An Italian parish is offering a baby bonus payment of NZ$3400 to local parents for their third child onwards. The initiative in the parish in Staggia Senese in Tuscany is aimed at helping local people have larger families. But the offer comes with strings attached. To qualify for the baby bonus, couples must already have at least Read more
The Vatican will release a document on consecrated widowhood later this year. This was reported by Avvenire, a newspaper owned by the Italian episcopal conference. The paper noted that there are 200 consecrated widows in Italy and that another 100 are in formation. Consecrated widowhood was noted by St John Paul II in a 1996 apostolic Read more
An Italian priest has posted a notice on the door of his church telling racists they are banned from the premises. “Racists are not allowed in this church,” read the notice posted by Fr Gianfranco Formenton of Sant’Angelo parish in Mercole, Umbria. The notice adds: “For I was a stranger and you did not take Read more
A young Italian priest given special permission to be ordained two years before he finished his seminary studies has died of cancer. Fr Salvatore Mellone, 38, from Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie archdiocese, died on June 29, two and a half months after he was ordained. When he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the young priest was given special Read more
Let us suppose that along the coast of Normandy up to one million non-EU migrants are waiting to be packed like sardines in small unseaworthy vessels and to cross the English Channel. Let us suppose that first the Royal Navy, then the navies of a dozen other EU countries, start to search for all such Read more
Over the centuries, Italy’s image has fluctuated in northern Europe. Italians have been associated with dancing masters, fencing tutors, glass makers, opera divas and tenors – and the provenance of the pizza and ice cream. In Albania, despite Italy’s wartime invasion of that country, the fondest memory retained was that of Italian ice cream, which Read more
Two separate, highly embarrassing Church scandals have generated lurid coverage in the Italian press. A north Italian priest has been removed from office after allegations he looked for gay lovers on the Internet and had been involved in gay orgies. The priest admitted online to sexual relationships with other religious figures – as well as Read more
Here’s where most-first time visitors to Rome get it wrong: they head straight for St Peter’s Cathedral. St Peter’s is a magnificent building, containing superb works of art; however its size – not to mention the size of the crowds – can be so overwhelming, visitors don’t set foot in another church for the rest Read more
Three Italian nuns were raped and beaten before two were decapitated and another murdered in a convent in Burundi. The bodies of Srs Bernardetta Boggia, 79, Lucia Pulici, 75, and Olga Raschietti, 82, were found in their dormitory in Kamenge, north of the capital Bujumbura. Police said three suspects had been detained for questioning as Read more
Pope Francis used the e-word against the mob for the first time this weekend. The Holy Father was celebrating mass on Saturday in Calabria, a mob-heavy region in southern Italy, when he deviated from his prepared remarks and announced that the mafia are excommunicated. “Those who go down the evil path, as the Mafiosi do, are Read more