Catholic education officials reported on Monday that enrolment in catholic schools in the United States rose 3.8% over the previous academic year, rebounding from a sharp drop caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The National Catholic Educational Association said nationwide enrolment increased by 62,000 to about 1.68 million students, marking the first increase in two decades Read more
A food truck for the homeless has arrived at the Vatican. Volunteers will distribute warm meals to those who live on the streets around St Peter’s Basilica. Inaugurated on February 17, the initiative is part of the non-profit Progetto Arca (Project Ark), which brought the mobile kitchen to Rome after it was successfully introduced in Read more
Some 4,000 pilgrims visited the Massabielle Grotto at the centre of the Marian sanctuary of Lourdes on 11 February as the famous site reopened after two years of Covid-imposed closure. Touching the grotto’s rock wall and viewing the source of Lourdes water are part of the rituals the faithful perform at the sanctuary. The Virgin Read more
Pope Francis has officially divided the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) into two sections to deal separately with doctrinal issues and disciplinary matters, a move that formalises a practice of the past several years. The pope made the move on Monday by issuing a new “motu proprio” called Fidem servare – “keep Read more
Pasifika people are making up about half the cases in the current outbreak of the Omicron variant in New Zealand. And the Ministry of Health is urging the Pacific communities in New Zealand to receive their booster vaccination to protect themselves against the Omicron variant. Ministry of Health Pacific health director Gerardine Clifford-Lidstone said in Read more
The president of the Polish catholic bishops’ conference appealed on Monday to Christian leaders in Ukraine and Russia to unite in prayer with Poland to stave off war. “We are bound together by a common history and the holy Christian faith,” Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki wrote in a February 14 letter to the Orthodox and Catholic Read more
Viewers of the Shine TV Mass last Sunday could be forgiven for being confused. A technical glitch meant last Sunday’s broadcast was for the third Sunday of Lent. “It was hard to know if they’d jumped forward or it was a repeat,” a correspondent opined to CathNews. Another described it as being like a replay Read more
The technology company to which Cardinal Angelo Becciu authorised millions of dollars of payments in Australia has been named in an emerging US political scandal, raising new questions about the Vatican’s business with the firm. Neustar, a technology and security company, has been named in pretrial motions filed by John Durham, the special counsel investigating Read more
Italy’s Constitutional Court has shot down a bid to decriminalize assisted suicide, judging that there were inadequate protections for the weakest. Right-to-die advocates in Italy have been trying to force a referendum on the contentious issue in the largely Catholic country where opposition is strong. It gathered 750,000 signatures in August, well above the minimum Read more