Simon Caldwell, Author at Catholic Herald

Simon Caldwell

Catholic librarian sacked for criticising council’s China contract elected as councillor to same local authority

May 09, 2023

A Catholic former librarian has been elected as an independent councillor to the local authority that sacked her for publicly criticising its decision to award a multi-million pound redevelopment contract to a Chinese firm. Maureen O’Bern was fired by Wigan Council in 2021 when she objected to a £135 million deal with Beijing Construction Engineering

Vatican probe criticises Newcastle bishop for ‘errors of judgement’ – but rejects lockdown parties as myth

May 04, 2023

The Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle resigned last year following “a succession of errors of judgement”, a Vatican investigation has found. But the review led by Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool dismissed reports of “lewd parties” in the media as “simply untrue”. The investigation identified four key issues which unsettled the leadership of the diocese

Pope Francis upholds Catholic ban on contraception

May 02, 2023

Pope Francis has sent a message to a Natural Family Planning (NFP) conference in which he upheld the central teachings of Humanae Vitae, the papal encyclical of 1968 that prohibited married Catholics from using contraception. The Pontiff stated that the unitive and procreative aspects of sexual intercourse were “inseparable” and he called for a counter-sexual

Pontifical Academy for Life president says assisted suicide ‘feasible’

April 24, 2023

The Italian archbishop in charge of the Pontifical Academy of Life has said that assisted suicide is “feasible” under certain conditions. Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the president of the academy founded by Pope St John Paul II to promote and defend human life, suggested that the practice could not be ruled out if certain safeguards are

Dutch legalise euthanasia for primary school-age children

April 18, 2023

Euthanasia is to be extended to primary school-age children in the Netherlands, the Dutch government has announced. Health Minister Ernst Kuipers said that children aged five to 12 years can obtain lethal injections if “life termination is the only viable option to end the child’s hopeless and unbearable suffering”. The country already allows the euthanasia

Islamists kill 55,000 Nigerian Christians in 14 years

April 18, 2023

Islamic militants in Nigeria have killed almost 55,000 Christians in the last 14 years, a new report has said. Since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009, a total of 52,250 Christians have been murdered in the West African country, according to a report called Martyred Christians in Nigeria. More than 1,000 Christians have already

Police relax bail conditions stopping Catholic woman from praying in public

April 17, 2023

Police have agreed to relax bail conditions preventing a Catholic woman from praying in public following her second arrest outside an abortion facility. Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested for praying outside the British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinic in Station Road, Birmingham. It came just two weeks after a judge in the city ruled that she had

FBI spied on American Catholics, documents reveal

April 14, 2023

Catholic churchgoers in America were spied upon by undercover government agents, leaked documentation has revealed. At least one undercover operative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was commissioned to secretly gather evidence which might link Catholics to “the far right nationalist movement”, a US government committee has heard. The FBI focused in particular on

Pope appoints Spanish archbishop as Nuncio to Great Britain

April 13, 2023

Pope Francis has appointed a Spanish archbishop who speaks six languages as the new Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain. Madrid-born Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía replaces Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, an Italian who was named by the Holy Father as prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches on 21 November 2022. A career diplomat, Archbishop Maury

Catholic bioethics institute criticises ‘extreme’ proposals to deregulate embryo research and IVF legislation

April 11, 2023

A world-leading Catholic bioethical institute has severely criticised proposals to radically deregulate destructive experimentation on human embryos. A consultation by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) proposes the abolition of the 14-day upper time limit on experiments on foetuses and human-monkey hybrid embryos conceived outside the womb. The regulatory quango also wants to permit the

Percentage of over-65s with ‘no religion’ doubles in last decade

April 04, 2023

The proportion of English and Welsh people over 65 who have “no religion” has doubled over the last decade, a new analysis of census data has revealed. A report by the Office for National Statistics showed that in 2021 a total of 17.5 per cent of people in that age group said they have no

Employers actively discriminate against people because of their faith, says new study

April 03, 2023

Discrimination against Catholics is rife in the workplace and especially in the public sector, a new study has found. A survey conducted by the Catholic Union said that religious freedom was a “blind spot” for employers actively mistreating and discriminating against people because of their faith. In a poll of 222 members and supporters, almost

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