US presidential hopeful Donald Trump has said he would scare Pope Francis about an ISIS threat if the Pontiff told him about capitalism’s faults. Multi-billionaire Mr Trump, who is one of the contenders to be the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, said this during an interview on CNN last week. Presenter Chris Cuomo presented a hypothetical Read more
An Irish bishop has moved to prevent a suspended Redemptorist speaking at a parish event next month. Fr Tony Flannery was invited by the parish pastoral council in Killeagh in Cloyne diocese to give the opening address at Spiritfest 2015. But Flannery’s invitation was cancelled at the order of Bishop William Crean of Cloyne. This Read more
A Maltese bishop has appealed for pathways for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics who want to experience God’s mercy. In a pastoral letter, Bishop Mario Grech of Gozo wrote that “God’s mercy is not only a doctrine alongside the doctrine of marriage and the family, but is at the heart of Christian doctrine”. The pastoral Read more
The Hollywood-style funeral of a notorious mobster in Rome has seen anti-Mafia campaigners demanding to know why police and the Catholic Church allowed it. The funeral of Vittorio Casamonica, 65, on August 20 featured a gilded horse-drawn carriage, flower petals tossed from a helicopter and theme music from “The Godfather”. The coffin was draped with Read more
A retired bishop has said Cardinal George Pell destroyed the unity of the Australian Church’s response to child sex abuse. Bishop Geoffrey Robinson said this during testimony to the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney on Monday. Bishop Robinson worked with other bishops on an Australia-wide clergy response to abuse, Read more
Pope Francis has been drawn into Argentina’s dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands after a brief incident at a general audience. During the Pope’s audience on August 19, an activist from the “Dialogue for Malvinas” campaign thrust a sign towards Francis’s hands as he passed by. It read: “It’s time for Argentina and Britain Read more
A landmark report into safeguarding has condemned a culture of secrecy and cover-up in the Scottish Catholic Church. The 99-page McLellan Commission Report, published this week, described abuse as “the greatest challenge facing the whole Catholic Church in Scotland”. The commission was led by Dr Andrew McLellan, a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Read more
A Peruvian newspaper has dumped articles by a local cardinal after it was found they contained unattributed statements by popes. El Comercio stated it would not publish any more articles by Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, who is Lima’s archbishop. The newspaper, described as the paper of record for the Peruvian establishment, deleted the articles from Read more
The chancellor of Loyola University Chicago has said it would be healthy for Catholic priests to be able to be married. Fr Michael Garanzini, SJ, a former president of the university, said until Pope Francis opened up avenues of discussion, he didn’t expect to see change in this area. Fr Garanzini said the issue is Read more
A previously unpublished work by J.R.R. Tolkien to be released next week retells a dark epic Finnish poem, but will likely hint at the author’s Christianity. “The Story of Kullervo” is Tolkien’s retelling of “The Kalevala”, a 19th century Finnish epic about an orphan who avenges the massacre of his family and accidentally seduces his Read more