The Catholic leader responsible for a world-famous and much beloved Marian healing shrine in France has ordered measures to lower the visibility of mosaic artwork by an accused serial rapist, but has stopped short – for the time being – of ordering the removal of the art. Fr Marko Rupnik is accused of abusing dozens…
In the midst of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, the patriarchs and leaders of ancient Christian churches in Jerusalem have signed a joint document in which they denounce that four Israeli municipalities have sought to levy municipal taxes on church properties in violation of “centuries” of historical agreements. The Church leaders, including Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa,…
A Belgian civil court has fined two Catholic prelates after they denied a woman entry into a diaconate formation program. According to the Belgian newspaper De Morgen, the woman, Veer Dusauchoit, asked the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels to register for training as a deacon in June 2023 and again in October 2023. Ms Dusauchoit made her first request…
Inga Kilian The mosaics by the controversial Jesuit artist Marko Rupnik in the French pilgrimage site of Lourdes will not be removed from the basilica for the time being. Although he is convinced that they will have to be removed one day, the Bishop of Lourdes, Jean-Marc Micas, told the French newspaper “La Croix” (Tuesday…
Spain’s Catholic Church has excommunicated a group of 10 nuns after they refused to renounce their allegiance to a rebel former priest. The sisters, who live in a 15th-century convent in Belorado on the St James Way pilgrimage route near Burgos, said last month they no longer recognised rule by the Vatican and claimed they…
Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that about 9,000 Christian families have returned to their homes on the Nineveh Plains after fleeing a decade ago, when ISIS took the region. In June of 2014, the Islamist extremist group captured Mosul and the villages to the north and…
A surge in kidnappings has hit Nigeria’s Catholic clergy, with two more priests abducted within the past two weeks. Fr Christian Ike – the parish priest of St Matthew’s Church in Ajalli, Anambra State, was taken on June 16 alongside Fr Ogbonnia Aneke after a church service. The kidnapping was confirmed by the Chancellor of…
The head of the Vatican’s communications department is defending his office’s use of an accused sexual abuser’s art on its website. The Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See, Italian layman Paolo Ruffini, offered his defence last Friday, in response to questions from journalists attending his keynote address at the annual Catholic…
German development aid is under scrutiny. But Bill Gates has a clear opinion on the matter: The money from Germany saves many lives. Frankfurt (KNA) Bill Gates (68) has taken up the cudgels in favour of development cooperation. “The fact is that development cooperation – if implemented correctly – can do an incredible amount of…
The Pope faces being investigated after allegedly authorised the unlawful wiretaps of phones in the sale of a London property. The alleged authorisation is said to have taken place during a Vatican investigation into the “corrupt” sale of a €300 million property in London. It comes after the legal team for British financier Raffaele Mincione filed a complaint…