An investigation commissioned by the Vatican has concluded a senior leader of Quebec’s Roman Catholic Church did not commit sexual misconduct. The allegations against Cardinal Gérald Lacroix, the archbishop of Quebec City, emerged in January when he was named as an alleged perpetrator in a class-action lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by clergy and staff. The Read more
World
Hours after his first Communion, boy begins remarkable recovery
Thursday, May 23rd, 2024No mum would ever want to spend Mother’s Day like this: in a hospital room with a 7-year-old son paralysed from the waist down and told by doctors he might never walk again. Such was the scenario one year ago, on May 14, for Jessica Dahlberg of Epiphany in Coon Rapids. Her son, Joshua, had Read more
Differences in abuse responses are cultural
Monday, May 20th, 2024
When looking at the entire church, it should not be assumed that everyone is on the same page when it comes to abuse. There are cultural differences in the way abuse is handled within the Catholic Church, according to child protection expert Hans Zollner. Speaking to feinschwarz.net, Fr Hans Zollner emphasised that in many countries, Read more
Belgian woman sues Church over deaconate training ban
Monday, May 20th, 2024
A Belgian woman is suing the Catholic Church for gender discrimination after being denied entry into deaconate training. Veer Dusauchoit, 62, claims her exclusion from the programme is solely because she is a woman. “I want to train as a deacon because it interests me and I think that I will then have more tools Read more
Experts applaud updated Vatican guide on weeping Madonnas, bloody crucifixes
Monday, May 20th, 2024
The Vatican has updated its process for evaluating alleged visions of supernatural phenomena. As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, claims of weeping and bleeding statues, mystical visions and stigmata are officially just claims until proven otherwise. Furthermore – the faithful are never obliged to believe in these particular events, says head of the Read more
Pope calls out his conservative critics and their “suicidal attitude”
Monday, May 20th, 2024
Pope Francis said in a CBS 60 Minutes news interview that his conservative critics have a “suicidal attitude”. It is one thing “to take tradition into account, to consider situations from the past, but quite another to be closed up inside a dogmatic box” Francis said. He was responding to a probe into his thoughts Read more
Cardinal Hollerich urges patience on women’s ordination
Monday, May 20th, 2024
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich has cautioned against hastiness in the debate over women’s ordination in the Catholic Church. In an interview with kath.ch, the Luxembourg archbishop stressed “If you attack too much, you won’t achieve much. You have to be cautious, take one step at a time, and then you might be able to go very Read more
Vatican halts plans for parish closures and mergers
Monday, May 20th, 2024
Some planned parish closures and mergers in the US St Louis archdiocese have ground to a halt following appeals and a Vatican directive. Pastoral planning The proposed parish closures and mergers were part of a major archdiocesan pastoral planning initiative. Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski announced the parish closures and mergers a year ago in a plan Read more
Mexico court protects Catholic baptismal records from gender ideology
Monday, May 20th, 2024The Twenty-second Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Mexico has upheld the constitutional autonomy rights of the Querétaro Catholic Diocese. With the legal support of ADF International, the Querétaro Diocese successfully fended off a demand from the Mexican National Institute for Data Protection to alter church records according to a transgender-identifying individual’s self-identification. The transgender-identifying Read more
World’s oldest Cistercian abbey has more than 100 monks
Monday, May 20th, 2024The Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz (Holy Cross) in Austria is the oldest in the world. It dates back almost 1,000 years and currently has more than 100 monks living there. It has never had “interruptions” in its history and is now an oasis of the Catholic Church in Europe. Love for God and others is Read more