Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne has been embroiled in controversy after making a statement apparently approving the use of some forms of the morning-after pill for victims of rape. Though a spokeswoman for the German cardinal said he had consulted the Vatican, the president of the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, Dr Jose Maria Read more
Representatives of the Catholic Church and four Protestant churches in the United States have begun to discuss the Church’s mission and identity after formally agreeing to recognise each other’s baptisms. The discussion will include “unity and diversity in the Church, and the origins and current interpretations of ministry and ordination, and the nature and role Read more
The United States Catholic bishops have joined the bishops of the Holy Land in condemning the Israeli government’s plans to re-route its separation wall through the Cremisan Valley, near Bethlehem, in a way that will cut 58 Christian families off from their agricultural and recreational lands. The proposed route of the Israeli wall will also Read more
Irish singer Sinead O’Connor, who caused international controversy when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II on live television, has revealed that 18 months in one of the Magdalene laundries as a child affected her for life. O’Connor, now 46, said she was sent to the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity Read more
A Swiss banking group’s agreement to process bank-card transactions at Vatican City locations has broken a stalemate that reportedly cost the city state $NZ47,000 a day. Vatican City officials were caught off guard by the bank-card freeze caused by a January 1 announcement that Italy’s central bank would no longer process electronic payments from the Read more
As the Irish Parliament prepares to consider a bill to legalise some abortions, the head of the Vatican’s canon law tribunal has said Catholic politicians who support the bill should be refused Communion in the hope of inspiring a “conversion of heart”. “There can be no question that the practice of abortion is among the Read more
Easter will be five weeks late for Catholics in the Holy Land. Easter Sunday will be on May 5 because the Catholic Church will celebrate Easter according to the Orthodox calendar. For pastoral and ecumenical reasons, the Latin Patriarchate of the Holy Land has decided from this year onwards to follow the Orthodox liturgical schedule. Read more
There is deep division in the Church over the new English version of the Mass, with priests and religious particularly critical, according to an online survey of 5700 Catholics conducted by the London Tablet. More than a year after the new Mass translation was introduced, 70 per cent of the clergy who responded said they Read more
Taking guns to church has been approved in Arkansas with the passage of a law allowing individual religious leaders to decide if concealed weapons should be allowed in their places of worship. The Church Protection Act passed the Senate with a 28-4 vote and the House of Representatives with an even more decisive 85-8 vote. Read more
The Obama administration’s latest “compromise” over a federal mandate requiring employers to cover contraceptive services in health care plans is still not acceptable to the United States Catholic bishops. The mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services requires coverage for sterilisation and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortions. Under the latest HHS Read more