Reflecting on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Holy See and Israel, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan hailed the occasion as an international achievement that has “quite literally made the world a better place.”
Timed to mark the 4th anniversary of Laudato si’ -Pope Francis’s landmark document on the environment – the Catholic bishops of California have released a major pastoral statement calling for statewide ecological conversion.
Whenever he’s been approached about the issue, Pope Francis is clear that priestly celibacy is not up for grabs, despite the fact that it is a discipline and not doctrine.
After three days of intense debate over the role of the laity in overseeing bishops accused of abuse or its cover-up, the U.S. Catholic bishops voted to enact new standards for holding bishops accountable that include lay involvement, although stopping short of making it a mandatory requirement.
At a time when the U.S. Catholic bishops are meeting to vote on new measures for bishop accountability, Pope Francis has given the green light for a penal process for a retired U.S. bishop accused of multiple accounts of abuse.
According to Pope Francis, the world today is living in an era of changes where “the soul of our peoples is at stake.”
Francis noted that even though the Spirit is both the first and final thing the Church needs, it only goes where He is invited.
As has been the case for years now, a small group of protesters dismissive of the U.S. bishops’ efforts to enact reforms in their handling of abuse cases gather outside the Baltimore hotel where they conduct their general meeting.
Titled Male and Female He Created Them, the document is in many ways a compilation of several remarks given by Pope Francis, who has often expressed his concern over the impact gender ideology has on children.
After the survey for this study was conducted, the Vatican issued new guidelines on abuse, which makes it mandatory for all clerics and members of religious orders to report cases of clerical abuse to Church authorities, including when committed by bishops or cardinals.
