Catholic Church

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Vatican Reminds Catholics Freemasonry Is Banned

Church believes those Catholics who join are in a state of 'grave sin'

(Newser) - In 1738, Pope Clement XII declared Freemasonry an excommunicable offense, and the Catholic Church's position hasn't softened much since then. The Vatican this week confirmed its ban on Catholics becoming Freemasons, a secretive and ritualistic society with an estimated 6 million members worldwide. "Active membership in Freemasonry...

This Is Not Your Father's Catholic Priest

Catholic priest Guilherme Peixoto spreads the gospel as a DJ

(Newser) - Guilherme Peixoto, a village priest in northern Portugal, has been busy this month celebrating Masses at his two parishes, presiding over remembrances for the dead—and, as the AP reports, preparing the electronic music set for his next international DJ gig. What started nearly two decades ago as a novel...

Pope's Meeting Calls Expanding Women's Church Roles 'Urgent'

Session is part of Francis' effort to include laypeople in decision-making

(Newser) - Pope Francis' big gathering of Catholic bishops and laypeople declared Saturday that guaranteeing fuller participation of women in church governance is "urgent," calling for research on allowing women to be deacons to be released within a year. After a month of closed-door debate, the Vatican meeting on the...

Pope's Comments on Same-Sex Unions Make Waves

Francis suggests there could be ways to bless such unions

(Newser) - Pope Francis has suggested there could be ways to bless same-sex unions, responding to five conservative cardinals who challenged him to affirm church teaching on homosexuality ahead of a big meeting where LGBTQ+ Catholics are on the agenda. The Vatican on Monday published a letter Francis wrote to the cardinals...

Pope Enters 'Crucial New Phase' for Church

Francis appoints 21 new cardinals to help him enact his reforms, cement his legacy

(Newser) - Pope Francis created 21 new cardinals at a ritual-filled ceremony Saturday, including key figures at the Vatican and in the field who will help enact his reforms and cement his legacy as he enters a crucial new phase in running the Catholic Church. On a crisp sunny day filled with...

Fearing Rush of Abuse Suits, Archdiocese to File Chapter 11

New Maryland law removes statute of limitations

(Newser) - The Archdiocese of Baltimore announced Friday that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization days before a new state law goes into effect removing the statute of limitations on child sex abuse charges and allowing victims to sue their abusers decades after the fact. The step will "allow the...

New Evidence Shows Convents in Rome Hid Jews During War

Research finds names of 3,200 people sheltered during Nazi occupation

(Newser) - Researchers have discovered new documentation that substantiates reports that Catholic convents and monasteries in Rome sheltered Jews during World War II, providing names of at least 3,200 Jews whose identities have been corroborated by the city's Jewish community, officials said Thursday. Researchers from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Israel'...

Ex-Cardinal Accused of Abuse Won't Stand Trial

Theodore McCarrick, 93, has dementia

(Newser) - The once-powerful Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick will not stand trial on charges he sexually assaulted a teenage boy decades ago, as a Massachusetts judge dismissed the case against the 93-year-old on Wednesday because both prosecutors and defense attorneys agree he suffers from dementia. McCarrick, the ex-archbishop of Washington, DC,...

Philadelphia Archdiocese Settles Priest Sex Abuse Case

Victim of now-deceased priest will get $3.5M

(Newser) - The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will pay $3.5 million to settle a civil case alleging a now-deceased priest sexually assaulted a teenage boy nearly two decades ago, and church officials knew of similar reports about the priest dating back to the 1970s, attorneys for the victim announced Wednesday. The plaintiff...

Pope Adds to Group That Will Pick His Successor

New cardinals include choices for Hong Kong, Jerusalem

(Newser) - Pope Francis on Sunday announced he has chosen 21 new cardinals, including prelates from Jerusalem and Hong Kong—places where Catholics are a small minority—as he shapes the body of churchmen who will select his successor. The pope announced his picks during his weekly appearance in St. Peter's...

Nun's Exhumed Remains Cause a Stir in Missouri

Believers say body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster is miraculously preserved

(Newser) - Thousands of people are making a pilgrimage to a church in rural Missouri to pay their respects at the coffin of a deceased nun. The unusual thing is that Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster—founder of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of Apostles—died four years ago at age 95, reports...

State AG Releases Stunning Report on Church Sex Abuse

Report alleges 451 Catholic clergy in Illinois abused nearly 2K children from 1950 to 2019

(Newser) - In 2018, a grand jury report was released in Pennsylvania naming 300-plus "predator priests" in the state accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 children over a period of seven decades. Partly inspired by those revelations, then-Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan started a probe in her own state,...

Connecticut Priest Happy About 'Very Cool Miracle'

Church asks Vatican to weigh in on whether one took place during communion

(Newser) - A Catholic church is Connecticut is wondering whether it might have a miracle on its hands. In fact, St. Thomas Catholic Church in Thomaston has rounded up the evidence and asked the Vatican to formally weigh in, reports the Hartford Courant . The particulars are pretty straight-forward: In March, a lay...

Pope Approves 'Significant Crack in Stained-Glass Ceiling'

Women will have the right to vote at an upcoming meeting of bishops

(Newser) - Pope Francis has decided to give women the right to vote at an upcoming meeting of bishops, and the AP reports that's a historic reform that reflects his hopes to give women greater decision-making responsibilities and laypeople more say in the life of the Catholic Church. Francis approved changes...

Real-Life Crucifixions Are Back After 3-Year COVID Pause

Church frowns on Good Friday reenactment of Jesus' suffering, but it's tradition in Philippines

(Newser) - Eight Filipinos were nailed to crosses to reenact Jesus Christ's suffering in a gory Good Friday tradition that draws thousands of devotees and tourists to the Philippines, despite the practice being rejected by the Catholic Church. The real-life crucifixions in the farming village of San Pedro Cutud in Pampanga...

State Report on Church Abuse Finds 'Astonishing' Scope

Maryland says Baltimore Archdiocese often did little to stop the torture and abuse

(Newser) - Maryland's attorney general released the results Wednesday of a four-year state investigation into the sexual abuse and torture of children by clergy members and employees of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The report covers the totality of 80 years of mistreatment, during which it says 156 members of Catholic clergy...

Pope Confirms Adults Can Be Abuse Victims

Change in church law now applies to lay leaders

(Newser) - Pope Francis on Saturday updated a 2019 church law aimed at holding senior churchmen accountable for covering up sexual abuse cases, expanding it to cover lay Catholic leaders and reaffirming that vulnerable adults and not just children can be victims of abuse when they are unable to freely consent. With...

&#39;We Still Call Him Georgio&#39;
'We Still Call Him Giorgio'
the rundown
Mar 13, 2023 11:34 AM CDT

'We Still Call Him Giorgio'

Pope Francis quietly celebrates a 10-year milestone

(Newser) - It's been 10 years since a guy named Jorge Bergoglio became the leader of 1.3 billion Catholics, with the white smoke emerging from the Sistine Chapel to signal that a new pope—the first from Latin America—had been selected. The then-76-year-old Pope Francis was seen as an...

A Catholic First: Cardinal Admits Abusing Minor

78-year-old Jean-Pierre Ricard says he abused 14-year-old girl in 1980s, steps down

(Newser) - Jean-Pierre Ricard has become the first Catholic cardinal to publicly admit to abusing a minor, according to reports. The French cardinal said Monday that he "behaved in a reprehensible way with a young girl aged 14" as a priest in the archdiocese of Marseille in the 1980s and "...

After Telling School of Accused Priest on Payroll, a Giant Fine

New Orleans attorney Richard Trahant says he'll appeal the $400K payment to archdiocese

(Newser) - A lawyer who alerted a Catholic high school to past sexual misconduct by its chaplain has been fined $400,000 for violating confidentiality rules by speaking out. Attorney Richard Trahant says he'll appeal the decision handed down Tuesday, which gives him 30 days to pay the Archdiocese of New...

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