The pioneering French geneticist who discovered the cause of Down's syndrome is one step closer to sainthood. In a statement, Pope Francis declared Jerome Lejeune Venerable yesterday, after acknowledging his "heroic virtue" – alongside a miracle, one of the prerequisites for beatification.

One group that seems to be forgotten in climate discussions is the indigenous people living in and surviving on the Amazon rainforest.

Belgium’s Catholic bishops called Tuesday for dialogue with the government after it decreed that public Masses would remain suspended until Jan. 15, 2021. Following a ministerial decree Nov. 29, the country’s approximately 6.5 million Catholics will be obliged to celebrate Christmas at home. In a Dec. 1 press statement, the bishops acknowledged the need for

Hanover, Germany — Lutheran and Catholic churches in Switzerland and Germany are planning for people to celebrate religious Christmas services at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Germany, Matthias Kopp, spokesman for the Catholic bishops’ conference, said Catholic and Lutheran churches will publish a mini brochure that will be available to download. The German

Catholics gathered outside churches across France on Sunday demanding the French government lift its ban on religious services. Hundreds gathered by a statue of the Virgin Mary in Nantes, while similar gatherings also took place in Strasbourg, Bordeaux and outside St Louis Cathedral in Versailles, the AP reports. Demonstrators held up banners saying “Let us

A Polish cardinal recently sanctioned by the Vatican for sexual abuse has died at the age of 97

A retired Polish cardinal disciplined by the Vatican in early November has been hospitalized and remains unconscious, Polish media reported Nov. 10. Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz, the 97-year-old retired archbishop of Wroclaw, was banned from all public appearances and ordered to compensate his alleged victims, after being investigated for sexual abuse, the Vatican nunciature in Warsaw

Proposed legislation to remodel the education system in Spain has drawn opposition from parents’ groups and educators who warn that the freedom of parents to educate their children and choose their school is at risk. MásPlurales, an umbrella group in Spain representing parents’ associations, unions, businesses, and different groups from the state-subsidized education sector, has

Joan Roig Diggle was described by Cardinal Juan José Omella, archbishop of Barcelona, as an "ardent defender of the Social Doctrine of the Church".

The French bishops’ appeal to continue public Masses during France’s national lockdown was rejected Saturday by the Council of State. “The bishops deplore above all that the faithful will thus remain unable to participate in Mass, the summit of their faith and an irreplaceable encounter with God and with their brothers,” the French bishops’ conference

A Catholic archbishop said Tuesday that an abortion law proposal outlined by Poland’s president would amount to a “new form of euthanasia.” Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, president of Poland’s bishops’ conference, told the Polish Catholic news agency KAI Nov. 3 that Catholics should oppose a change in the law that would permit abortion in cases of

A Catholic bishop in Belarus accused President Alexander Lukashenko of “insult and slander” after the government official charged the church’s exiled leader with planning to “destroy the country” and called for a bar on foreign clergy. Auxiliary Bishop Yury Kasabutski of Minsk said in social media post Nov. 3 that he believed Lukashenko’s words about