Pope Francis says the Church may add ecological sins to the Catechism – the Church’s official teaching. A request to do this came from bishops at the recent Synod for the Amazon. In its final document, the synod defined ecological sin as a sin against God and future generations. It “manifests itself in acts and Read more
“The death penalty is ‘inadmissible’ under any circumstance,” says Pope Francis. Speaking during the 25th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s revised publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Francis said the death penalty violates the Gospel and amounts to the voluntary killing of a human life, which “is always sacred in the eyes Read more
Former Irish president Mary McAleese has raised the issue of the Church’s attitude to corporal punishment of children with Pope Francis. Ms McAleese’s revelation that she did this came as Ireland’s parliament last week removed the common law defence of “reasonable chastisement” of children. In an interview, the former Irish president said she raised with Read more
An American cardinal has said Catholics should focus on Church teaching and not worry if they are confused by some of what Pope Francis says. Cardinal Raymond Burke, in an interview with the Rorate Caeli website, said Pope Francis himself doesn’t consider “Evangelii Gaudium” to be magisterial teaching. “I now say to people that, if Read more
Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze spoke to a group of catechists in Sri Lanka, reminding them of the importance of their role in teaching the faith and encouraging them to read the catechism. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church is an important book…reading it would improve your knowledge,” he told the group on July 22. The Read more
The Catechism of the Catholic Church now has more of a presence in the increasingly popular world of e-books. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has made the catechism available as a browser-based e-book. The catechism is a compendium of Catholic beliefs structured around the four pillars of faith: creed, sacraments, commandments and prayer. The Read more