Posts By Date - Catholic Herald

February 19, 2019

McCarrick has gone. But McCarrickism lives on

February 19, 2019

The defrocking of the former Cardinal, and now former priest, Theodore McCarrick, might seem to draw a line under the whole sorry saga. But McCarrick was never just about McCarrick, but rather about what could be called McCarrickism: the rise and predominance of a certain kind of prelate. First of all, they handle money well; they

London council pays damages to pro-life charity

February 19, 2019

A London council has agreed to pay damages to pro-life charity Life after removing its stall from a show. Life announced in August that it was taking legal action against Lambeth Borough Council for “defamation, breach of contract and interference with our right to freedom of expression,” after its stall at the Lambeth Country Show

Analysis: What can the Vatican sex abuse summit deliver?

February 19, 2019

At a press conference in Rome on Monday morning, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago underscored the scope and expectations around this week’s global Vatican summit on sexual abuse. The cardinal made it clear that the three-day meeting was strictly dealing with the abuse of minors, and would not look at wider issues of clerical sexual

Vatican restores priestly faculties to Ernesto Cardenal

February 19, 2019

Pope Francis has restored priestly faculties to 94-year-old Fr. Ernesto Cardenal, who had been suspended a divinas in 1984 for holding a cabinet position in Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, in violation of canon law. “The Holy Father has graciously granted the absolution of all canonical censures imposed on Rev. Father Ernesto Cardenal, accepting the request he

Homosexuality is not a cause of the abuse crisis, says Cardinal Cupich

February 19, 2019

Cardinal Blase Cupich said Monday that this week’s Vatican sex abuse summit needs to be focused on the protection of minors, underscoring that homosexuality is not a cause of sexual abuse. While it is important to recognize the fact that a high percentage of sex abuse involves “male on male sex abuse,” Cupich said, “homosexuality

Letters from the Vatican #1

February 19, 2019

GREAT EXPECTATIONS? The whole course of Christianity from the first … is but one series of troubles and disorders. Every century is like every other, and to those who live in it seems worse than all times before it. The Church is ever ailing … Religion seems ever expiring, schisms dominant, the light of truth

Morning Catholic must-reads: 19/02/19

February 19, 2019

Pope Francis is surrounded by people with a “courtier mentality”, Cardinal Gerhard Müller has told Der Spiegel. A French judge has refused to block a new film about the abuse crisis. The papal visit to Uganda is not yet confirmed, Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga of Kampala has said. As many as 5,000 priests worldwide currently

A beautiful introduction to the greatest story ever told

February 19, 2019

Having grown up in a Catholic milieu in the 1950s, I am always slightly envious of friends who are converts from Protestant or evangelical churches and who speak with loving familiarity of the Bible (particularly the Old Testament.) As a child I knew about the saints and the sacraments but the Mass readings, as with