The Vatican issued a statement today flatly rejecting a report from a senior Italian journalist who is an atheist and a personal friend of Pope Francis, which claimed on Wednesday that the Holy Father had denied the divinity of Jesus. The statement came from Dr Paolo Ruffini, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Communications, at

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop John Jenik as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York and appointed two New York priests as auxiliaries of the archdiocese. Jenik, 75, was removed from ministry last year after the archdiocese found credible an accusation of sexual abuse against him. Jenik, who has been

Turkey’s offensive in northeastern Syria is “causing widespread panic” among local Christians, reports Dale Gavlak. Pope Francis has thanked a Malaysian sultan for commuting death sentences against three Mexican brothers. Austen Ivereigh and Sandro Magister comment on the Amazon synod. Bishop Robert Barron, Elise Italiano Ureneck, Peter Kwasniewski, Bishop Fintan Monahan and Carl Trueman look

The outrage over the snubbing of St Frances Xavier Cabrini by New York City first lady Chirlane McCray’s She Built NYC commission culminated in a march and Mass on October 6 to support a public statue of Mother Cabrini, as the patron saint of immigrants is best known. More than 1,000, including many Italian Americans,

Brazilian Cardinal Serafim Fernandes de Araujo, retired archbishop of Belo Horizonte, died on October 8 in Brazil at the age of 95. With dozens of Brazilian bishops at the Vatican for the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, Pope Francis and other synod members offered special prayers that evening for the repose of his soul.

The general election is under way, which means ’tis the season of knocking on doors and invading the homes of strangers. Of course we all hesitate: is that friendly offer of a good old British cuppa a gesture of sympathy or a cunning means to hold you up and stop you canvassing a few more

The religious congregation to which I belong, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, has had a long relationship with the indigenous peoples of North America. Admittedly, it hasn’t always been without its shortcomings on our side, but it has been a sustained one, constant through more than 150 years. I write this out of the

I first came across the name John Henry Newman in primary school. The hymns Firmly I Believe and Truly and Praise to the Holiest were often sung at our school Masses. Later when I was in secondary school I read his Apologia and The Idea of a University. At that time I understood that he

John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) was the most prominent co-founder of the Plymouth Brethren, a group which has numbered many famous names among its membership, including the American humorist Garrison Keillor, who left its ranks early, and Dr John Bodkin Adams, the suspected serial killer, who remained an apparently devout member until his death in 1983.

Cryptic across 7 New Zealander, troublesome and ludicrously lewd, outed a Galilean (8) 8 Brown horse leaves home after cow at last moves out (4) 9 Dynasty floozy’s acceptable in pre-eminent society (6) 10 Northerner abandons frontiers to find a place in Italy (6) 11 Biblical character, Anna – ominously detained (5) 12 Brown is

Ordinary Form Divine Office Week IV Sunday, October 13: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Kgs 5:14-17; Ps 98; 2 Tm 2:8-13; Lk 17:11-19 Monday, October 14: Weekday in Ordinary Time or St Callistus I Rom 1:1-7; Ps 98; Lk 11:29-32 Tuesday, October 15: St Teresa of Jesus Rom 1:16-25; Ps 19; Lk 11:37-41 Wednesday, October 16:

October is the Month of the Holy Rosary, and in recent years it has become a time when Christians congregate ever more fervently to offer prayer of intercession and reparation through the Blessed Virgin May. Last year witnessed the arrival of the Rosary on the Coast in Britain, an event that drew 10,000 pilgrims to