage preparation programmes for engaged couples, says Cardinal Kevin Farrell. Farrell is the head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. Read more
Two teenagers who heroically lived the Christian virtues have had their Causes for canonisation advanced by Pope Francis. They are: Alexia González-Barros, who offered her sufferings from a malignant tumour for the Church Carlo Acutis, who used his computer skills to catalogue Eucharistic miracles around the world. Read more
The superior of Mother Teresa’s order Missionaries of Charity, says an employee and two nuns from the hospital that cares for single mothers have been arrested. They allegedly sold a newborn to a couple for about €1,500. The three women have been taking newborns from single mothers and then selling them. “We are completely shocked Read more
Archbishop Philip Wilson says he will appeal his conviction of concealing child sex abuse in the church. Wilson was sentenced to 12 months’ detention in a magistrate-only trial in a Newcastle, Australia on Tuesday. He will be eligible for parole after six months. He is the most senior Catholic cleric in the world found guilty Read more
The Rite of Consecrated Virginity has been given published instructions by the Vatican, 50 years after Pope Paul VI revived the ancient Order of Virgins. The instructions (Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago) include rules concerning consecrated virgins’ state of life, the rite’s discipline and the responsibilities of diocesan bishops toward the vocation of consecrated virgins. The instructions Read more
A month-long social media conversation on Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) began this week. The conversation, which will be facilitated by the United States Diocese of Arlington, is open to all. Its focus is on the encyclical which reaffirms artificial birth control is “intrinsically wrong”. People interested in participating can follow Read more