Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, 78, admitted Monday to sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago when he was a parish priest in France. Cardinal Ricard is a member of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; the department charged with investigating abuse cases in the Catholic Church. “I have decided not to remain Read more
The Vatican’s decision to renew the secretive Vatican-China deal amid Beijing’s crackdown on religious freedom conditions is making things worse for Catholics, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) members say. USCIRF Commissioner David Curry (pictured) says “USCIRF is disappointed that the Vatican had decided to renew the provisional agreement with the Chinese government Read more
Pope Francis’s stand on Bahrain’s death penalty shocked incredulous witnesses last week. His stand will be his trip’s legacy, says a death row inmate’s wife. Francis made his views on the death penalty clear during his first speech in Bahrain last Thursday. He chose the country’s royal palace to address two of the most contentious Read more
The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church gave Pope Francis a piece from an exploded Russian mine during a visit to the Vatican on Monday. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk is in Rome this week to speak with Pope Francis and members of the Roman Curia about the war in Ukraine. It is his first Read more
Russia’s ambassador to the Vatican confirmed Pope Francis helped facilitate recent prisoner exchanges with Ukraine and said the Vatican is ready to act as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia. The Italian news agency Askanews reported the ambassador, Aleksandr Avdeyev, said the exchanges of prisoners occur in accordance with the lists of military prisoners of Read more
The Pope’s 39th Apostolic Journey was to Bahrain last week. It was his first visit to Bahrain and second to the Gulf. He was aiming to further solidify his outreach to the Muslim community and to offer support to Bahrain’s small Christian minority. Pope Francis and the King Francis’s first official engagement was a courtesy Read more
Speaking to reporters on the plane returning from a four-day trip to Bahrain, Pope Francis, Sunday, praised the women he has appointed to managerial jobs in the Vatican. They have had improved things there, he said. One he mentioned by name was Sister Raffaella Petrini, who as the deputy governor of Vatican City is effectively Read more
God always sees people’s potential, looking past mistakes and understanding what they can become, says Pope Francis. He told people gathered for the Angelus in St Peter’s Square on Sunday that Jesus always looks at us with love. If you feel your are “not up to the challenges of life and, even less, of the Read more
A papal knighthood is a rare honour. Even more so is being honoured as a Papal Knight of St Gregory. Jewish Papal Knights of St Gregory are even rarer. The order, established in 1831, recognises personal service or unusual labour in support of the Catholic Church. Rabbi A. James Rudin, the longtime interreligious affairs director Read more
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has called the Synod on Synodality a potential “hostile takeover of the Church of Jesus Christ.” Pope Francis announced last week that he is adding an extra year to the Synod on Synodality. Pope Francis has described it as a Read more