Catholic church
Pope says abortion is murder, urges 'pastoral' approach
He was responding to a question about some US bishops who proposed denying the sacred ritual to politicians who supported abortion rights -- a group that...
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Defrocked US cardinal charged with sexual abuse
McCarrick was thrown out of the Catholic Church in 2019 becoming the highest-ranking Church figure to be expelled in modern times.
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Historic Vatican fraud trial to expose London secrets
Ex-cardinal Angelo Becciu, who served as the equivalent of a papal chief of staff for Pope Francis before being fired last year, has been charged with crimes including embezzlement and abuse of office.
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Polish Catholic Church reports hundreds of abuse claims
From July 2018 through the end of last year, the church received reports of 368 cases of sexual abuse, of which some occurred decades ago while others were recent.
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Pope updates canon law to address paedophilia by priests
Revision of the penal sanctions within the Code of Canon Law followed a lengthy process involving input from canonist and criminal law experts and came after repeated complaints by victims of sexual abuse and others that the code's previous wording was outdated and intransparent.
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Pope tightens Vatican's anti-corruption rules
Senior managers and administrators at the Holy See, the central governing body of the Catholic Church, will have to declare they have no convictions or are not under investigation for corruption, terrorism or exploitation of minors.
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German Church to pay abuse victims up to €50,000
A study commissioned by the German Bishops' Conference and released in 2018 showed that 1,670 clergymen had committed some form of sexual attack against 3,677 minors, mostly boys, between 1946 and 2014.
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Catholic churches across Rome shut due to virus
The churches will reopen when a broader Italian government crackdown on public gatherings expires on 3 April, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the papal vicar for Rome, said in a statement.
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Ex-pope Benedict seeks to end storm over controversial book
Publication of extracts from the book, 'The Depth of our Hearts', by French newspaper 'Le Figaro' on Sunday set off a storm within the Vatican, with some questioning why the 92-year-old Benedict would come out of retirement to co-author a book with ultra-conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah.
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Pope Francis kicks off Christmas celebrations with midnight Mass
The pontiff told crowds gathered at the Vatican for his Christmas Eve Mass: 'You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you.'
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Persecuted Catholics 'honoured' to glimpse Pope Francis in Thailand
Ko Sa is one of just a handful of Vietnamese Catholic refugees registered to attend the mass by Pope Francis, who arrives in Thailand on Wednesday carrying a message of peace and religious tolerance.
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Pope wants to visit South Sudan next year, urges unity govt
Francis spoke of the crisis in the world’s youngest country three days after its president and a former rebel leader agreed to delay forming a unity government for 100 days beyond the 12 November deadline, which itself was an extension of an original deadline last May.
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Pope accepts resignation of New York bishop after abuse claims
New York's Bishop John Jenik was suspended in 2018 pending a Church investigation into the alleged sexual assault in the 1980s.
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Pope Francis visits Mozambique seeking to strengthen peace accord
After a jubilant arrival in Mozambique at the start a three-nation African tour, Pope Francis on Thursday met with political and civil leaders to encourage them to consolidate a fragile peace accord. The pope's three-day visit to Mozambique comes a month after the government signed a historic peace treaty with the former rebel group Renamo, which is now the main opposition party.
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Catholic school priest bans 'Harry Potter' books on exorcist advice
Reverend Dan Reehil contacted exorcists in Rome and the US, who recommended removing the fantasy novels from St. Edward Catholic School's library in Tennessee.
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China ordains first bishop after Vatican deal
China's roughly 12 million Catholics have for decades been split between a government-run association, whose clergy were chosen by the atheist Communist Party, and an unofficial underground church loyal to the Vatican.
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Ex-Vatican treasurer Pell loses appeal on sex abuse convictions, remains in jail
Pell, the highest-ranking Catholic worldwide to be convicted of child sex offences, was sentenced in March to six years in jail after being found guilty on five charges of abusing the two boys at St Patrick’s Cathedral while he was Archbishop of Melbourne in the late 1990s.
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Vatican says laws cannot force priests to break seal of confession
In Australia, an inquiry into child abuse recommended that the country introduce a law forcing religious leaders to report child abuse, including priests told of it during confession.
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Former Vatican treasurer appeals against abuse convictions
George Pell was jailed for six years after he was found guilty on five charges of abusing two boys, 13, while he was archbishop of Melbourne over 20 years ago.
