Amnesty International has marked its 50th Anniversary by criticising the Vatican for the first time on its handling of child protection. The 2011 report, “The State of the World’s Human Rights,” examines human rights in 157 countries, and Amnesty International criticises the Vatican for failing to honour its obligations under the United nations Charter on the Read more
Vatican visitor, Archbishop Charles Chaput, obediently did what he was supposed to do: send a hard and electronic copy of his report on Bishop William Morris and the Toowoomba diocese to the dicastery for bishops, and then destroy the originals. So, reveals the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) editor at larger, Thomas Fox, in his weekend column. Read more
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation reported last week that one-third of the world’s food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. The organisation pointed the finger of blame at inefficiencies through the food supply chain. Industrialised and developing countries consistently waste or lose around 660m tonnes each year, with rich countries wasting 222m tonnes. Read more
A new internal report given to the Australian media discloses the Vatican tried to be rid of Toowoomba Bishop, William Morris, since 2006. According to the Catholic News Agency, the document also confirms that the Vatican removed Morris for abuses in the celebration of the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance and for advocating women’s Read more
On Monday 16 May the Vatican is issuing a new sexual abuse protocol document, giving guidelines for bishops to follow when dealing with cases of sexual abuse of children by priests. The letter comes from the Vatican’s top-ranking Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). CDF head, Cardinal William Levada said the circular would include Read more
A recent poll shows 82 percent of Russians classify themselves as religious believers. This figure is greater than any other European country. Fewer, however, subscribe to organised religion. The survey carried out in April shows just 50 percent of Russians say they are Orthodox, while 27 percent didn’t associate themselves with any particular organised faith. Among Read more
A non-believing Australian Prime Minister has made God the winner in the Australian budget. School chaplains at 1,000 extra schools will receive A$222 million more. The significant increase in funding comes despite a High Court challenge to the programme on constitutional grounds and speculation prior to the budget that the future of the school chaplaincy programme was Read more
With less than 100 days before World Youth Day (WYD) 2011 begins, more than 340,000 young people from 170 countries have registered to attend. Yago de la Cierva, Executive Director of WYD 2011 said the main objective of World Youth Day is for “youth receive a warm welcome in Madrid and spend some unforgettable days Read more
An 82-year-old sex abuser priest found ministering in Canada no longer has permission to work in the Archdiocese of Ottawa. The Roman Catholic priest who served jail time for sexually molesting two under 16 year old girls in the 1970s has been ministering as a priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Ottawa, for at Read more
Several schools and Church offices were closed fearing a backlash against Christians in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden this week in the northern garrison town of Abbottabad. While the post-Osama world continues to buzz with news of the hunting down of the Al Qaeda leader, Church and Christian groups are keeping Read more