Sri Lanka’s top Catholic prelate has urged the country’s political leaders to make good on their promise to resign this week, and he’s voiced hope that a new government will be able to bring the South Asian nation out of its current woes. Speaking to Crux about the unrest that led Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and…
On Tuesday May 24, Cardinal Joseph Zen, retired bishop of Hong Kong, made a court appearance and pled not guilty to charges that led to his arrest earlier this month, saying in a Mass later in the day that Christians must “steel themselves” for defending the faith. Zen, 90, and three other trustees of the…
Initial negotiations have begun between the Catholic Church’s Order of the Holy Sepulchre and Bill Gates’s Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts chain about the potential opening of a luxury hotel near St Peter’s Basilica, catering to the wealthier tourists and pilgrims visiting the Eternal City. The property in question is the Palazzo di Domenico della…
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, visited several cities recently liberated from Russian occupation, including Bucha, where war crimes are believed to have been committed against civilians. On April 7, Archbishop Shevchuk also made stops in Gostomel and Irpin, according to the website for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Standing…
Bishop-elect Christian Carlassare, who was shot in a grisly attack at his residence shortly after his appointment as the new bishop of Rumbek, has recovered and is preparing to return to his diocese with forgiveness and a desire to work for peace in his troubled adoptive nation. A Comboni missionary, Fr Carlassare, 44, will be…
Over the past week, two leading European cardinals, both of whom enjoy broad favour with Pope Francis, have made public statements calling for a change in the Catholic Church’s current position on the issues of homosexuality and priestly celibacy. Homosexual relationships In an interview published in Germany’s Catholic News Agency (KNA) earlier this week, Jesuit…
As the threat of a Russian military incursion in Ukraine continues to loom, European bishops have urged peace, asking that both international law and the sovereignty of each nation involved in the conflict be respected while tensions escalate. In the statement, signed by Archbishop Gintaras Linas Grušas of Vilnius, Lithuania, President of the Council of…
New data released by the Church in Italy highlights what has been a concerning trend among Catholic leaders in the country for decades: namely, a drop in the number of local priests and an increase in the average age of Italy’s clerics. However, this data also found that while there are less men joining the…
Letter from Rome After South Korean President Moon Jae-in invited Pope Francis to visit North Korea, a prominent archbishop indicated that the Vatican is working to foster conditions in which a papal visit to the Asian nation is possible. Archbishop Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect for the Vatican Congregation for Clergy and who is originally from…
Letter from Rome After the death earlier this year of a close friend and former colleague, Benedict XVI wrote a letter to the monastery to which his late friend belonged in which he offered condolences, and said he hoped his journey to the afterlife would not be long in coming. German priest and Cistercian monk…