An 81-year-old Dutch Catholic priest, who lives with his 85-year-old girlfriend, says he will take his expulsion from priesthood to the European Court of Human Rights. As reported in CathNews, Jan Peijnenburg, who has lived with his girlfriend for 46 years, was told he either had to separate from his girlfriend or leave the Catholic Read more
The agreement, earlier in the year by Commonwealth countries, to allow a monarch to marry a Catholic creates a potential conflict of interest, the British political and constitutional reform parliamentary committee said. The possibility that a further heir to the British throne were raised a Catholic, means there is an “obvious difficulty” for that person Read more
Jesus would have joined the anti-corporate Occupy movement protestors says Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. In an article for the Christmas edition of the Radio Times magazine, Williams considers the slogan ‘What Would Jesus Do?’, with particular reference to those involved in the recent events at St Paul’s Cathedral. “The Jesus we meet in Read more
The Vatican is urging the international community to help find peaceful ways for those in Syria to live together. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, said the UN needs to look at what might happen in the near future in a country that’s made up of Suni and Read more
The Catholic Church should encourage nuns to use the contraceptive pill as a way to reduce the high death rates from breast, ovarian and uterine cancer, say two Australian scientists. They also argue, that according to the Church’s moral guidelines, religious women are free to take the pill for this purpose. As reported by the Guardian, Read more
The Cardinal who selects Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet has revealed that more regularly than he would have expected, priests chosen to be bishop do not accept the appointment. Reasons for refusing to become a bishop include the growing difficulty of fulfilling the role, in a society in which the bishops are under public attack, in Read more
Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, has publicly expressed support for homosexual civil unions. In a move that seemed to put him at odds with the Catholic Church, on November 26 Nichols said, “As a Church we are very committed to the notion of equality so that people are treated the same across all the activities of Read more
To coincide with World AIDS Day, the Vatican has appealed for universal access to HIV/AIDS treatments. The statement from the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Workers says says World AIDS Day is a privileged moment to relaunch the fight against social prejudice and that World AIDS Day is a new opportunity to promote universal access to therapies for Read more
A severe priest shortage and a lack of priestly vocations has seen thousands of Belgian Catholics sign a manifesto urging their bishops to let lay people lead Sunday services. “It’s time for the Church to open its functions to people who are not only celibate men,” Mark Deweerdt, a layman among the 12 priests and Read more
Young Irish priest, Fr Damien McGroarty, 29, spoke on Sunday of his shame at the child sex abuse scandal in his diocese and said that because of the actions of other priests he is scared of being branded a paedophile. Posing questions in he homily, the young priest asked: Will people ridicule me for becoming Read more