Search Results for: Vatican

In the wake of the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, many of Israel’s supporters, myself included, have succumbed to the understandable impulse for violent retribution. Israel is a land that I love, both culturally as a Jew — and third-generation Holocaust survivor — and spiritually as an ordained cantor. It follows that [...]

The Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec on Friday announced that their cardinal, Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, would be stepping down “temporarily…until the situation is clarified” after being named as an alleged perpetrator in the recently approved class action suit, Gaétan Bégin and Pierre Bolduc v. The Roman Catholic Archiepiscopal Corporation of Quebec and The Roman Catholic Archbishop of [...]

Pope Francis on Monday showed concern when discussing the crackdown of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua. Official news outlet Vatican News quoted that as of Monday, Nicaraguan authorities have arrested at least 14 priests, one bishop and two seminarians over the past week. The Vatican News also reported the 26-year sentence of Bishop Rolando José Álvarez [...]

A Vatican court sentenced Cardinal Angelo Becciu to 5.5 years in prison Saturday after the prelate was convicted of embezzlement and fraud in relation to a real estate investment scandal that cost the Vatican millions of Euros. The Cardinal was also handed a €8,000 fine and barred from holding public office in the Holy See. [...]

The Tribunal of Vatican City State ordered two Italian activists Monday to pay 28,148 euros in restitution for the damages caused by their protest. The court found that two members of Ultima Generazione (Last Generation), Guido Viero and Ester Goffi, damaged the base of the Gruppo del Laocoonte (Laocoön Group) statute inside the Vatican Museum, [...]

Bolivian Roman Catholic Church leaders Wednesday admitted that the Church had been “deaf” to the persistent sexual abuse which has occurred within its schools as outrage over recent reports of child sexual abuse by priests continues to grow. Monsignor Giovani Arana, secretary general of Bolivia Bishops’ Conference, delivered an address to victims of the abuse [...]

Pope Francis dispatched Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, a top Vatican sex crime investigator, to Bolivia on Monday as victims of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of priests continue to come forward. Bertomeu, a leading member of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), previously led investigations of abuses committed by priests against minors [...]

Pope Francis Wednesday approved historic reforms granting women the right to vote in the Synod of Bishops, an assembly of bishops from around the world which gathers regularly to discuss Church matters and advise the Pope. The move reflects continued pressures the Pope has faced to grant women greater representation within the Roman Catholic Church, [...]

The Vatican Thursday announced a formal rejection of a 15th century theory known as the ‘Doctrine of Discovery.’ In a statement, the Church said it “repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent rights of indigenous peoples.” The ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ arose from several documents collectively known as the papal bulls. Key amongst them [...]

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9) South Sudan, Africa’s youngest nation, has been struggling with civil strife, armed conflict and a deplorable state of human rights and the rule of law before and after its independence in 2011. South Sudan came to international attention in the early [...]