Cardinal Pell will learn the fate of his final appeal on April 7

“The penitent must be physically present — meaning, the priest who absolves and the penitent who receives the absolution must be in the same place”

The crucifix was reportedly damaged by rain, but the priest in charge of the church where the cross traditionally hangs said it has not been seriously harmed

Poor countries are suffering from the coronavirus because of the Chinese Communist Party’s negligence and repression, Cardinal Bo said

Remembering St John Paul II and the 15th anniversary of his death, Pope Francis encouraged people to pray for his intercession

Comment & Features Saints and the plague: two heroes of a past pandemic – John Morrill Editorial: An unexpected blessing – The Catholic Herald Letter to subscribers: Why we’re becoming a monthly magazine – Dan Hitchens Diary: Self-isolation is nothing new for this horse owner – Melissa Kite Pope Francis’s signature moment – Fr Raymond

Men in suits making speeches at lecterns, scientists giving interviews on their webcams: these have become the familiar images of the official response to coronavirus. Last Friday, in a deserted and rainswept St Peter’s Square, there took place a very different kind of scene. An 83-year-old man, robed in white, walked haltingly between the pillars

Dear Subscribers, You are always in our prayers here at the Catholic Herald, and now more than ever in this strange moment. The pandemic has of course affected the media too: some countries have banned publications altogether, while several titles – including L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s own daily – have suspended printing. The trials of

The Urbi et Orbi was an inspiring moment. But the Vatican bureaucracy has struggled to create a unified policy

After years of preparation, England was on Sunday rededicated as Mary’s Dowry “in the eye of the storm” of the coronavirus pandemic. About 530,000 Catholics are estimated to have taken part in the rededication and some 4,000 private homes, in England and overseas, were registered alongside churches and cathedrals as places where the prayers of

It might have been a coincidence that the Government decided to announce its framework for abortion in Northern Ireland on March 25, feast of the Annunciation and the date upon which Christians hold that the Virgin Mary conceived the Child Jesus. The announcement was preceded by some anxious scenes in the House of Commons among

You drive up the hill, through the narrow streets and short blocks of a typical working-class neighbourhood in an old eastern city. At the top, backed up against the ridge, sits a grey stone church that boasts more relics than any church outside the Vatican: some 5,000 of them, all told. A wealthy Belgian doctor,