An American bishop says the current Church practice of denying Communion to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics is unacceptable. Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, said the challenge for the Church is to maintain and proclaim Jesus’ teaching about the indissolubility of marriage, while providing spiritual care for those who fall short of the Read more
Cardinal George Pell says allowing Communion for Catholics who are divorced and remarried outside the Church is impossible. The cardinal said doing so would make pastoral practice incompatible with doctrine. The former Archbishop of Sydney wrote this in a foreword to a book titled “The Gospel of the Family” by Professor Stephan Kampowski and Fr Read more
Speculation is mounting that the only American to currently head a dicastery in the Roman Curia is soon to be replaced. Writing for L’Espresso, Vatican journalist Sandro Mangister posited that the next “victim” of Pope Francis’s “revolution” will be the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, Cardinal Raymond Burke. The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura Read more
The Vatican is red-faced after illegal drugs were found in a car bearing diplomatic plates associated with the Holy See. French authorities found 4kgs of cocaine and 200 grams of cannabis on board. The car belongs to retired Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejia, 91, emeritus librarian at the Holy See, who retired in 2003 and Read more
Priests in England and Wales have been told to put up with noisy children at Mass, as Church leaders encourage more families to go to church on Sundays. Bishop Kieran Conroy, who chairs the England and Wales bishops’ evangelisation committee, said he “strongly discouraged” priests from intervening to prevent children talking during Mass. Bishop Conry, the Read more
Pope Francis has presided over the marriages of 20 couples in St Peter’s Basilica, the first weddings he has officiated at as Pontiff. Several of the couples already had children and some had been living together before being married. It was a rare act for a Pope, with the last time a pontiff presided at Read more
Pressure is growing on Rome to explicitly reject a series of 15th century papal bulls and decrees that justified the colonisation of indigenous peoples. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States is calling on Pope Francis to clarify and repudiate any remaining legal status of what is known as the “Doctrine of Read more
The new Primate of All Ireland wants to see a humble renewal of the Irish Church led from the bottom up by the laity. Archbishop Eamon Martin became Archbishop of Armagh and Ireland’s primate following Pope Francis’s acceptance of the resignation of Cardinal Sean Brady, who had turned 75. According to The Tablet, during an Read more
Northern Ireland politician Rev. Ian Paisley, who was infamous for his anti-Catholic rhetoric, yet came to share power with his enemies, has died. Rev. Paisley died in Belfast on September 12, aged 88. He had a history of heart ailments. He served as First Minister of Northern Ireland for a year when power was first Read more
Mystery surrounds the reasons behind the killing of all members of a family whose children went to a Catholic school in rural New South Wales. The bodies of Kim Hunt, 41, and her three children Fletcher, 10, Mia, 8 and Phoebe 6, were found on the family’s property near Lockhart on Tuesday. The next day Read more