On September 29, Catholics celebrate the feast of the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Saint Michael, whose name in Hebrew means “Who is like God?”, is depicted in the Bible as the commander of the heavenly host and the victor over Satan, who appears as a dragon. He is often shown in sacred art as standing over the devil, sword in hand, with one foot on the devil’s head.
A 67-year-old Roman Catholic nun was excommunicated and ousted from her religious order last week after revealing that she had been secretly ordained a priest earlier this year and has since been presiding over Catholic rituals.
In an address to an interreligious audience Wednesday, Pope Francis paid tribute to the Jewish people, noting that in Jewish-Christian relations, “indifference and opposition have turned into cooperation and goodwill.”
In the lead-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris next month, a group of cardinals, patriarchs and bishops have called for a radical, legally binding international climate agreement that mandates, among other things, complete global decarbonization by 2050 and “an end to the fossil fuel era.”
A monk has been banned from delivering religious leaflets in Britain for the next five years following complaints of homophobia. Brother Damon Kelly of the Black Hermits, a tiny Catholic group based in Northampton, pleaded guilty in June to harassing
Pope Francis said that on hearing the news of the passing of Cardinal Korec, he was moved with “deep emotion” and sorrow, calling him “a generous and zealous shepherd who in his long ministry in the Church offered a fearless witness of the Gospel” and was a “staunch defender of the faith and human rights.” The pontiff sent a telegram of condolences to the President of Slovakia’s bishops’ conference.
The left-wing of Catholicism just concluded a two-year campaign to convince the universal Church to change its teachings on marriage, divorce, communion, and homosexuality.
In spite of sensational media claims that Pope Francis suffered a major “defeat” at the hands of conservative bishops during the recently concluded synod on the family, all evidence suggests that the Pope got exactly what he wanted: a frank debate on the situation of Christian families in the world today and how the Church can more effectively serve them.
As the Vatican synod on marriage and the family draws to a close with no significant change in Catholic doctrine or practice, liberals are left nursing their wounds over yet another revolution that didn’t happen.
The rights advocacy group Amnesty International has launched a high-level campaign calling for the decriminalization of abortion in Ireland, a crusade critics are denouncing as disingenuous and anti-Catholic.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi is vigorously denying rumors that Pope Francis is suffering from a brain tumor, calling the reports “entirely unfounded” and the reporting “gravely irresponsible.”
In his homily Tuesday morning, Pope Francis reminded his hearers we are all sinners, but that in God’s abundant goodness, He is waiting “to throw a party” for His sons and daughters who come home to Him.
In his most important address yet to the bishops gathered for the Vatican Synod on the Family, Pope Francis reasserted his authority Saturday, reminding the bishops that the synod operates “not only with Peter, but also under Peter.”
Although many people have come to swallow the caricature of Pope Pius XII as “Hitler’s Pope,” after the malicious smear campaign by John Cornwell, the facts now seem overwhelmingly to reveal the opposite: not only was Pius adamantly opposed to the Führer’s policies; he actively sought to have him assassinated.
A recent article in the Atlantic features “a totally ordinary Catholic family,” one composed of two Lesbian ex-nuns and their adopted daughter. They’re campaigning to be accepted in the Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Francis urged Christians to live in the light and to speak clearly, saying that hypocrisy leads people to live in ambiguity and confusion.
A law professor at Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York is appealing for an end to the institution of marriage in America, which he describes as “religious, gendered, and bourgeois.” Ethan J. Leib published his essay in the Fordham Law Review.
Pope Francis is expressing his esteem for science, but also coming down hard against the “new atheists” such as Richard Dawkins who deny the existence of anything beyond the material world. Francis adds that “the Creator is infinitely greater than our knowledge.”
Pope Francis, who has often said that doctrine is not everything, praised Saint Paul Thursday morning as a model of one who defended doctrine–the doctrine of the greatness of God’s love.
Parishioners of a long-closed Catholic church south of Boston have lost their appeal of a ruling ordering them to end their 11-year, 24/7 vigil inside the building.
“In the name of the Church, I would like to ask forgiveness for the scandals that have occurred in recent times, both in Rome and in the Vatican,” Pope Francis said at the beginning of Wednesday’s General Audience.
The redoubtable Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles J. Chaput, told his fellow bishops gathered in the Vatican Synod on the Family that in a world as confused as our own, precise language is critical for keeping the Church united, and unity is key.
A massive, multi-decade project of translating the entire Bible into the Mayan language of Tzotzil has finally been completed, and was commemorated with a Mass celebrated in that language in the state of Chiapas, Mexico.
In the immediate wake of the Vatican sacking of a gay priest who attempted to upstage the Vatican Synod on the Family by “coming out” with his boyfriend the day before it began, Socialist French President François Hollande has withdrawn his proposal of Laurent Stefanini, an openly gay official, for the post of ambassador to the Holy See.
On Friday, an unprecedented letter written to Pope Francis by thirteen cardinals taking part in the Vatican synod on marriage and the family was published online, revealing contention regarding the revamped synodal process as well as the suitability of the draft document being used to guide the bishops’ discussions.
