Recent Features

Pope opens new year with prayer for peace

Vatican, Jan 2 2009 (CWN) - The celebration of Christmas "holds a profound Marian connotation," Pope Benedict XVI remarked during his homily at a Vespers service on December 31, as the Church observed the feast of Mary, Mother of God. In times of great uncertainty like the ...

Restoring a Catholic Culture: Where do we start?

Dec 30 2008 (CWN) - Shortly after the US presidential elections I wrote a column in our "Commentary" space lamenting the failure of Catholic Americans to join in a strong ...

Pope Benedict's Christmas messages

Vatican, Dec 29 2008 (CWN) - In a memorable homily delivered at the midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, Pope Benedict XVI said that the ...

Message to the Roman Curia: Pope's 'game plan' for 2009

Vatican, Dec 22 2008 (CWN) - Each year before Christmas, the Pope holds an audience with officials of the Roman Curia, for an exchange of Christmas greetings. Pope Benedict XVI has used these annual occasions as an opportunity to reflect on what he considers the most important ...

Viet Redemptorist provincial rejects government demand for transfer of priests

Hanoi, Dec 18 2008 (CWN) - Despite strong pressure from the Vietnamese government, Church leaders have rejected a call for the transfer of several Redemptorist priests out of Hanoi. Instead the Redemptorist provincial in Vietnam has urged government officials to exercise ...

Simple Christmas festivity contrasts with hedonism and pride, Pope tells audience

Vatican, Dec 17 2008 (CWN) - Christmas is a season of "universal festivity," Pope Benedict XVI told his weekly public audience on December 17. Breaking from his series of talks on the influence of St. Paul, the Holy Father told the crowd in the Paul VI auditorium: "Even ...

Recognize religious violence as terrorism, India's bishops urge government

New Delhi, Dec 17 2008 (CWN) - The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) has urged the government to widen the definition of terrorism in the new anti-terror law introduced in the parliament on December 16 in the wake of the recent terror strikes in Mumbai. Archbishop ...

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News Briefs

Pressure mounts on Irish bishop for mishandling sex-abuse inquiries

1/5 Ireland's two leading prelates have voiced their full support for uniform measures to protect children from sexual abuse, after the ...

Pope urges prayers for peace in Gaza

1/5 Violence will not resolve the problems of the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI said at his Angelus audience on January 4, as he joined all the ...

Brisbane parish not in communion, but archbishop delays action

1/5 A month after his own deadline, Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane, Australia has not taken action against a rebellious parish ...

Cardinal Zen warns Chinese bishops against compromise with Beijing

1/5 Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong has warned the Catholic bishops of mainland China against cooperating with plans by Communist Party ...

San Francisco parish defaced with swastikas

1/5 A Catholic parish in San Francisco was defaced with swastikas and other graffiti on Saturday night. “It appears the vandals are upset ...

Vatican paper sees environmental damage from The Pill

1/5 The official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has drawn heavy media criticism for a January 3 article in which Pedro Jose ...

Reflect again on the mystery of the Incarnation, Pope encourages faithful

1/5 At his Angelus audience on Sunday, January 4, Pope Benedict XVI remarked that the day's Gospel repeated the reading of Christmas Day. ...

Vatican cardinal assesses dialogue with Muslims, Hindus, others

1/5 Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, assesses the current state of interreligious ...

Bolivian president blasts bishops

1/5 Tensions are mounting between Bolivia’s bishops and Socialist president ahead of a January 25 referendum on a new constitution. Calling ...

Vatican agency denounces 'ineffectiveness and violence' of US immigration restrictions

1/5 In a harsh denunciation of US immigration policies, the Fides news service-- an arm of the Vatican's Congregation for Evangelization-- has ...

US bishops call for Gaza ceasefire, humanitarian relief

1/5 Bishop Howard Hubbard, Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, ...

Vietnamese nuns protest another government property seizure

1/5 A community of Catholic religious in Vietnam's Vinh Long diocese have lodged a formal protest against government plans to seize a convent. ...

New Vatican disciplinary action against American Jesuit reported

1/5 The Vatican has taken new disciplinary action against an American Jesuit theologian who was first sanctioned in 2005 for his , according ...

Nun identifies main assailant in Orissa rape case

1/5 A young Catholic nun who was repeatedly raped during the anti-Christian violence in Orissa has identified her principal assailant culprit ...

UN resolution against gender bias traced to Yogyakarta Principles

1/5 A new proposal introduced by the French delegation at the UN, backing a ban on discrimination based on "sexual orientation and gender ...

Survey finds support for some restrictions on abortion

1/5 A survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has found that over 70% of ...

40,000 youth at Taize gathering in Brussels

1/5 Forty thousand young people gathered in Brussels last week for the Taizé Community’s 31st meeting of European youth. The largest ...

New Orleans archbishop calls for end of vigils at closed parishes

1/5 Saying he was concerned about the safety of those taking part in vigils at two closed New Orleans parishes, Archbishop Alfred Hughes tried ...

Analyst finds gaping flaws in study critical of abstinence-education programs

1/5 A widely publicized study by a Johns Hopkins professor, purportedly shows that young people who pledge abstinence before marriage are no ...

Monarch offers land for church building in Bahrain

1/5 King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain has answered a request from Pope Benedict XVI for a plot of land on which a new Catholic church ...

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