Survey shows Brazilian priests struggling with stress, loneliness
SÃO PAULO – Most Brazilian priests are stressed out and many of them have developed psychological issues, according to an unprecedented survey of the South American country’s clergy. Between 2020-2021, Father José Carlos Pereira, who is also a sociologist, conducted interviews with 1,858 Brazilian priests. The questions covered a wide range of topics, from their […]
Pope Francis’s Vatican doesn’t share Western alarm over Xi-Putin summit
ROME – As President Xi Jinping of China continues his “journey of friendship, cooperation and peace” to Moscow to cement ties with President Vladimir Putin, the outing is setting off alarms in Western capitals, where officials are worried, among other things, that Beijing’s heretofore tacit support for Russia’s war in Ukraine might turn overt. More […]
John Paul II covered up sexual abuse?: Last Week in the Church with John Allen Jr.
John Paul II covered up sexual abuse? Votes in for same-sex blessings in Germany Pope pens letter to top Iraqi Muslim leader Becciu redeemed? New letters in “Trial of the Century” Baseball and brotherhood
U.S. bishops say Catholic healthcare institutions should not perform gender transitions
NEW YORK – The U.S. Bishops on March 20 issued new guidance that Catholic health care institutions must not perform gender transition interventions, whether surgical or chemical, on a person regardless of their age. “Catholic health care services must not perform interventions, whether surgical or chemical, that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a […]
Santa Fe archbishop ‘ashamed’ of abuse by Catholic clergy
NEW YORK – Less than three months after the Archdiocese of Santa Fe reached an agreement in its yearslong Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, Archbishop John Wester has published an open letter to sexual abuse claimants saying that he is “ashamed” of what happened to them. “With this open letter, I wish to express my profound […]
Vatican vignettes: Married priests, papal trains, Vatican scams and angry anarchists
ROME – Typically during the Lenten season, things slow down a bit in the Vatican as preparations for the major events of Holy Week begin in earnest. In the absence of a single major dramatic narrative, here are a few vignettes providing the sights and sounds of recent days. * * * A group of […]
African faith leaders ask U.S. to help solve security, humanitarian crisis in Sahel region
NEW YORK – Bishop Alfred Aygenta of Navrongo-Bolgatanga, Ghana, remembers a visit to refugee camp on a cooler day this past December where he saw women with small children, many of whom had fallen ill with coughs and colds, absent a place to lay their heads to sleep. The plight of the people Aygneta saw […]
Gänswein rumors would mark a return to form for ex-papal secretaries
ROME – Unconfirmed rumors in Rome currently suggest that Pope Francis is on the brink of sending Germany Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the former priest secretary to Pope Benedict XVI, as his new apostolic nuncio to Costa Rica. While there’s been no announcement along those lines, the Spanish news site Religión Digital reports that the Vatican’s […]
Brazil to establish national pastoral ministry for country’s slums
SÃO PAULO – After years of economic hardship, Brazil has seen the number of people without adequate housing grow significantly. Over the past three years, the homeless population rose 38 percent, to 281,000 people. The South American nation now has 13,000 slums, known as favelas, twice as much as it had 10 years ago. Six […]
Notre Dame ‘abortion doula’ talk was unworthy of Catholic university, local bishop laments
A Notre Dame series titled “Reproductive Justice: Scholarship for Solidarity and Social Change” held an event titled “Trans Care + Abortion Care: Intersections and Questions” on Zoom on March 20, 2023, and drew an audience of about 105 viewers. / Credit: Zoom screen shot CNA Newsroom, Mar 22, 2023 / 08:06 am (CNA). The University of Notre […]