According to my calculations, this is the 817th issue of the Catholic Herald that I’ve edited. It is also the last. After almost 16 years as editor, I’m passing my swivel chair to the talented Dan Hitchens. I’ve often wondered what this moment would be like. I had expected it to come much sooner. When

Pope Francis “initiated and approved” last week’s Holy See-China meeting, reports the South China Morning Post. Nelson Pérez has been installed as the new Archbishop of Philadelphia (Rocco Palmo). A priest has condemned the killing of at least 22 people in Cameroon’s Anglophone region. Cardinal Oswald Gracias has been re-elected president of the Catholic Bishops’

One in four new priests in Europe is ordained in Poland, according to a new study. The cardinal entrusted with reforming the Legion of Christ advised an abuse victim’s mother to work out a compensation deal “without attorneys”, according to AP. Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick “secretly gave nearly $1 million” to a group led by

“People who make war do not know how to master their passions,” Pope Francis said at yesterday’s Angelus (full text, full video). The next ordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops will take place in autumn 2022. The Vatican’s “foreign minister” has held a rare meeting with his Chinese counterpart (John Allen). China’s new

The question of married priests “must now be worked out with the Pope and the offices of the Holy See”, Cardinal Cláudio Hummes has said. Hong Kong diocese has suspended public Masses for two weeks in response to the coronavirus epidemic. More than 200,000 pilgrims have prayed for victims of the outbreak at an Indian

Syria is still facing a potential “humanitarian catastrophe”, apostolic nuncio Cardinal Mario Zenari as said. Ouagadougou archdiocese has become one of the first African dioceses to create a safeguarding office (French report). Donations to the Archdiocese of Washington’s annual appeal have fallen by a third. Jimmy Akin, Austen Ivereigh, Sandro Magister, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Edward

Nigeria’s future “hangs precariously in a balance”, a bishop has said at the funeral of a murdered seminarian. Pope Francis will release his Amazon exhortation today on the 15th anniversary of the killing of Sister Dorothy Stang (Spanish report). Prosecutors in the Philippines have dropped charges of sedition against four Church leaders. Bishops have consecrated

A new Catholic television station has begun broadcasting in Uganda. Ireland’s next government must remedy “scandalous” healthcare failings, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has said. The Vatican is investigating a Polish bishop over abuse allegations. Benedict Rogers argues that the Vatican-China deal is “problematic in four respects”. RJ Smith examines the case of Cardinal Pell.

There are many signs of hope in the American Church. We'll be covering it even more

A daily guide to what's happening in the Catholic Church

A daily guide to what's happening in the Catholic Church

A daily guide to what's happening in the Catholic Church