The Vatican may soon require a more restrictive approach to annulments. A Rome conference held in late April focused on canon 1095 of the Code of Canon Law, which allows a marriage to be declared invalid if one of the parties lacked the ability to consent because of “causes of a psychic nature.” More annulments Read more
An Irish Catholic lay group held a silent vigil last night in front of the Holy See’s Nunciature in Dublin, to protest the Vatican’s censuring of priests. The group, several of whom wore yellow and white Vatican coloured gags handed a letter at the gates asking the Vatican to revoke these disciplinary measures and replace Read more
The noble image of nuns as sweet, selfless and courageous “brides of Christ” is merely a way of generating public sympathy in the fight with the Vatican. So says US author, researcher and expert on Religious Life, Donna Steichen. Steichen says this view is being manufactured by sympathetic media, including the Washington Post, Huffington Post Read more
At teacher at a Catholic school in Indiana, USA, is suing the Catholic diocese after being fired for receiving in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments. The teacher, Emily Herx, filed the suit because she was discriminated against after the school’s priest found out she had begun the IVF treatements. IVF treatments are against Catholic Church teaching. According Read more
Addressing the German bishops in his native tongue, Pope Benedict clarified recently that on consecrating the wine at liturgy priests are to use the phrase “for many”. Benedict’s message, in German, was delivered to once and for all end a reportedly underground dispute amongst Germany’s bishops. On the weekend, Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, Read more
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is calling Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris, “a great thing.” “I would say what struck me about it was how modern it is and how in tune it is with modern thinking,” Wales told CNA. Wales, who is not a Catholic, is in Rome as a guest of the Read more
Registration for World Youth Day 2013 (WYD2013) will open in July said the organizers for the Rio event. “Rio awaits you with open arms,” organizers said as they urge young people to come to Brazil, participate in the event and show the strength of young people around the world. The only place to register for the Read more
Pope Benedict has established a commission of Cardinals, chaired by an Opus Dei troubleshooer, to investigate the leaks of sensitive documents to the media that allege corruption and mismanagement in the Vatican. The statement, released yesterday by the Secretariat of State, says the purpose of the commission is “to undertake an authoritative investigation and throw Read more
Sudanese president Omar al Bashir says the only way to negotiate with the South Sudanese is “with bullets and rifles.” Bashir’s rhetoric and the attitude of the United Nations has Caritas Internationalis warning that Sudan and South Sudan are just a step away from the brink of full-scale war. Caritas is urging the Sudanese leaders Read more
Priests in Ireland are now legally obliged to break the Confessional Seal and report the sexual abuse of children, reports The Tablet. The change was confirmed by Ireland’s Justice Minister Alan Shatter who said the laws were intended to encourage every individual to report abuse, and it would apply to priests in the confessional. Shatter Read more