Hong Kong – Pope Francis’ response to a request for a symbolic ‘mooncake’ donation to prisoners in Hong Kong has generated excitement and a flood of cash donations since it was published in early September. The Asian Church news portal ucanews.com reported that Cardinal Joseph Zen, retired Archbishop of Hong Kong, issued the request to…

France – A spokesman for France’s bishops urged the government to ensure a new ‘charter of secularism’ does not impede religious freedom. Msgr Bernard Podvin, spokesman for the French bishops’ conference, told the French Catholic daily La Croix that although Church officials understood why the government sent the document to schools last week, “secularism must…

Catholic colleges and universities are ranked among some of the best in the country, US News & World Report’s annual rankings has shown. The University of Notre Dame in Indiana, is the top-ranked national university on the list, placing 18th in the magazine’s annual survey. Georgetown University in Washington was close behind in a three-way…

An Italian priest has given Pope Francis a 20-year-old white Renault 4 to drive himself around the Vatican.  The car – which has 300,000 km on the clock – was presented to the Pope by Fr Renzo Zocca.  Known for his humble lifestyle, Francis said he used to drive the same car in his native…

Pope Francis has responded to the questions of a non-believer journalist, in a letter published on the front page of Rome-based daily La Repubblica. The Pope, who has won praise for spontaneous and unusual moves during his six month papacy, was responding to editorials written by the daily’s founder and long-time editor Eugenio Scalfari, who…

The Vatican’s new secretary of state plans to use the Church’s vast global diplomatic network to build peace. Archbishop Pietro Parolin (pictured) said Pope Francis has already injected a new impetus into the Vaticanís Secretariat of State structure and given a new push for Church-led diplomacy. The archbishop, who is currently the papal nuncio to…

Catholic colleges and universities are ranked among some of the best in the country, US News & World Report’s annual rankings has shown. The University of Notre Dame in Indiana, is the top-ranked national university on the list, placing 18th in the magazine’s annual survey. Georgetown University in Washington was close behind in a three-way…

The chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development has urged the US House of Representatives not to accept a proposed $40 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, California, called the programme “one of the most effective…

Canada’s bishops will be discussing charity, at home and abroad when they meet in Quebec for their annual plenary session next week. Within the past several months, floods in southern Alberta, a fire at Lac-Megantic, Quebec and the flash flooding in Toronto highlighted the fact that Canada’s bishops do not have an organised structure to…

A European-wide petition calling for the protection of life from conception has reached one million signatures and aims to collect another 500,000 by November.   One of Us is one of the first projects to utilise the facility of the European Citizens’ Initiative established by the Lisbon Treaty and it is the asking the EU…