Several principals of Catholic schools in Victoria won’t distribute a Catholic Education Commission letter that warns against voting for the Greens. The commission wrote to tens of thousands of Victorian parents at some 100 schools last week. The letter, from CEC chief executive Stephen Elder, claimed that the Greens’ education policies would result in less Read more
Pope Francis has expressed surprise at the reaction to his decision to have a commission study the role of deaconesses in the early Church. The Pope fielded a question on the topic during a press conference on his flight to Rome from Armenia on June 26. Francis offered to have a commission after he was questioned at Read more
An absent member of the Pope’s commission to protect minors hopes to eventually lead a victims and survivors panel on the commission. British campaigner Peter Saunders said the idea of the panel was suggested by commission head Cardinal Sean O’Malley. Mr Saunders was encouraged to resign from the commission after he questioned Pope Francis’ commitment Read more
A leading religious sister has called for men and women to be on the Pope’s future commission to study the issue of women deacons. Sr Carmen Sammut, the president of the International Union of Superiors General (IUSG), also said sisters globally would be better equipped to carry out their work if they could become deacons. Read more
Pope Francis has said he will establish a Vatican commission to study the possibility of allowing women to serve as deacons in the Catholic Church. Francis was asked during a meeting with leaders of female religious congregations about women deacons and their role in the early church. The Pope responded that he had spoken about Read more
A clergy abuse survivor was asked to step aside from the Pope’s commission to protect minors after a clash over the group’s work and mission. According to an Associated Press report, Peter Saunders said the members of the 17-person Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors asked him to step aside, with one abstention. This Read more
The head of a papal commission to protect minors has warned Catholics not to behave as if the clergy sex abuse crisis is over. Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston told a press conference in Rome that some prelates were still reluctant to deal with the problem openly. “It would be perilous for us, as leaders Read more
A papal commission to protect children is to have another survivor of clerical sexual abuse join its membership. The Commission for the Protection of Minors, which Pope Francis established in December, will also have more representatives from other countries and disciplines. Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins is already a member of the commission, headed by Read more
Pope Francis has ordered a review aimed at simplifying the Church’s procedures for marriage annulments. An 11-member commission, announced on Saturday, will seek to “simplify the (annulment) procedure, making it more streamlined, while safeguarding the principle of the indissolubility of marriage”, the Vatican said. The commission is made up of canon lawyers and theologians and Read more
Pope Francis has named an international commission of eight business and legal experts — mainly lay people, including one woman — to plan a reform of the Holy See’s economy and administrative structures. The commission’s president, Maltese economist Dr Joseph Zahra, is already an auditor of the Vatican’s budget management office. The other members come Read more