Seoul: South Korean Catholics are opposing both the country’s reliance on nuclear power and the U.S. missile defense system recently established to pressure the North out of future weapon tests. A major leader of the anti-nuclear movement, Father Moon Paul Kyu-Hyn, said “getting rid of nuclear power is the onlyContinue Reading
Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo (60) as the apostolic nuncio to Ireland, the first African priest to hold the role. The apostolic nuncio is the papacy’s diplomatic representative in Ireland. The news was welcomed by Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, who said he wished him “many blessingsContinue Reading
Aboard the Papal Plane: Pope Francis acknowledged Saturday that the Vatican has a 2,000-case backlog in processing clerical sex abuse cases and says criticism of the slow pace was justified. But he says more staff are being added and insists the Vatican is “on the right path.” Francis was makingContinue Reading
Vatican City: Asked by journalists about the alleged appearance of the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje, Pope Francis said the original apparitions more than three decades ago deserve further study, but voiced doubt in the supposed ongoing visions. He stressed the need to distinguish between the two sets of apparitions, referencingContinue Reading
Pope Francis was greeted by crowds of hundreds of thousands as he made saints of two shepherd children at the Fatima shrine complex in Portugal. “We declare the blissful Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto saints,” the pontiff said to loud applause. It is 100 years since the two – andContinue Reading
By Domenico Agasso Jr Vatican City: Priests are called to be examples, not “lords, or State clerics”. They must be the firsts to serve the other, and not there to make a career out of priesthood. This was Pope Francis’ core message during the Mass he presided over on MayContinue Reading
Pope Francis and pilgrims from around the world are flocking to a Catholic shrine town in Portugal to honor two poor, illiterate shepherd children whose visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago marked one of the most important events of the 20th-century Catholic Church. Francis arrives Saturday to celebrateContinue Reading
Yekaterinburg: A Russian court today convicted a video blogger of inciting hatred against believers by posting videos online showing him chasing Pokemons in a church, giving him a suspended sentence. Ruslan Sokolovsky, a militant atheist who posted the videos on his YouTube channel, was detained in August 2016 and spentContinue Reading
Caracas: Garbage dumps have become “a regular place for people to eat” in Venezuela, says a local priest lamenting the nation’s increasingly dire economic and political crisis. “There’s a lot of suffering,” Fr. Victor Salomon, a priest who works in the Archdiocese of Caracas, told CNA. “This has been somethingContinue Reading
FATIMA, Portugal: Three shepherd children in Portugal were jailed and threatened with being boiled alive in olive oil when they claimed the Virgin Mary appeared to them 100 years ago. The Catholic Church doubted their story too. From that unpromising start, the children’s reported visions would go on to strengthenContinue Reading
