Pope Francis has again hit out at a clerical mindset which obstructs the laity from taking its proper role. The papal criticism came in a letter from Francis to Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Cardinal Ouellet is also the Prefect for the Congregation for Bishops, which plays a Read more
Former Catholic education officials in Melbourne have rejected Cardinal George Pell’s statement that he was not made fully aware of an abusive priest. Four officials testified earlier this week at Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. When Cardinal Pell came to Melbourne as an auxiliary bishop in 1987, Fr Peter Searson Read more
The Society of St Pius X might get regular canonical status in the Church without having to recognise certain texts of Vatican II. An internal SSPX memo indicates the traditionalist society could be ready to accept if Pope Francis made an appropriate offer. But that would be conditional on the provision of “an appropriate ecclesial Read more
Swiss theologian Hans Küng says Pope Francis has set no restrictions on a request for a free discussion on the dogma of papal infallibility. But Fr Küng is refusing to release the text of a letter he said he received from Pope Francis on the subject last month. The theologian cited the “confidentiality that I Read more
An artwork depicting a cruciform Jesus pinned to a dartboard has been removed from the library of a US university following complaints. Administrators at Rutgers University in New Jersey removed the artwork titled “Vitruvian Man”. It showed darts piercing the Christ figure’s hands, side and feet, the Daily Mail reported. Rutgers student Natalie Caruso appears Read more
Two Spanish nuns reportedly submitted virginity tests in a bid to clear a former Catholic priest who was accused of sexual abuse. Feliciano Miguel Rosendo was arrested in December, 2014 over allegations he forced sisters to take part in orgies and boasted that his semen “contained the body of Christ”. Rosendo led the Mandate and Read more
The head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has said that a papal encyclical addressing the question of just war theory is possible. Cardinal Peter Turkson said proposals to drop the concept of just war were “legitimate”. He called for a “broad and deeply felt” debate on the question of just war theory. Read more
Catholic and Anglican theologians have been meeting near Rome to discuss ordination rites in the two communions. The members of the Malines Conversation group also considered the ecumenical implications of Pope Francis’s recent document Amoris Laetitia. A communique issued after the encounter said the theologians from seven different countries discussed “contemporary and historic ordination rites”. Read more
Pope Francis surprised thousands of teenagers by personally hearing confessions for more than an hour in St Peter’s Square on Saturday. The Pope administered the sacrament of Reconciliation to 16 teenage boys and girls. It was part of a three-day Jubilee for Teens, for young people aged between 13 and 16, which is an initiative Read more
The Vatican’s finance chief, Cardinal George Pell, has expressed surprise at the suspension of an independent audit of the Vatican’s finances. The Vatican’s Secretariat of State suspended the audit by international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers last week. This is four months after the Vatican had announced PwC was to perform the audit. Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Read more