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October 10, 2017
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican bank has initiated legal action in Malta against unnamed third parties because of "significant damages" incurred after a 17-million-euro investment.
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of nine men and women, including a Franciscan priest who championed the land rights of farmers in Guatemala.
MADRID – A Spanish cardinal defended a unified Spain as a "moral good" and condemned "sedition and fraud" by secessionists working towards Catalan independence.
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Toronto was a zoo on the afternoon of Oct. 7.
OTTAWA – Euthanasia and assisted suicide deaths in Canada could soon exceed the rates of such deaths in Belgium and the Netherlands, warns the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.
October 11, 2017
VATICAN – On Wednesday Pope Francis said Christians are never bored or hopeless, but know how to wait patiently – even when life is hard, monotonous or unclear – with the knowledge that after the darkness, there is always light.
VATICAN – Pope Francis on Tuesday said the variety of Catholic Churches and rites in India is a richness for the country that ought to be strengthened, and as a means of doing so, he expanded the reach of one of the country's indigenous Churches.
LIVERPOOL, England – Two millennia of Christianity in Iraq could be wiped out completely if war breaks out between Iraqi forces and Kurdish nationalists, warned a U.S. adviser to the Chaldean Catholic Church.
In what may be a first for transparency in the Canadian Catholic Church, St. Boniface Archbishop Albert LeGatt has publicly released a 108-page report on the state of his bilingual diocese in Manitoba.
Hundreds of thousands of Polish Catholics gathered along their country’s border Oct. 7 to pray for peace, as well as for the future and salvation of Poland and the world. The event, entitled “Rosary at the Borders,” was organized by a lay movement called the Solo Dios Basta Foundation (God Alone Suffices). It was supported by the Polish Bishop’s Conference and was sponsored by several state-owned companies. Approximately 90 per cent of the country identifies as Catholic. According to The New York Times, participants gathered for prayer at 320 churches near the border of Poland as well as in 4,000 designated prayer zones. The prayer took place on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which also commemorates the anni-versary of the Battle of Lepanto, during which Mary, through the prayer of the rosary, is credited for a key victory against the Ottoman Empire. CHURCH ‘SHAKEN’: The Catholic Church in Australia has been “shaken to the core” over the abuse scandal and is facing the biggest crisis in its history, the Archbishop of Brisbane has said. Mark Coleridge, vice-president of the Australian Bishops’ Conference, was speaking Oct. 9 after visiting Rome with fellow Australian bishops for talks about the fallout of the clerical sexual abuse crisis which has been the focus of an Australian royal commission. The scandal widened when police in June charged Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican treasurer and former Archbishop of Sydney, with historic sexual offences. Pell has taken a leave of absence while he seeks to clear his name. RECTOR LEAVES: The Legionaries of Christ pledged its ongoing commitment to reform as it released information about a former rector who has publicly acknowledged being the father of two children. Legionaries’ Fr. Oscar Turrion, who has served as rector of the order’s seminary in Rome since 2014, informed his superiors of “his intention to leave priestly ministry” in light of the revela-tions, the order said in a statement Oct. 6. Turrion, who also released his own letter describing the affair, offered his apologies and asked for prayers. AGENCIES GUIDE: Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Toronto has published a 24-page booklet listing social service agencies to help parishes respond to families in need. Cardinal Thomas Collins specifically links the booklet, titled Outreach in Justice and Love: A Social Services Resource, with his hopes for parishes to develop comprehensive pastoral plans. For a copy, call (416) 934-3401.
News and notes from around the Catholic world as collected by The Catholic Register. Hundreds of thousands of Polish Catholics gathered along their country’s border Oct. 7 to pray for peace, as well as for the future and salvation of Poland and the world. The event, entitled “Rosary at the Borders,” was organized by a lay movement called the Solo Dios Basta Foundation (God Alone Suffices). It was supported by the Polish Bishop’s Conference and was sponsored by several state-owned companies. Approximately 90 per cent of the country identifies as Catholic. According to The New York Times, participants gathered for prayer at 320 churches near the border of Poland as well as in 4,000 designated prayer zones. The prayer took place on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which also commemorates the anni-versary of the Battle of Lepanto, during which Mary, through the prayer of the rosary, is credited for a key victory against the Ottoman Empire. CHURCH ‘SHAKEN’: The Catholic Church in Australia has been “shaken to the core” over the abuse scandal and is facing the biggest crisis in its history, the Archbishop of Brisbane has said. Mark Coleridge, vice-president of the Australian Bishops’ Conference, was speaking Oct. 9 after visiting Rome with fellow Australian bishops for talks about the fallout of the clerical sexual abuse crisis which has been the focus of an Australian royal commission. The scandal widened when police in June charged Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican treasurer and former Archbishop of Sydney, with historic sexual offences. Pell has taken a leave of absence while he seeks to clear his name. RECTOR LEAVES: The Legionaries of Christ pledged its ongoing commitment to reform as it released information about a former rector who has publicly acknowledged being the father of two children. Legionaries’ Fr. Oscar Turrion, who has served as rector of the order’s seminary in Rome since 2014, informed his superiors of “his intention to leave priestly ministry” in light of the revela-tions, the order said in a statement Oct. 6. Turrion, who also released his own letter describing the affair, offered his apologies and asked for prayers. AGENCIES GUIDE: Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Toronto has published a 24-page booklet listing social service agencies to help parishes respond to families in need. Cardinal Thomas Collins specifically links the booklet, titled Outreach in Justice and Love: A Social Services Resource, with his hopes for parishes to develop comprehensive pastoral plans. For a copy, call (416) 934-3401.
News and notes from around the Catholic world as collected by The Catholic Register. Hundreds of thousands of Polish Catholics gathered along their country’s border Oct. 7 to pray for peace, as well as for the future and salvation of Poland and the world. The event, entitled “Rosary at the Borders,” was organized by a lay movement called the Solo Dios Basta Foundation (God Alone Suffices). It was supported by the Polish Bishop’s Conference and was sponsored by several state-owned companies. Approximately 90 per cent of the country identifies as Catholic. According to The New York Times, participants gathered for prayer at 320 churches near the border of Poland as well as in 4,000 designated prayer zones. The prayer took place on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which also commemorates the anni-versary of the Battle of Lepanto, during which Mary, through the prayer of the rosary, is credited for a key victory against the Ottoman Empire.
October 12, 2017
Ruteng, Indonesia – An Indonesian prelate resigned Wednesday as Bishop of Ruteng amid mounting concerns surrounding an alleged mistress and reportedly stolen funds. Bishop Hubertus Leteng, 58, was accused of borrowing $94,000 from the Indonesian bishops’ conference, as well as $30,000 from the Diocese of Ruteng. Leteng said the money was being used to fund a poor youth’s education, although he failed to give any further details or information, according to Ucanews. He was additionally criticized for reportedly taking a mistress – an allegation which Leteng called “slanderous.” In June, more than 60 priests of the diocese resigned from their assignments in protest of Leteng’s administration of the diocese. A year earlier, 112 of the diocese's 167 priests had signed a letter of no confidence in Leteng, citing their suspicions of financial mismanagement and incontinence. The Vatican has been investigating the accusations brought against Leteng since April, and Pope Francis accepted Leteng’s resignation Oct. 11. Following Leteng’s departure, Bishop Sylvester San of Denpasar will serve as apostolic administrator of Ruteng until a bishop is named. Leteng was ordained a priest of the Ruteng diocese in 1988, and was appointed its bishop in 2009. He was consecrated a bishop April 14, 2010. Though Indonesia is a heavily majority-Muslim country, the island of Flores, on which Ruteng is located, is largely Catholic. Flores was colonized by Portugal, and nearly 89 percent of the population of the Ruteng diocese is Catholic.
Ruteng, Indonesia – An Indonesian prelate resigned Wednesday as Bishop of Ruteng amid mounting concerns surrounding an alleged mistress and reportedly stolen funds.
The death penalty, no matter how it is carried out, "is, in itself, contrary to the Gospel," Pope Francis said.
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis' @Pontifex Twitter accounts reached more than 40 million followers just a few months before the fifth anniversary of when Pope Benedict XVI launched the initiative.
Amid international condemnation of Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya people, Pope Francis will visit Myanmar and Bangladesh to recognize each nation’s struggle for independence, promote interreligious respect and encourage the minority Catholic communities.
VATICAN – No matter how much suffering Christians face in the world, God never forgets those who trust in and serve him, Pope Francis told leaders of Eastern Catholic churches.
EDMONTON – Fr. Issa Maamar knows how it feels to sing the Ave Maria in Damascus while rockets are blowing up your children’s schools and your hometown.
The University of Alberta Pro-Life student group is planning to appeal after a provincial court ruled in favour of the university’s decision to charge $17,500 in security fees as a condition to host a public event on campus.