The Papal Foundation has a new chairman: Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. O’Malley is replacing Cardinal Donald Wuerl who led the Foundation for eight years. The Philadelphia-based Papal Foundation gives grants in support of projects and proposals recommended by the Holy See. It has given over $100 million in grants in service to the Church Read more
Cardinal Donald Wuerl has formally resigned as Archbishop of Washington. He has been under increasing pressure to step down since a Pennsylvania grand jury report about clergy abuse criticised his handling of abuse cases when he was Bishop of Pittsburgh. Last month, Wuerl went to Rome to ask Pope Francis to accept his resignation. In Read more
Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s possible resignation will be the subject of a discussion he plans having with Pope Francis, he wrote in a letter to the Washington archiocese bishops. He told them he will be going to Rome soon to discuss his possible resignation. Wuerl’s letter followed an extraordinary meeting at which he talked with archdiocesan Read more
Pope Francis has dismissed the accusations of a former Vatican ambassador that he covered up for ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Francis says an 11-page document of claims released by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò “speaks for itself”. Asked about the letter from in a press conference aboard the Aug. 26 flight back to Rome after his visit to Ireland, Francis Read more
This morning comes breaking news out of NCR, that Washington DC’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl has proposed a “national panel” to investigate any serious allegation made against Bishops. And the panel would be comprised of, wait for it…bishops. “Would we have some sort of a panel, a board, of bishops … where we would take it Read more
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, has resigned from the College of Cardinals after revelations that he sexually harassed or abused several young men. Until his resignation, McCarrick was one of the US church’s most senior prelates. Pope Francis has accepted his resignation. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, announced that “at the Read more
Last weekend, Washington’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl issued a pastoral plan on the implementation of Amoris Laetitia. This text makes an important step towards moving the church beyond the controversies generated by the document, controversies largely confined to the pages of the Catholic press, and focuses on what Amoris Laetitia is really about, revitalizing the church’s Read more
Fifty years after Vatican II and the Church’s slow moves to solidify, clarify and reaffirm her teaching, Pope Francis wants all the “Pentecostal energy” the Vatican has unleashed to be used, Washington’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl says. Wuerl’s comments were made at the beginning of the ‘Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel’ in Read more
Catholic values mean US Catholics are obliged to protest at President Trump’s deportation of immigrants, says Cardinal Donald Wuerl. Wuerl is the Cardinal of the Washington archdiocese. Although many churches are offering their buildings as sanctuaries to immigrants hoping to avoid deportation, Wuerl says he doesn’t think the churches can actually provide that security. “When Read more