Pope Francis has set the scene for the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) to have the marriages it celebrates validated. This is one of a number of the Pope’s initiatives that aim to bring SSPX into full communion with the Church. A letter from the Vatican to Catholic bishops said they will be allowed Read more
Australian reform group Catholics for Renewal has sent an open letter to all Australia’s Catholic parishes saying the Church needs to be challenged start practising the teachings of Jesus. The group wants parishioners to sign the letter showing their support for “renewal in the church”. The letter is addressed to Australia’s archbishops and bishops. “Renewal” Read more
The US Bishops and the English Westminster Justice and Peace Commission jointly oppose President Trump’s Executive Order issued last week. “The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in unity with Pope Francis, strongly supports environmental stewardship and has called consistently for ‘our own country to curtail carbon emissions,’” said Bishop Frank J Dewane of Florida. Read more
The Vatican has published a letter the Pope wrote to the UN last week about banning nuclear weapons. In this he urged the UN to “commit … to a world without nuclear weapons”. Read more
Promise Jesus and me not to bully anyone, Pope Francis asked 45,000 teens when he met them in Milan last Saturday. He also told their teachers to be aware of the bullying problem. “I ask you, in silence: In your schools, in your neighborhoods, is there someone that you mock? That you make fun of Read more
Pope Francis and the nuclear powers are at odds over nukes. To ban or not to ban? Francis says ban all nukes. He made his view plain in a message read this week at the “United Nations conference aimed at negotiating a legally binding instrument on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, leading to their total Read more
Slavery, forced-labour and human trafficking are all alive and well in Australia, the Archbishop of Sydney says. Speaking at the parliamentary inquiry into human trafficking in New South Wales, Archbishop Anthony Fisher outlined his personal experience of these practises. He said when he was a parish priest a South American nanny asked him for help. Read more
Pope Francis is trying to reduce what he sees is the excessive idealisation and idolisation of the papacy. “I do not see myself as something special, I am a sinner and am fallible.” “We must not forget that the idealisation of a person is always a subliminal kind of aggression. When I am idealised, I Read more
Cardinal Raymond Burke says if Pope Francis doesn’t answer the five dubia questions he and three other cardinals put to him about Amoris Laetitia last December, he will correct them himself. Burke says the Pope must answer the dubia questions as they are about the foundations of moral life and the Church’s teaching about good Read more
The European Union risks dying, Pope Francis told 27 heads of state from the 28-nation bloc who were visiting Rome on Friday. They were there for the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. The Treaty was the foundation document for what is now the European Union (EU). “When a body loses its sense of Read more