A Catholic business executive organisation says it is “placing its annual donation to the Holy See in escrow until it has had questions of financial accountability clarified. “We certainly pledge our continued devotion to Holy Mother Church, and recognise the tithe has been an important commitment of Legatus since our founding,” a letter sent to Read more
The Vatican tribunal has sentenced a former Holy See diplomat to Washington to five years in prison and fined him €5,000. The Tribunal found Monsignor Carlo Capella guilty of the “possession and distribution of child pornography with the aggravating circumstance of its large quantity”. Capella’s was the first trial of its kind inside the Vatican. Read more
The Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics and the Council of Chinese Bishops has approved the “Five-Year Plan of Development for the Sinicisation of the Catholic Church in China.” The plan aims to develop the Catholic Church altering religious principles and practices to match Chinese communist ideals and eliminate “foreign influence” ensuring governmental control of all Read more
Global action in the war on drugs is needed, says Monsignor Janusz S. Urbańczyk head of the Holy See delegation to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna. Read more
Accusations of embezzling and laundering €50 million have resulted in a former Vatican bank president and his lawyer being ordered to stand trial. The Vatican says the bank’s former president, Angelo Caloia, is the highest-ranking Holy See financial official to be indicted on such charges. Seventy-eight year-old Coloia, along with his lawyer, 94 year-old Gabriele Liuzzo, Read more
Retired Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong says the Holy See’s diplomacy seeks a compromise at all costs with the Chinese government, risking “to sell out the faithful Church”. Zen’s comments were made during Mass in his homily, where he recalled Fr. Wei Heping (Yu Heping), who died two years ago in mysterious and Read more
Cardinal Pietro Parolin’s four-day visit to Russia is stacked with meetings with government and Orthodox Church officials. The meetings’ focus is on finding peaceful solutions to global conflicts. After meeting with Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, Parolin – who is the Vatican Secretary of State and its top diplomat – said the meetings so far Read more
The Holy See and the State of Israel’s Bilateral Permanent Working Commission had a “cordial meeting” at Vatican City last week. The plenary meeting was led by Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, Undersecretary for the Holy See’s Relations with States, and Mr. Tzachi Hanegbi, Minister for Regional Cooperation of the State of Israel. They were continuing negotiations Read more
Palestine’s Vatican Embassy, launched last month, will benefit both Palestine and the Holy See, the Holy See’s diplomatic representative to Jerusalem says. And although there is no official State of Palestine, Issa Kassissieh, the Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See, said the new embassy is “a significant achievement for the Palestinian people.” The Holy See’s Read more
The Holy See’s special envoy to Medjugorje, is seeking answers to pastoral questions and looking at ways the Church can meet pilgrims’ needs, according to the Vatican. Archbishop Henryk Hoser will not be investigating apparitions of Our Lady. He is expected to finish his special posting by the middle of this year. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke stressed Read more