Some 63% of young people in Britain think that Religious Education should remain compulsory in state schools, reports the Tablet. The survey conducted in Britain also shows more than half of the adults questioned believe Religious Education lessons in schools are worthwhile with many favour making Religious Education (RE) compulsory. The poll comes as increasing numbers Read more
After 11 days of deliberation the jury is hung in all but one of the counts in the Philadelphia Diocese landmark sexual abuse trial. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports jurors sent a note to Judge M. Teresa Sarmina shortly before noon, Wednesday, saying the panel of seven men and five women had reached “a hung jury status” for four of the Read more
The Vatican’s under-fire top official, Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, says there is great unity in his department. “Personally, I don’t sense any sign of cardinals or church personalities being involved in any conquest of some phantom power,” he said. Bertone admitted the Secretariat of State is facing difficult times, but went on the Read more
The leader of the American nuns in a battle with the Vatican is challenging the reasons for disciplining her organisation. The President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Sr Pat Farrell, said that Catholics should be able to search for answers about faith without fear and that raising questions of doctrine should not be seen Read more
The Philippines has failed to fully comply with the minimum standards to eliminate human trafficking and continues to be a venue for child sex tourism. In not complying, the Philippines remains in Tier 2 of the United States’ Global Trafficking in Persons’ report, a situation that Philippines Justice Secretary Leila de Lima described as “a Read more
A report on the Irish College in Rome by the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan has the four archbishops of Ireland unhappy, accusing Dolan of factual errors and basic errors such as getting peoples names wrong. Among Dolan’s main recommendations was that three of the priests on the staff be replaced and one Read more
The attack on the Nuns is a case of perception not reality according to Vatican Cardinal William Levada, who admits to being saddened by people’s assessment of him, his office and the report on the nuns. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), insists neither he, nor the Vatican is picking on the nuns. “We’re sad if people Read more
The Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland issued a very strongly worded statement calling on Ireland’s archbishops and bishops of the priests concerned, “to publicly repudiate this report in the strongest possible terms and to support the priests involved in seeking to restore their reputations”. The Association says Dolan’s report had “effectively destroyed the reputations Read more
Speaking at the Nikaean Club, an ecumenical organisation overseen by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity observed the two communions have the same theology, but a different ecclesiology. Adding that Anglo-Catholicism was so Catholic he wondered what was keeping Anglican clergy in the Church of England. Read more
A New York-based Filipino priest named in a $25-million lawsuit filed by an alleged female lover in 2008 took his own life in April during a visit to the Philippines, reports ucanews. Fr Elvis Elano (pictures with Judith Rodrigues-Lytwyn) reportedly found it too much to bear after his family and community “shunned” and “despised” him over an Read more