Syro-Malabar Church leaders in India are threatening to excommunicate priests who do not comply with facing the altar during Mass by July. The Syro-Malabar Church, with an estimated following of 4.25 million worldwide, is the second largest of the eastern Churches in communion with Rome. Ever since its synod decided in 2021 to adopt a…
The Cathedral of Prato, Italy, was the setting last Saturday for the ordination of a former punk band guitarist and policeman. Fr Giulio Vannucci, who has long hair and a beard and who earlier in life was part of the group i Quanti, a local punk band, was ordained along with Fr Michele Di Stefano,…
With the Diocese of San Diego facing about 450 lawsuits over alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests, religious, and laity, Cardinal Robert McElroy has informed the clergy and faithful that today the diocese will file for bankruptcy for the second time. The announcement comes about 16 months after Cardinal McElroy said the diocese was…
Wiesbaden (KNA) The number of abortions in Germany remains at a high level. Around 28,200 abortions were reported in the first quarter of 2024. This was just under 2.3% more than in the first quarter of 2023 (27,600) and 11.4% more than in the fourth quarter of 2023 (25,300), according to the Federal Statistical Office…
After two days occupying the apostolic nunciature in Bogotá, protestors agreed to leave. They were protesting the violence of paramilitary groups against community leaders and Indigenous peoples and will now hold a meeting with the government about potential solutions. The group of about 15 activists got into the area on June 4, during a march…
Less than a week after Pope Francis called on people to recognise migrants as “a living image of God’s people on their way to the eternal homeland,” voters across Europe dealt a potentially serious blow to that vision by rewarding far-right, anti-immigrant parties in elections for the European parliament. While mainstream, pro-EU forces are still…
A national gathering will explore how black Catholics can “embrace the gifts” they bring to the church, particularly to the Mass, according to organisers. Some 300 are expected to attend the 2024 Lyke Conference, which takes place June 18 to 22 in Grapevine, Texas. The event, launched in 2004 and held annually for most of the years…
A Christian man attacked in Pakistan on May 25 died in the hospital on Monday, causing a leading bishop to call for stronger protection of religious minorities in the Muslim nation. According to local observers, hundreds of Muslims took part in the mob violence in Sargodha, Pakistan, located in the Punjab province, in May. The…
Pope Francis condemned the recent killing of 14 Catholics in the African Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who reportedly were killed after they refused to convert to Islam. The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reported that the 14 Catholics, several of them very young, were killed in North Kivu by members of the ISIS-affiliated militia called the…
Church leaders risk sowing scandal and confusion, experts say, by allowing a female monk who has been living as a male for years – and who recently publicly announced her transgender identity – to continue presenting herself as a man. Christian Matson, a hermit living in the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, went public with her…