Church

Jesuit abuse case widens as victim speaks, order seeks witnesses

A case of sexual abuse rattling the Jesuits has widened with a former nun describing how her complaints against a prominent priest were ignored and as the religious order urged…

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As Macron meets Pope Francis, abuse victims urge swifter reparations

PARIS (Reuters) - A group of victims of sexual abuse says the Catholic church is reacting too slowly to a report revealing assaults by French clergy on more than 200,000…

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Work-life balance rules ‘just tick-box exercise’, NGOs say / Malta News Briefing – Friday 5 August 2022

Latest News update Times of Malta says the number of traffic accidents has increased by almost a fifth from last year, according to national statistics. MaltaToday says Joseph Gavin will…

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Report finds 216,000 children were victims of French clergy sex abuse since 1950

An investigation into sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church has found that an estimated 216,000 children were victims of abuse by clergy since 1950, Jean-March Sauve, head of the commission that…

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Pope Francis returns to Vatican for rest after intestinal surgery

Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Wednesday, 11 days after surgery to remove part of his colon, starting a period of near-total rest and rehabilitation expected to last at least…

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Pope Francis to leave hospital as soon as possible, says Vatican

Pope Francis is continuing his planned treatment and rehabilitation after intestinal surgery 10 days ago and will leave hospital as soon as possible, the Vatican said on Tuesday. The Vatican's daily medical bulletin on…

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Polish Catholic Church facing wave of sex abuse allegations

WARSAW (Reuters) - The Catholic Church in Poland is facing a wave of allegations of sexual abuse, church authorities said on Monday, as they laid out statistics on the extent…

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“We’re all pained” – Canada indigenous leaders dismiss Pope remarks

Indigenous leaders and school survivors on Sunday dismissed Pope Francis' expressions of pain at the discovery of 215 children's remains at a former Catholic residential school in Canada, saying the church needed to do much more.…

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‘I will listen’, says Cologne archbishop as he vows to tackle abuse

The Archbishop of Cologne outlined steps on Tuesday to help victims report abuse, improve priests' training and keep better records to prevent future misconduct after a report on the handling of sexual…

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Maltese Editors’ Perspectives

Times of Malta says that clerical sex abuse represents a fundamental betrayal of those abused but it is also a betrayal of society at large and of the faithful. The…

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As Poland’s Church embraces politics, Catholics depart

WARSAW, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Katarzyna Lipka is no longer Catholic, and she says that is a political statement. Like most Poles, the 35-year-old has marked life's milestones in the…

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Ireland to lay bare scandal of baby deaths at Church-run homes

DUBLIN (Reuters) - An Irish inquiry into alarming death rates among newborns at church-run homes for unwed mothers will hand down its final report on Tuesday, laying bare one of…

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Polish cardinal accused of sexual abuse dies aged 97

A Polish cardinal who was accused of sexually abusing a minor has died at the age of 97, Poland's Roman Catholic Church said on Monday. Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz, the former…

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Malta: Pallbearers in full PPE banned from churches

Pallbearers at the funeral of COVID-19 victims cannot walk into church wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE), according to new regulations issued by the Catholic church. Instead, they must leave the…

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Malta: ‘The lockdown has revealed spiritual illiteracy’ – Bishop Grech

Bishop Mario Grech, who is now the new Secretary-General of the Synod of Bishops, said he is quite critical of the attitude of many Catholics during the crisis caused by…

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Senior Catholic Cardinal denies claims he sought to influence Pell trial

A senior Catholic cardinal was forced to deny claims that he misused more than 700,000 euro in Vatican funds in an attempt to 'buy' hostile testimony against Australian cardinal George…

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Vatican calls for sustainable and responsible tourism

The Vatican is calling on governments and economic policy makers to promote and encourage responsible tourism, particularly in rural and remote areas. In this task, it is urging them to…

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Malta: Archdiocese of Malta has announced that it has € 8 million in losses for 2020

The Archdiocese of Malta has suffered a major financial blow in the wake of this pandemic. And during the year 2020 it is expected between six and eight million euros…

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Malta: Church cancels all feasts for the year after COVID-19 spike

The Church in Malta has responded to the spike in COVID-19 cases by cancelling all feasts after having reduced them to pilgrimages when the virus broke out. In a brief statement, the…

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Malta: Updated directives regarding Masses and liturgical celebrations

The Church in Malta is updating the directives regarding Mass and other liturgical celebrations when in public. A number of measures to prevent the movement of COVID-19 will be enforced…

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Malta-24 – News Briefing – Sunday 14th June 2020

Updated 1409 MHRA welcomes full re-opening of airport In a statement, the hotels and restaurants lobby group welcomed the news that Malta's airport to all international destinations will resume operations…

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Bethlehem’s iconic Church of the Nativity re-opens

Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, considered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus Christ welcomed back worshippers and tourists as of this morning as Palestinian authorities started to ease social…

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Return to prayer

The priest Gil Florini celebrates mass at the Saint-Pierre d'Arene church in Nice, France, 24 May 2020. Churches have reopened their doors to the public after the French government announced…

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Masses in Italy to resume on May 18th

Vatican News reports that masses in Italy will resume on May 18th. "After two months of live-streamed Masses and private prayer at home, the faithful in Italy will once again…

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Prayer….

Holy Mass in the Primate's Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Gniezno, Poland 26 April 2020. The Mass is celebrated on the occasion of the annual…

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South Korea’s big churches reopen

South Korea's large churches reopened on Sunday, requiring worshipers to keep their distance and wear masks, after the government relaxed restrictions on religious gatherings aimed at slowing the spread of…

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Over 100 priests have died in Italy due to Coronavirus pandemic

Over 100 priests have died in Italy with the coronavirus, the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) said Friday. "They have offered up their lives, expressing once again the beautiful face of…

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Irish Catholic Church records on baptisms and other sacraments may be inspected over GDPR concerns

The State’s data watchdog in Ireland may have to inspect Catholic Church records in its investigation into whether the church is legally obliged to delete records of people seeking to…

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Safeguarding must be woven into Church life across the globe – Pope Francis

There is a continuing need for the culture and mission of Safeguarding to be systemically embedded into the life of the Church across the globe. In this regard, the Pontifical…

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German churches lose 430,000 Catholic and Protestant members in 2018

DW quotes data published on Friday by the German Bishops' Conference and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) that states that Germany's Catholic Church lost 216,078 members and Protestant churches lost some 220,000…

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Augustinian sisters inaugurate new 16+ centre for former St Monica students

The Augustinian sisters in Gżira opened a new centre for former students from their schools in Birkirkara and Gżira. The idea came from the teens themselves who wanted to keep…

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For a second consecutive week… churches in Sri Lanka cancel Sunday mass

For a second consecutive week, Sri Lanka's Catholic churches have cancelled Sunday mass in the capital Colombo , citing foreign intelligence warnings of threats to worshippers in the wake…

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5 detained over deadly Philippines church bombing

A senior Abu Sayyaf operative and four members of the militant group believed to be behind the deadly bombing of a church in the southern Philippines surrendered to authorities over…

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Pope defrocks priest at the center of Chilean clerical sexual abuse scandal

Pope Francis has defrocked a once-prominent priest whose case has been at the center of public outrage about clerical sexual abuse and its concealment in Chile, in a rare move…

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Malta News Evening Roundup – Saturday 8th September 2018

Good evening, The news this afternoon has been dominated by the continuation of the developing story regarding the shocking finding of a newborn child. Several outlets report that the magistrate…

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Former papal ambassador claims Pope knew of child abuse by ex-Cardinal McCarrick and hid it. Invites him to resign.

A former papal ambassador to the U.S. has claimed that Pope Francis knew as early as 2013 about charges that the former archbishop of Washington, ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, had been…

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Pope Francis expresses his pain and sorrow after the sex abuse scandal which hit church in the US

Pope Francis has issued a letter to Catholics around the world condemning the “crime” of priestly sexual abuse and cover-up and demanding accountability, in response to new revelations in the…

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Czech churches against Communist Party plans to tax billions in compensation paid by state in return for assets seized by Communists during Cold War

AFP: Czech churches are up in arms against Communist Party plans to tax billions in compensation being paid by the state in return for assets, mostly land, seized by the Communists…

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