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July 13, 2015

Philippine bishops tackle climate change during general meeting

A group of Filipino bishops will draft a position paper to address climate change and to hopefully present it at the 2015 United Nations climate summit in Paris, said Archbishop Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan.

MANILA, Philippines - The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines tackled climate change on different fronts and also addressed a host of other issues, from equitable education to sovereign disputes at its biannual plenary session July 6-13.

Published in International
July 8, 2015

English, Welsh bishops launch initiative for 'missionary parishes'

Auxiliary Bishop Nicholas Hudson of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster and Clare Ward, home mission adviser of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, address media July 7 in London about creating evangelization teams for every parish in England and Wales.

LONDON - Catholic bishops in England and Wales hope to establish evangelization teams to transform about 5,000 churches into "missionary parishes."

Published in International
June 15, 2015

Polish bishops vow to resist change at synod on the family

A woman waves Poland's flag as Pope Francis leads the "Regina Coeli" from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 26.

WARSAW, Poland - Poland's Catholic bishops pledged to resist changes to Catholic teaching on marriage and family life at October's synod on the family at the Vatican and rejected demands for reform by German-speaking Catholics.

Published in International
June 10, 2015

Pope OKs plan to investigate, judge bishops who fail to act on abuse

Pope Francis gestures as he leaves his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican June 10.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has approved new procedures for the Vatican to investigate and judge claims of "abuse of office" by bishops who allegedly failed to protect minors and vulnerable adults from sex abuse.

Published in Vatican
June 4, 2015

Priests on the move in Toronto: 2015 clergy appointments

The following are the clergy changes for the Archdiocese of Toronto. The changes are effective July 2 unless otherwise noted.
Published in Canada: Toronto-GTA
May 27, 2015

Study day on synod did not aim to change doctrine, spokesman says

The German, French and Swiss bishops’ conference presidents prepared for the upcoming Synod of Bishops by listening to theologians, scholars and lawyers. In this photo, Pope Francis, cardinals and cardinals-designate pray before a meeting in the synod hall at the Vatican Feb. 12, 2015.

VATICAN CITY - The presidents of the bishops' conferences of Germany, France and Switzerland decided their preparation for the Synod of Bishops on the family could benefit from listening to theologians, biblical scholars and canon lawyers from all three countries, said the spokesman for the German bishops.

Published in International
May 14, 2015

Exhaustion, no hope: Bishop says life in Syria needs 'attitude of faith'

Syrian citizens clear streets in late April after shelling in Aleppo. Chaldean Catholic Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo says Christians are losing hope, but not faith, as fighting continues.

ROME - Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, Syria, and his people are exhausted.

Published in International
May 14, 2015

Praying for those not of this fold

Praying for those not of this fold

An open letter to Roman Catholic bishops

Dear Bishops

I write to you as a loyal son of the Catholic Church, with a particular request: Could you make an addition to our eucharistic prayers to include an explicit invocation for other Christian churches and for those who lead them?

Published in Fr. Ron Rolheiser
May 12, 2015

Church groups welcome German bishops' changes to employment rules

German bishops changed the local church's labour law, but said that all church staffers including non-Catholics, would still be expected to work “in the spirit of the church” and “refrain from anti-church behaviour.”

OXFORD, England - Catholic organizations in Germany welcomed changes to their church's employment rules, so staffers will no longer face being fired for remarrying without an annulment or for forming gay unions.

Published in International
May 2, 2015

Canada's bishops, D&P launch emergency campaign for Nepal

A man carrying goods walks along a street with houses that were destroyed by an earthquake in Bhaktapur, Nepal, in this April 30 photo.

OTTAWA - Canada's Catholic bishops and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P) have launched a joint emergency campaign to help earthquake victims in Nepal.

Published in Canada
April 30, 2015

Getting it right

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., who was convicted in 2012 on one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse. Bishop Finn is pictured in a 2014 photo at the Vatican.

Early in his papacy Pope Francis committed to continuing the work of Pope Benedict XVI to impose a zero-tolerance policy for abuser priests and see-no-evil bishops. So it was more than symbolic in late April when a Kansas City bishop was forced into retirement following a criminal conviction of failing to report suspected child abuse.

Published in Editorial
April 24, 2015

Polish church recalls clergy martyrs 70 years after Dachau liberation

An image of Father Alois Andritzki hangs above the altar during his Mass of beatification in Dresden, Germany, June 13, 2011. The young German priest was executed in 1943 at the Nazi death camp of Dachau. In his sermon, Bishop Joachim Reinelt of Dresden-Meisse n praised Blessed Andritzki, saying he had shown a "bright face" while enduring the "most awful beastly work" at the concentration camp. (

WARSAW, Poland - Poland's Catholic Church has urged a fitting tribute to hundreds of its priests who died during World War II at the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, Germany.

Published in International
April 22, 2015

Ethiopian bishops: Martyrs were migrants looking for better life

Patriarch Mathias of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church speaks during the April 11 Easter Vigil at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Pope Francis has sent his condolences to the patriarch for the execution of more than 20 Ethiopian Christians at the hands of Islamic State militants in Libya.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Ethiopia's Catholic bishops condemned "in unambiguous terms" the execution of 30 Ethiopian Christian migrants in Libya.

Published in International
April 20, 2015

Greek Orthodox patriarch: World remains silent about missing bishops

Members of the clergy hold candles during a vigil at the Balamand Monastery in Koura, Lebanon, June 22, to pray for the release of bishops kidnapped in northern Syria. Orthodox Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo and Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan Gregorios Yohanna of Aleppo were kidnapped April 22, 2013 in northern Syria while on a humanitarian mission.

BEIRUT - Commemorating the second anniversary of the kidnapping of two Syrian bishops, the Greek Orthodox patriarch lamented the indifference of the international community about their fate.

Published in International
April 16, 2015

Pope urges those guilty of brutality in Kenya to 'come to their senses'

A student wearing face paint walks past wooden crosses during an April 14 memorial concert in Nairobi, Kenya, for the 147 people killed in an attack on Garissa University College. Pope Francis is calling for perpetrators of extremist violence in Kenya "t o come to their senses and seek mercy."

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis mourned the deaths of all those killed in extremist and ethnic violence in Kenya, and admonished the perpetrators to "come to their senses and seek mercy."

Published in International
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