Irish President Michael D Higgins believes Pope Francis faces a significant challenge in reforming the Catholic Church to be more inclusive, particularly towards women and the LGBTQ+ community. President Higgins (pictured with Pope Francis) expressed these sentiments after a private audience with the pontiff in the Vatican’s library. “He faces grave difficulties in the institution Read more
Germany’s Synodal Path should be a model for reforming the Church globally, according to a leading outside observer. Théo Péporté is past-president of the Council of Christian Churches in Luxembourg and former vice-president of SIGNIS (the World Catholic Association for Communications). Péporté was one of 18 international observers who attended the 12-day Synodal Way procedure, Read more
The pastoral council of the Archdiocese of Cologne met in mid-June with their local ordinary, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, and the mood was particularly tense. The 75 priests and lay Catholics who make up the parish council met just days after the conclusion of an apostolic visitation of the archdiocese. The Vatican investigation of the Read more
The Catholic laity became more discerning about the quality of worship services and preaching during the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown, says the head of Germany’s Catholic bishop’s conference. Speaking from his own experience, Bishop Georg Bätzing says he has noticed when he preaches “dialogically” (ie in a dialogue-like way), he gets a lot of feedback from Read more