This is either the best or the worst time for a papal visit to Ireland. It’s easy to understand why it might be the worst. Consider these news stories from just the past week: ■ A grand jury report on six dioceses in Pennsylvania found that 300 priests had abused more than 1,000 people over
✣ Pope deplores abuse in letter to world’s Catholics What happened? Pope Francis has called on all Catholics to engage in penitential prayer and fasting following the publishing of a grand jury report into sexual abuse in Pennsylvania. In a letter to “the People of God”, the Pope said that the Church needed to beg
✣ Highlights from the week online Mega-dioceses are part of the problem At his website, Taylor Marshall suggested one little-discussed reason for the abuse crisis: the growth of the “mega-diocese”. It used to be the case, Marshall wrote, that a diocese was small enough for a bishop to oversee. But today, he said, “the Archdiocese
Telegraph Creek, British Columbia Bishop asks for prayers as wildfire rages Wildfire has destroyed a Catholic mission church, rectory and multiple homes in a small community in the Diocese of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, north-west Canada. The wildfire began with a lightning strike on August 1. A state of emergency was declared three days later, all
Who is Archbishop Peña? Pope Francis has finally named a new deputy for the powerful Vatican Secretariat of State. He had rendered the post vacant in late June when he gave a red hat to the former occupant, Angelo Becciu, and named him prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The longer the
The Church is preparing for battle over compulsory organ donation Earlier this year Joe Ball and his family made a 500-mile round trip from Devon to Winsford, Cheshire, to visit a boy called Max Johnson. Mr Ball, 35, wept as he embraced the 10-year-old and then he took a stethoscope and put it to the
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