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En route to Rome, after his visit to Sweden, a journalist asked Pope Francis “Is it realistic to think of women priests also in the Catholic Church in the coming decades?” The world is finding it hard to adjust to a Pope who speaks off the cuff. He has been dubbed “the Pope of the Read more
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Dozens of posters of illicit women priests were plastered in Rome near St Peter’s Square last week in a provocative campaign. Above the image of one of the women priests were the words “some women disobey”. The putting up of the posters in Rome’s Trastevere neighbourhood and near St Peter’s was part of a “jubilee Read more
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God writes straight with crooked lines. -Portuguese Proverb The question of the theology of ordination to the priesthood just isn’t going to go away. First, in a meeting with Italian priests in Rome in February, the Pope, they tell us, said that he is going to put the topic of the ordination of married men “into Read more
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A prelate who has previously called for a relaxation of mandatory celibacy for priests has been appointed as the de facto head of the Catholic Church in Belgium. Pope Francis has named Archbishop Jozef de Kesel as the new Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. Currently the Bishop of Bruges, Archbishop-elect De Kesel is seen as a moderate Read more
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A US nun was excommunicated and dismissed from her religious order last week after admitting that she was secretly ordained as a priest. Sr Leticia Rawles, 67, was ordained in April by the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests and has since presided over religious services. Currently critically ill in hospital, Sr Rawes said she Read more
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Pope Francis has again rejected the possibility of female priests in the Catholic Church, citing a ruling of one of his predecessors. During a press conference on board his flight back to Rome from the US, Francis said St John Paul II had decided “that cannot be done”. “Pope St John Paul II – after Read more
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Some 500 activists wanting women’s ordination will gather for a meeting in Philadelphia one week before Pope Francis arrives in the city. The US-based Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) is hosting the Women’s Ordination Worldwide meeting from September 18-20. The gathering will assess the place of women in church and society and develop plans to advance Read more
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A Catholic Worker House in Iowa has been told it can no longer host Masses after a woman priest presided at a service late last year. In a May 5 letter, Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines diocese ordered the local Catholic Worker House to cease holding services. The local council of priests voted unanimously to strip the Catholic Worker House Read more
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An excommunicated Catholic woman bishop says she has conducted services alongside male Catholic priests without any problems from the Church’s hierarchy. Austrian Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger, 58, told The Telegraph: “Most Catholic priests in Austria, are very nice to me. They call me ‘Mrs Bishop’. And they show me respect.” The newspaper reported her having been at Read more
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An American Jesuit who spent his last two years under restricted ministry after taking part in a eucharistic liturgy with a woman priest has died. Fr William Brennan, 94, died in a rest home in Wisconsin. A Jesuit for 75 years and a priest for 63 years, he was a former missionary in Belize and Read more
