The Australian court has ordered Cardinal George Pell to stand trial. He will be defending historical sexual offence allegations which he denies. The Vatican has issued the following statement about the court’s decision: “The Holy See has taken note of the decision issued by judicial authorities in Australia regarding His Eminence Cardinal George Pell. “Last Read more
The Vatican Financial Information Authority says suspicious financial activity in the Vatican has decreased for the second year in a row. The Authority says efforts to help the Vatican comply with international norms for fighting money laundering and terrorist financing are paying off. A report which the Authority released last Friday says 150 suspicious financial Read more
An exorcism course being held in Rome this week has drawn about 250 priests from dozens of countries. There is an increasing demand for exorcisms throughout the world. Topics the course covers include how to identify demonic possession, witchcraft in Africa, how to tell the difference between demonic possession and mental illness, and the rituals Read more
A Vatican ruling on giving Communion to Protestants is being sought. According to draft guidelines approved by the German Bishops’ Conference in February, Protestant spouses may receive Communion after making a “serious examination of conscience”. The Bishops’ Conference says they must also affirm “the faith of the Catholic Church”, and wish to end “serious spiritual Read more
The new Chief of Protocol of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State is Msgr. Joseph Murphy. Murphy, who is 49, succeeds Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt. Read more
During the long reign of Pope John Paul II the Vatican’s semi-official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, was regularly derided as the church’s version of Pravda – the propaganda rag that the Communist Party in the former Soviet Union disseminated each day under the banner of “Truth.” The Vatican paper, which had devolved into a receptacle of Read more
The Vatican admits an image of a letter it sent the media last week did not include the full copy. In the media release, only part of a five-paragraph letter from Emeritus Pope Benedict was visible. The bottom two lines of the first page and all but Benedict’s signature on the second page were obscured. Read more
China is backing enhanced international collaboration to help fight global organ trafficking. At an organ trafficking summit at the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences this week, Wang Haibo said global collaboration could start with sharing information and developing a coding system. Wang, who is head of the China Organ Transplant Response System, suggested China’s organ Read more
Forty gay priests and seminarians are implicated in a 1,200-page document claiming they used a male escort. The escort Francesco Mangiacapra gave the documents to Cardinal Cresenzio Sepe of Naples, who passed it on to the Vatican. The document is said to contain social media conversations and photos showing priests and seminarians are actively interested in Read more
The Vatican has invited hackers to its first-ever hackathon. The four-day coding marathon event began yesterday. The hackathon, called VHacks, has brought together people from all faiths as well as those who have no faith. In this, computer scientists, developers and designers use technology to solve global problems. Read more