Catholic Church

Nicaragua accuses Catholic Church of money laundering, freezes accounts

Nicaraguan police announced they are investigating several dioceses of the Catholic Church for money laundering, a day after local media reported that the bank accounts of parishes in the Central…

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Italy’s Catholic Church reintroduces handshakes during Mass

ROME, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Italy's Catholic Church is reintroducing handshakes for the "sign of peace" during Mass as part of a wider relaxation of anti-COVID-19 measures. "It will be…

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Some Dutch churches to skip Mass due to energy costs, priest shortage

AMSTERDAM, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Rocketing energy bills and a shortage of priests have driven a Dutch Roman Catholic Diocese to cut down on religious services in some churches. The…

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Portugal launches inquiries into alleged Catholic Church sexual abuse

Portuguese prosecutors said they have launched 10 inquiries into alleged child sexual abuse by Catholic Church clergy, the first such move since a commission was created seven months ago to…

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Catholic priest abducted in Nigeria, diocese says

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) -A Nigerian Catholic priest was abducted from his rectory in the town of Zambina in the northern state of Kaduna in the early hours of Monday, the…

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Pope apologises to Canadian indigenous for wrongs at residential schools

VATICAN CITY, April 1 (Reuters) - Pope Francis apologised to Canadian indigenous peoples on Friday for the Catholic Church's role in residential schools that sought to erase their cultures and…

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Italy’s Catholic Church faces pressure for independent abuse inquiry

At a trial under way in Sicily, a 28-year-old Italian is seeking justice against a man he accuses of forcing him to perform sex acts before going on to become…

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Spain hands list of 1,000 contested Church properties to local authorities

Spain's government handed over a list of almost 1,000 properties claimed by the Catholic Church on contested legal grounds to a federation of local authorities on Thursday, taking a first…

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Portugal urges victims of clergy sexual abuse to break the silence

A commission investigating allegations of historical child sexual abuse by members of the Portuguese Catholic church urged victims to speak up and help them lift a veil of silence around…

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US Catholic bishops face clash with Biden over abortion

US Catholic bishops are on a potential collision course with President Joe Biden after voting to commission a document that may call for him to be barred from Holy Communion.…

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Church complains after UK police shut down London Polish Church Good Friday service

A Roman Catholic church in London said on Saturday it would complain to the police after officers shut down a Good Friday service on the grounds it broke COVID-19 lockdown…

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The Cross is the Christological foundation of fraternity – Cantalamessa

Pope Francis lies down in prayer prior to celebrating Good Friday Mass for the Passion of the Lord at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic…

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Two suspected suicide bombers wound 14 people at Indonesian Catholic church – UPDATE

Two suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a Catholic church in the Indonesian city of Makassar on Sunday, wounding fourteen people on the first day of the Easter Holy…

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New Zealand’s Catholic Church apologises to survivors of abuse

New Zealand’s Catholic Church formally apologised on Friday to the survivors of abuse within the church and said its systems and culture must change. Cardinal John Dew, who is the…

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American bishops welcome Biden’s election citing ‘time for unity’

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops congratulated the Democratic candidate: "We acknowledge that he joins the late President John F.…

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NCR congratulates Joe Biden – Second Catholic to be elected President

For only the second time in our nation's 244-year-history, a Catholic has been elected to the highest office in the land. Joe Biden, the former vice president, a cradle Catholic…

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European bishops demand Belarus allow return of Catholic leader

Roman Catholic bishops urged Belarus’s leader Alexander Lukashenko to let its most senior cleric come back into the country. Minsk’s archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz (photo), who has angered Lukashenko by defending…

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N Korea Pyongyang’s diocese to be dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima

The Diocese of Pyongyang, North Korea, is to be dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima on 15 August, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Vatican News…

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Crucifix in Nicaragua cathedral torched in ‘hatred of the Church’

Vatican News reports witnesses saying that a hooded man entered the Chapel of the Blood of Chris, Managua on Friday and threw a Molotov cocktail. The petrol bomb started a fire…

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Pope Francis urges Catholics to spend more time in silence and in conversation with God

Pope Francis urged Catholics Wednesday to use the season of Lent to spend less time immersed in the chatter and noise of the world through television and their phones, and…

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Blessed Devasahayam, Indian martyr cleared for sainthood

Pope Francis authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate 8 decrees regarding 10 candidates, clearing two of them for sainthood. This included Indian martyr, Blessed Lazarus, called…

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“War brings only death and destruction” Pope Francis

Pope Francis said there is a “terrible air of tension” in many parts of the world. “I call upon all parties to fan the flame of dialogue and self-control, and to…

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Christmas Mass – Betlehem

Clergymen arrive for a mass at the Church of the Nativity on Christmas eve in leading to the Church of the Nativity, the traditionally accepted birthplace of Jesus Christ, on…

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Pope Francis to celebrate mass for 100th anniversary of John Paul II’s birth

The Polish episcopate announced that in May, 2020, Pope Francis will celebrate a Mass for the 100th anniversary of John Paul II's birth. It will be in the Vatican on…

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Pope Francis turns 83

Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) was born on 17 December 1936. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to…

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Cardinal Pell’s investigation deliberately used to deflect a major police force scandal in Australia

Leaked documents show that senior police officials in the Australian state of Victoria discussed by email the way that their 2014 investigation into Cardinal George Pell could deflect public scrutiny…

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Vatican donates building to shelter Rome’s homeless and poor

The Vatican has donated a building near St Peter's hitherto used by nuns to shelter Rome's homeless and poor, ANSA sources said Friday. The building, which overlooks St Peter's Square,…

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Pray like the poor, not the Pharisee – Pope Francis

The Pope focused his reflections on three figures in this Sunday’s readings: a Pharisee, a tax collector, and a poor person. Each of them tells us something about how to…

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Catholic Bishops Back Ordination of Married Men as Priests in Amazon

Bishops meeting at the Vatican formally recommended on Saturday that Pope Francis lift in the Amazon region the Roman Catholic Church’s nearly 1,000-year-old restriction on the ordination of married men…

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Pope Francis proclaims five new Saints

Cardinal John Henry Newman, Sister Marian Thresia, Sister Giuseppina Vannini, Sister Dulce Lopes Pontes, and Marguerite Bays were proclaimed Saints by Pope Francis in a ceremony which took place on…

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Compassion is key – Pope Francis

Pope Francis created 13 new Cardinals during an Ordinary Public Consistory in St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday afternoon. In his homily reflects on the importance of being aware of God’s…

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Cardinal Pell to appeal conviction

Cardinal George Pell will appeal his conviction to the Australian High Court, following the decision last week by the Court of Appeal in Victoria to uphold his conviction for child…

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Polemic between exorcists and Jesuit head over existence of the Devil

The Devil really exists, the International Association of Exorcists (AIE) insisted after the head of the Jesuit order said Satan was just a symbol. Jesuit Superior General Arturo Sosa Abascal…

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Cardinal George Pell loses appeal against sexual abuse convictions

Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted of sexual abuse, has failed in a legal bid to quash his convictions in Australia. Pell, the former Vatican…

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Salvini’s use of the rosary beads and invocation of Catholic religion for his populist politics hurts – Gozo’s Bishop Grech

Gozo Bishop Mario Grech has said that it ‘hurts’ to watch Italy's Home Affairs Minister Matteo Salvini brandish rosary beads and invoke European saints while insisting on putting a stop…

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Catholic Priests and Nuns arrested after protest against Trump’s migration policy

Priests and nuns were among 70 people arrested for ‘crowding, obstructing, incommoding’, and several were filmed being led away in handcuffs after taking part in a protest against Trump’ migration…

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Do the right-wing victories mean that Pope Francis has lost the battle against the alt-right Christians? – Fr Joe Borg

St Pope John Paul II seems to have had more electoral successes than Pope Francis. This opening sentence will probably surprise many given that popes do not lead political parties…

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Vatican insists that priests cannot reveal confession secrets

The Vatican on Monday strongly reaffirmed Catholic teaching that priests cannot reveal what they learn in confession, in an apparent response to moves in Australia and elsewhere to force them…

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The Lord does not work miracles with those who consider themselves righteous, but with those who know themselves to be needy – Pope Francis

As Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis on Saturday celebrated the feast of the Patrons of this ancient city, Saints Peter and Paul. Dressed in red vestments and against the backdrop of…

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Tension between the Vatican and China

The Vatican has told bishops and priests in China that they must follow their own consciences in deciding whether to register with the government, and it urged Catholics in the…

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Archbishop Scicluna recounts how his life got perhaps saved by a victim of sex abuse

Archbishop Scicluna while answering question during RTK’s programme Follow-up said that he himself was helped, perhaps his life saved, by a victim of sex abuse whose testimony he was listening…

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Young Polish priest who was ordained last month following a terminal cancer diagnosis has died

A young Polish priest who was ordained last month following a terminal cancer diagnosis has died, his community announced Monday. Fr. Michal Los, FDP, died June 17 in the morning,…

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Chilean Auxiliary Bishop appointed less than a month ago, resigns

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Fr. Carlos Eugenio Irarrázaval Errazuriz as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile. The Chilean auxiliary bishop was appointed by Pope…

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Catholic priest, killed in Kenya, five months since ordination

A Catholic priest was killed in Kenya. Fr. Eutycas Murangiri Muthur, of the parish of Limbine, diocese of Meru, county of Tigania, was stabbed to death by one or more…

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Four Catholics killed during a procession in Burkina Faso

Armed assailants killed four Catholics and destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary in northern Burkina Faso, Catholic church officials revealed, the third deadly attack against Christians in the West…

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01

May

Nineteen conservative Catholics accuse and brand Pope Francis as heretic

A group of nineteen Catholics, including some prominent academics, have published an open letter to the bishops of the world accusing Pope Francis of heresy. The letter, made public on…

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Here I am

Pope Francis lies down in prayer during the celebration the Lord's Passion on Good Friday at Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, 19 April 2019. Good Friday is a Christian commemoration…

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Spanish Catholic Church caught in a controversy over ‘gay conversion’ courses

A Roman Catholic diocese near Madrid is being investigated after a Spanish newspaper reported that it was running courses to "cure" gay men of homosexuality. The deputy head of the…

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LGBT rights set to be Poland’s electoral battlefront

Poland's ruling The Law and Justice Party (PiS) has condemned a new school sex education programme planned in Poland's opposition-ruled capital Warsaw, calling it an infringement of traditional Catholic values…

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On this day, six years ago Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope

It was on 13 March 2013, that Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as the head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He was elected in the 5th ballot on the…

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Lent is a time to rediscover the direction of life

Pope Francis summoned Christians to slow down in a fast-paced and often directionless life and fast from the unnecessary things that distract us, to heed Lent that he described as…

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Protection of Minors – Archbishop Scicluna says silence unacceptable

"I will never give up…" Archbishop Charles Scicluna, president of the Maltese Bishops’ Conference, the Pope’s entrusted reformer in combatting and investigating sex abuse, and one of the four organizers…

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From Ratzinger to Bergoglio, Scicluna at the forefront of the fight on Child Abuse

The Catholic News Agency (Italian edition) reports that Archbishop Scicluna stands out as one of the clergymen who are fighting in the forefront to stem the scandal of child abuse.…

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Manifesto of Faith published by sacked Cardinal Mueller defining differences between Pope and the Conservatives within the church

A cardinal who was sacked from a senior Vatican post by Pope Francis has written his own “Manifesto of Faith,” in the latest attack on the pontiff’s authority by a…

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