According to a Polish church leader, in a meeting with Vatican officials, several Polish bishops criticised the Vatican for its handling of sex abuse cases. In particular, they highlighted the “disproportionate punishments” inflicted on bishops accused of cover-ups in comparison with convicted abusers. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, president of the Polish bishops’ conference, told Poland’s Catholic Read more
Age and illness have not taken the wind out of Pope Francis’ sails. Despite major intestinal surgery last July and his upcoming 85th birthday in December, the Italo-Argentine pope — amazingly! — is showing absolutely no signs that he’s slowing down or planning to close up shop anytime soon. His recent four-day visit to Budapest, Read more
The Vatican has announced a major theological conference titled “Toward a Fundamental Theology of the Priesthood”. It will be held in February 2022. Increasing vocations to the priesthood, improving the way laypeople and priests work together and ensuring that service, not power, motivates the request for ordination are all possible outcomes of the 3-day symposium. Read more
On January 30, Pope Francis met with Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, who was in Rome for a meeting of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops. The Holy See Press Office did not release any information on the meeting other than that it took place. Much of the press speculated that the meeting was probably Read more
As Francis did last month when he appointed a fellow Jesuit, Fr. Juan Guerrero Alves, to take charge at the Secretariat for the Economy, the pope is filling a high-level Vatican post with a known friend and supporter of his reform agenda. And some observers wonder if this is the start of a trend that Read more
The Church should “deepen its understanding of the uninterrupted tradition of priestly celibacy in the Latin rite” says Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. Ouellet says a deepened understanding of celibacy is preferable to grabbing at quick solutions to resolve the current lack of priests. He makes the claim in his newly Read more
Cardinal Reinhard Marx has held talks with Pope Francis and Cardinal Marc Ouellet about the German bishops’ plans for a “binding synodal path.” Their meetings followed correspondence earlier this month in which Ouellet told Marx earlier the proposed synodal process could not begin without the pope’s approval. Ouellet included a four-page legal assessment of the Read more
The Vatican says plans for a binding Church synod in Germany are “not ecclesiologically valid.” However, Cardinal Reinhard Marx is defending the “synodal procedure” the German bishops have initiated with the Central Committee of German lay Catholics, against Rome’s attempts to question its canonical legality. He says the German bishops have the right to debate Read more
Cardinal Marc Ouellet has written an open letter to Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò about the endemic corruption Viganò says has invaded the Church’s hierarchy. Noting Viganò had urged him to tell the truth about Archbishop Emeritus Theodore McCarrick, Ouellet – with Pope Francis’s permission – offered Viganò his “personal testimony, as the Prefect of the Congregation Read more
Canadian cardinal Marc Ouellet says women should assess seminarians’ suitability for the priesthood and help with their training. This would help prevent future sex abuse, says Ouellet the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. He also thinks bishops should also be chosen more carefully. “We are facing a crisis in the life of the church… Read more