Tag Archives: Catholic Church

Rumors Swirl That Pope Francis May Soon Step Down

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis added fuel to rumors about the future of his pontificate by announcing he would visit the central Italian city of L’Aquila in August for a feast initiated by Pope Celestine V, one of the few pontiffs who resigned before Pope Benedict XVI stepped down in 2013. Italian and Catholic media have been rife with …

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$2M Gold Relic Stolen From Brooklyn Catholic Church

The Associated Press reports: Police say someone busted into the altar at a New York City church, stole a $2 million gold relic and removed the head from a statue of an angel at some point late last week. The incident happened at St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church, known as the “Notre Dame” of Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. The tabernacle, …

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Pope Snubs Archbishop Who Denied Communion To Pelosi, Elevates Lower-Ranked Archbishop To Cardinal

The Los Angeles Times reports: Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, one of Pope Francis’ ideological allies who has often sparred with more conservative U.S. bishops, was named by the pope on Sunday as one of 21 new cardinals. Among his notable stances, McElroy, 68, has been one of a minority of U.S. bishops harshly criticizing the campaign to exclude …

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Pelosi Hits Back At Archbishop Over Communion Ban

The Washington Post reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday questioned whether a San Francisco archbishop who said he would deny her Communion over abortion rights was using a double standard by allowing politicians who support the death penalty to receive the sacrament. “I wonder about the death penalty, which I’m opposed to. So is the church, but they …

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Former Louisiana Priest Charged With Rape [VIDEO]

New Orleans’ Fox affiliate reports: A former Jesuit priest and non-profit director has been arrested a second time for sex crimes allegations, jail records show. Stephen Sauer is accused of taking lewd photos and videos of unconscious men and sexually abusing at least one victim. Sauer was removed from his position with the Arc of Greater New Orleans, an agency …

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Archbishop Defies Pope, Bans Pelosi From Communion

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: The San Francisco archbishop issued a notice Friday that he would no longer allow House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to receive Communion, an escalation of his feud with the Catholic Democrat over abortion politics. In a public notification to Pelosi, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote that he had warned Pelosi in April that she must either repudiate …

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NM Archdiocese To Pay $121M In Abuse Settlement

ABC News reports: One of the oldest Catholic dioceses in the United States announced a settlement agreement Tuesday to resolve a bankruptcy case in New Mexico that resulted from a clergy sex abuse scandal. The tentative deal totals $121.5 million and would involve about 375 claimants. “The church takes very seriously its responsibility to see the survivors of sexual abuse …

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Pedophile Ex-Priest Charged With DUI Manslaughter

The San Jose Mercury News reports: Stephen Kiesle, the ex-Oakland priest and sex offender, allegedly admitted to drinking two beers before rolling his car over a curb and fatally striking a man who was walking home with his wife, court records show. Kiesle, 75, told an officer he drank “a homemade ale and a Pacifico” beer before driving his 2012 …

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Catholic Bishops Petition Supreme Court To Review Case Challenging CA’s Statute Of Limitations On Molestations

Religion News Service reports: Catholic bishops in California have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case challenging a state law that expands the time survivors of childhood sexual assault have to file their claims. The petition was filed by nine California Catholic archdioceses after the California Supreme Court refused to consider the case. In 2002, California enacted a …

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Pope: Rapist Priests Are Eroding Trust In The Church

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis gave a new mandate to his sex abuse advisory commission Friday, telling its members to work with bishops around the world to establish special welcome centers for victims and to audit the church’s progress on fighting abuse from its new perch within the Vatican. Francis warned that without more accountability from the church, the …

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NJ Diocese To Pay $87M Clergy Sex Abuse Settlement

The Associated Press reports: A New Jersey Catholic diocese has agreed to pay $87.5 million to settle claims involving clergy sex abuse with some 300 alleged victims in one of the largest cash settlements involving the Catholic church in the United States. The agreement between the Diocese of Camden, which encompasses six counties in southern New Jersey on the outskirts …

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Pope Calls For Easter Week Truce In Ukraine [VIDEO]

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis opened Holy Week Sunday with a call for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace, highlighting the need for leaders to “make some sacrifices for the good of the people.” Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass before crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the pandemic, Pope Francis …

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Pope Condemns Russia’s “Savage And Infantile” War

Euronews reports: Pope Francis offered his most pointed condemnation of the war in Ukraine, calling out “infantile and destructive aggression” on Saturday during a trip to Malta. In words that appeared to directly call out President Vladimir Putin, the pope said that “some potentate” caught up in “anachronistic claims of nationalist interests, is provoking and fomenting conflicts”. “We had thought …

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Pope Unveils Reforms On Handling Clerical Sex Abuse

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis released his long-awaited reform program of the Holy See bureaucracy on Saturday that envisages greater decision-making roles for the laity and gives new institutional weight to efforts to fight clerical sex abuse. The document was released Saturday, the ninth anniversary of Francis’ installation as pope and the feast of St. Joseph, an important figure …

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Pope Condemns Putin’s “Perverse Abuse Of Power”

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis on Friday denounced the “perverse abuse of power” on display in Russia’s war in Ukraine and called for aid to Ukrainians who he said had been attacked in their “identity, history and tradition” and were “defending their land.” Francis’ comments, in a message to a gathering of European Catholic representatives, marked some of his …

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Cardinal Once Imprisoned For Molestation Calls On Vatican Officials To Reprimand Two Pro-LGBT Bishops

The National Catholic Register reports: Cardinal George Pell has called on the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to publicly reprimand two of Europe’s most senior bishops for what he said was their “wholesale and explicit rejection” of the Church’s teaching on sexual ethics. In a statement released March 15, Cardinal Pell asked the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation to …

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Bishop To Bless Event Headlined By “Ex-Gay” Milo

The Cleveland Scene reports: The Bishop of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, Edward Malesic, will say a few words and offer a prayer this weekend at a local pro-life convention headlined by toxic “ex-gay” far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. Its program features an array of Christian nationalists and conservative media commentators whose positions on immigration, communities of color, Islam and the LGBTQ …

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Vermont Diocese Fires “Disobedient” Covidiot Priest

The Vermont Digger reports: The Vermont Roman Catholic Diocese has removed a Windsor County pastor who fought calls by the state’s largest religious denomination for Covid-19 vaccinations, masks and other pandemic precautions. Rev. Peter Williams is no longer head of Holy Family Parish of Springfield and neighboring Chester, Bishop Christopher Coyne informed church members in a public letter this week. …

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Anti-LGBT Archbishop Backs Putin, Blames “Deep State”

Religion News Service reports: As Pope Francis continued attempts to mediate the conflict in Ukraine, former Vatican envoy and outspoken papal critic Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò released a letter Monday, blaming “deep state” forces in the United States, the European Union and NATO for triggering the current war and demonizing Russia. “The United States of America and the European States …

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Catholic Bishop Imprisoned In Sexual Abuse Scandal

Reuters reports: A Catholic bishop accused of sexually abusing young men studying to be priests was found guilty by a court in northern Argentina on Friday, capping over a week of often graphic testimony. Gustavo Zanchetta, the former bishop of Oran in Argentina’s northern province of Salta, was convicted of sexually abusing two former seminarians, which prosecutors said in a …

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