Ukrainian Catholic bishops have asked for prayers for peace, but have also defended their nation’s right to self determination. Bishop Bronislaw Bernacki of Odessa-Simferopol, whose diocese includes Crimea, said Catholics believed “every nation has a right to decide about its own future”. He asked Christians worldwide to “fast and pray for peace”. “The Catholic Church Read more
Pope Francis has called for bishops who are genuine pastors and who will argue with God on behalf of their people. He said this in an address to the Vatican’s Congregation of Bishops on February 27. The Pope told the office they should not seek prelates who are mainly concerned with doctrinal matters. Rather the Read more
Pope Francis has re-confirmed Cardinal Marc Ouellet PSS, 69, as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, an office he has headed since 2010. But the Pope today also significantly altered the congregation’s membership by replacing three leading conservatives – including US Cardinal Raymond Burke, 65. Among the new faces is 68-year-old Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Read more
Most remarkable about the consultation regarding sex, marriage and family life, in which the Catholic Church has asked Catholics throughout the world to take part, is its brave implication that things have to change. One sentence in the official document accompanying the Vatican’s questionnaire is an example of this. As a result of the current Read more
The retired Bishop of Wewak, Tony Burgess, died in Sydney on Sunday 23 October. He spent 40 years working in Papua New Guinea. Arriving in 1973 he was sent to Karaitem near Lumi in the Torrecelli Mountains. Lumi was a large government station and the parish was under the care of Franciscan Fr. Tom Ritchie. Read more
Urging the hierarchy to be more pastoral than administrative, Pope Francis has said bishops should ask whether they and their priests are serving “the People of God as a whole” rather than “the Church as an organisation”. The Pope was speaking in Rio de Janeiro to the co-ordinating committee of the Latin American Bishops’ Council Read more
The Catholic bishops of the United Kingdom have congratulated Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, on the birth of their first son, Prince George Alexandra Louis of Cambridge. “The birth of the new prince will be a source of joy not only for the royal family but for the peoples of the United Kingdom Read more
Africa’s Catholic bishops have expressed “shock and outrage” at human rights violations in the Central African Republic, where in recent months the social fabric has been “completely torn up”. One of the world’s poorest countries, the landlocked Central African Republic has an extremely low level of human development. The population of 5.2 million is 50 Read more
A crisis of sorts is developing in the appointment of Catholic bishops worldwide as a backlog of 187 sees (excluding China) remain vacant, writes Edward Pentin in the National Catholic Register. Half of Scotland’s ordinaries — four out of eight — have yet to be appointed. The Philippines has nine sees without a bishop, and Read more
The Catholic bishops of Ireland intend to mount a constitutional challenge to the government’s abortion bill that is widely expected to pass a key vote in the Irish lower house. The Irish bishops will challenge the law on the basis of its unconstitutional legislative process or its failure to adequately vindicate the equal right to Read more