The Vatican has said there is no reason for concern following speculation in Italian media that Islamic State jihadists are targeting Pope Francis. Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi told the Catholic News Agency on August 26 that “this news has no foundation”. The rumours spread following an August 25 article in Italian newspaper “Il Tempo”, Read more
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI looked refreshed and stood for an hour and a half during a Mass with his former students this week. Members of the Ratzinger “schuelerkreis” or “student circle” had been meeting at Castel Gandolfo in Italy, and then travelled to the Vatican for a Mass on August 24, with Benedict as principal Read more
Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne says that until 2001, priests found guilty of sex crimes often kept their positions because of Vatican intransigence. Archbishop Hart told Australia’s Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that a conviction was often not sufficient to have a priest defrocked. “There was a leaning in favour of Read more
A booklet promoting a major pilgrimage complex in Galilee has likened the Legionaries of Christ’s disgraced founder to St Mary Magdalene. The conservative order’s founder, Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado, was a sexual predator, abusing young seminarians and living a double life that included fathering three children by two women from Mexico. He was dismissed from Read more
Church leaders in several US dioceses have poured cold water on the Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon, which has gone viral since June. The challenge involves ice-cold water being poured over a person’s head, in order to raise money for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. But some archdioceses, including Read more
Cardinal George Pell has sparked outrage with comments that the Church should not be held responsible for crimes committed by priests. Last week, Cardinal Pell used a “trucking company” analogy before Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Speaking by video link from Rome, the Cardinal likened the Church to a trucking Read more
Pope Francis has personally consoled the family of James Foley, the US journalist beheaded by Islamist militants in Iraq. Last week, Mr Foley’s parents John and Diane Foley told media of their gratitude for the Pope’s concern, expressed during a long phone call on August 21. “Pope Francis was so dear because he is grieving Read more
Supporters of people with Down syndrome have slammed atheist Richard Dawkins’ comments that it would be immoral not to abort a foetus with the condition. The controversy erupted after a Twitter exchange between Dawkins and a woman who said she would face a real ethical dilemma if pregnant with a baby diagnosed with Down syndrome. Read more
A former UK attorney-general has warned that an aggressive form of secularism is forcing British Christians to hide their beliefs. Dominic Grieve, an Anglican, told the Telegraph that this could see a nation that is “sanitised of faith”. Two years ago, the UK Government changed the law to ensure that local councils could not face Read more
The American journalist shown being beheaded by Islamist extremists in a video prayed the Rosary during a previous kidnapping in the Middle East. James Foley, 40, was the oldest of five children in a Catholic family in New Hampshire. Working for the Global Post and AFP, he was kidnapped in Syria in 2012. Commenting on Read more