Pope Francis has laid out his vision of re-evangelisation in the 21st century, stating that the “club of judgement” will not bring back the lost sheep. Francis told hundreds of priests who are to serve as “Missionaries of Mercy” during the jubilee year that holiness of life is the principle of renewal and reform in Read more
The trial of an Australian Catholic bishop charged with six counts of being grossly indecent with five boys under the age of 15 has started in Perth. The trial of the former head of the Australian Catholic military diocese, Bishop Max Davis, is expected to run into next week. The court has been told that Read more
Pope Francis has invited a group of divorced and remarried Catholics to a private audience, ahead of the expected release of a document on family life. Sixty members of the Italian group L’anello perduto (“The Lost Ring”) had sent a letter to the Pope to share their experience of divorce. “In separation we have suffered Read more
The Catholic Church in Mexico has been accused of bending its own rules on marriage in the case of a politician’s future wife. At issue is the annulment of the previous marriage of actor Angélica Rivera, who became Enrique Peña Nieto’s wife 19 months before he was elected president. The Guardian reported documents obtained by Read more
The Vatican’s Secretary of State has said that the need for solutions to shortages of priests does not justify scrapping celibacy. Speaking at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University last week, Cardinal Pietro Parolin stressed that celibacy is a gift that must be received and nurtured with “joyful perseverance”. He acknowledged that the lack of priests in Read more
A clergy abuse survivor was asked to step aside from the Pope’s commission to protect minors after a clash over the group’s work and mission. According to an Associated Press report, Peter Saunders said the members of the 17-person Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors asked him to step aside, with one abstention. This Read more
Cardinal George Pell will give evidence to a child sex abuse inquiry in Australia through video link from Rome later this month. In a ruling released on Monday, the head of Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Justice Peter McClellan, accepted medical evidence of a risk to the cardinal’s health if he undertook Read more
Pope Francis is to meet Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill on February 12 in Cuba in what is an historic first meeting between leaders of their two churches. The meeting, which is expected to take two hours, will take place when the Pope is en route to Mexico, the Vatican announced. A statement from the Vatican Read more
The Archbishop of Los Angeles has criticised ‘consistent ethic of life’ approaches for leading some people to see all issues as morally equivalent. Archbishop Jose Gomez told a Hispanic pro-life gathering recently that such thinking is mistaken, the Catholic News Agency reported. He said pro-life issues are not just one issue among many. The archbishop Read more
A German bishop has recounted an incident in which Pope Francis showed no opposition to the concept of more married priests. The auxiliary Bishop of Hamburg, Bishop Hans-Jochen Jaschke, spoke of this on a German television talk show “Nachtcafe”. Bishop Jaschke mentioned the meeting between the German bishops and the Pope on November 20 last Read more