Questions are being raised over payments to some Australian abuse victims after a religious order sought how to keep information from an insurer. Catholic Church insurer CCI won’t say whether it will try to recover A$9million of payments to abuse victims on behalf of the Marist Brothers. The payments were made to victims of two brothers, Read more
The Church of England has removed all reference to the devil from the wording of its official Baptism liturgy. New wording approved by the church’s General Synod asks whether parents and godparents will “turn away from sin” and “reject evil”. In the traditional service, the request was to “reject the devil and all rebellion against Read more
Muslims, Jews and Christians throughout the world have fasted from sunrise to sundown on one day, in the interests of peace in Israel and Palestine. July 15 was designated as an appropriate occasion as it fell on significant fasting days in Jewish and Muslim religious calendars. It was the 17th of the month of Tammuz Read more
Pope Francis has called for welfare and protection to be given to thousands of unaccompanied minors crossing into the United States. This was in a papal message sent to a Mexico-Holy See colloquium on human migration and development, taking place in Mexico City. Pope Francis noted that the number of children and young people arriving at Read more
The Vatican is disputing the accuracy of comments attributed to Pope Francis on priestly celibacy and the extent of paedophilia in the clergy. On July 13, Rome daily La Repubblica ran an article by its former editor Eugenio Scalfari, based on an interview he did with the Pope on July 10. The Pope reportedly described Read more
Police officers in the United Kingdom investigating hundreds of historic child sex abuse cases are at breaking point psychologically, a clinician warns. Dr Noreen Tehrani, who advises specialist child abuse detectives,says many officers suffering exhaustion, secondary trauma and stress. Pressure from politicians has also forced officers to divert attention from children at risk now to Read more
Most of Asia’s bishops’ conferences have asked one of their Rome representatives why liturgical translations cannot be done at conference level. This request was put to Cardinal Oswald Gracias from India, who is a member of the so-called C8 council which is advising Pope Francis on reform of the Roman Curia. Cardinal Gracias and Honduran Read more
The national library of Singapore is planning to pulp three children’s books because they are seen as promoting homosexuality. One of the books is “And Tango Makes Three”, which is based on the true story of two male penguins which raised a chick in a New York Zoo. The others are “White Swan Express”, about Read more
Health care workers in the Philippines can refuse on conscience grounds to provide state–mandated contraception to patients, the nation’s bishops say. And these workers may also refuse to refer a patient to anywhere else contraception may be obtained, the bishops said in a statement. On July 9, the Philippines’ bishops’ conference issued what they called Read more
Pope Francis has met victims of clergy sex abuse for the first time since being elected in March last year. On July 7, at his residence at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Pope met three women and three men and he asked for forgiveness. Two of the victims came from Ireland, two were from Great Read more