In reaction to the surprise death of Cardinal George Pell of Australia on Jan. 10, it’s likely that a good deal of media attention will focus on the impact of the conservative wing of the Catholic Church, coming as it does hard on the heels of the recent passing of Pope Benedict XVI.
In what was one of his last on-the-record interviews, Australian Cardinal George Pell, former prefect of the Secretary for the Economy, told OSV News that with the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the Catholic Church lost “a wonderful man. A very kind man.”
One of the Catholic Church’s most towering figures, Australian Cardinal George Pell, who was acquitted of child sexual abuse and was once a top aide in Pope Francis’ financial reform efforts, died late Tuesday in Rome due to a complication after a routine surgery, sources say.
Nearly 40 years after the disappearance of 15-year-old Italian girl Emanuela Orlandi, the Vatican’s tribunal has reopened the case, which received a fresh wave of attention after being featured in a Netflix documentary last year.
Father Jacques Yaro Zerbo, 67, Malian-born Catholic priest, was laid to rest Jan. 5 at a Catholic cemetery in Tionkuy, 150 miles west of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
Ukraine’s Catholic military chaplains will eventually be “catalysts for the rebuilding” of their war-torn nation, said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, whose three days in Ukraine included at times sheltering with Ukrainians as Russian missiles relentlessly rained down on civilian centers.
While new border measures from President Joe Biden’s Administration expand legal pathways for migrants to enter the country, the U.S. bishops’ chair on migration warns they also simultaneously expand expulsions — which, he said, isn’t really progress.
Telling parents and godparents to teach their little ones to pray from the time they are small, Pope Francis baptized 13 babies in the Sistine Chapel as their older brothers and sisters looked on — or got away and ran around.
Currents News presents special coverage of the Funeral Mass of Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, January 5. Anchor Christine Persichette is joined by Father Frank Tumino, Editor Emeritus of The Tablet Ed Wilkinson, and correspondents from the Vatican.
President Joe Biden said Jan. 4 he plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border, which would be the first visit to the border of his presidency, when he travels to Mexico next week.
