Popular former Ireland President, Mary McAlese has criticised the Catholic Church’s treatment of five silenced Irish priests, accusing Rome of operating through fear and imposing strictures on clerics “which consume the truth”. McAlese described Marist Fr Sean Fagan and Redemptorist Fr Tony Flannery as “good men who have loved this Church with a passion” who are Read more
Pope Benedict XVI closed the Synod of Bishops on Sunday with an exhortation to develop new ways of reaching out to those who had drifted from the faith. The pope closed the three-week meeting of some 260 bishops with a solemn Mass in St Peter’s Basilica. The bishops discussed ways to stem what has been Read more
A council of Egypt’s Coptic Christians on Monday started the process of choosing a new pope to succeed Pope Shenouda III who died in March. Pope Shenouda III led the church for four decades until his death in March at the age of 88. About 2,400 people have the right to vote and must pick Read more
Pope Benedict XVI has expressed solidarity and prayed for Caribbean nations hit by Hurricane Sandy. The pope on Sunday said he wanted to express his sympathy to those hit by the devastating hurricane that struck Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas “with particular violence.” Hurricane Sandy left nearly 60 dead in the Caribbean. The pope Read more
The Vatican cannot remove the papal knighthood granted to Jimmy Savile despite allegations the British TV star was a child sex predator. Last week, the Catholic Church of England wrote to the Holy See asking it to consider to posthumously remove the honour awarded to Savile because of the many recent child sex abuse allegations Read more
Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday announced that he would create six new cardinals during a consistory on November 24, the eve of the feast of Christ the King. The new cardinals include 63-year-old U.S. Archbishop James M. Harvey, prefect of the papal household; Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, 72; Archbishop Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, 53, head Read more
Paolo Gabriele, the pope’s former butler who was found guilty of aggravated theft, started his 18-month jail sentence in a Vatican prison cell. Gabriele began serving his prison sentence by order of a Vatican court, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman. “The order will be carried out before the end of the day,” he Read more
Catholic bishops who are in Rome for a synod on New Evangelization have expressed concern over Islam’s growth and are worried about Christian minorities in Muslim countries, a Reuters report quoted participants’ of the synod. One participant was quoted as saying that Islam had become the “buzzword” of the synod that ends this weekend. “It’s Read more
The breakaway traditionalist group Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) expelled on Wednesday Bishop Richard Williamson, a British prelate. Williamson sparked a global crisis in Jewish-Catholic relations in 2009 for denying the Holocaust shortly before Pope Benedict XVI readmitted him to the Church. The SSPX announced that Williamson had been “excluded” from its ranks on Read more
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia urged Americans to put their faith ahead of politics. The prelate’s call was made two weeks before the US presidential election. “We’re Catholics before we’re Democrats. We’re Catholics before we’re Republicans. We’re even Catholics before we’re Americans because we know that God has a demand on us prior to Read more