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Archbishop Schick recently came under pressure for the handling of sexual abuse cases in his diocese. Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a German archbishop on Tuesday.  Archbishop Ludwig Schick of Bamberg had been in charge of the Bavarian archdiocese since 2002. Archbishop Schick recently came under pressure for the handling of sexual abuse cases in his diocese. The archbishop of the diocese in Southern Germany said in a statement published Nov. 1 that he had conveyed this request “to the Pope verbally and in writing during a private audience in April of this year, explaining it thus: I have fulfilled and completed my duties in the archdiocese.”  Archbishop Schick said the Pope had asked him to remain in office. “After presenting my reasons again, he then granted my reque...

Speaking at the end of his Angelus address, the pope also prayed for the victims of a crowd surge at a massive Halloween festival in South Korea that killed at least 151 people, according to Reuters. “And let us also pray to the Risen Lord for those, mostly young people, who died last night in Seoul from the tragic consequences of a sudden crowd surge,” the pope said. In his reflection on Sunday’s Gospel, Pope Francis told the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square during life’s most difficult moments “Jesus always looks at us with love.” “God’s gaze never stops at our past full of mistakes, but looks with infinite confidence at what we can become,” the pope said. The pope noted that Jesus looked up to see Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree in the Gospel of Luke. “This is the history of...

Ireland may have a new saint soon.  The cause of Father Willie Doyle, Jesuit priest and heroic military war chaplain, has just been opened.  Today, Irish Bishop Tom Deenihan, of the Diocese of Meath, issued the requisite edict, stating: “After having obtained the unanimous consent of the Irish Episcopal Conference and the granting of the nihil obstat of the Sacred Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, hereby decree … and inform the diocesan community of Meath that we intend to introduce the cause of beatification and sanctification of the Servant of God Father William Doyle.” This is the first step in a canonization process. Now, there will be a diocesan investigation into the life and virtues of the now-“Servant of God.” If the process is approved by the diocesan tribunals, it wil...

CNA Newsroom, Oct 23, 2022 / 05:32 am Archbishop Charles Chaput said on Saturday that Joe Biden “is not in communion with the Catholic faith” and that “any priest who now provides Communion to the president participates in his hypocrisy.”  Speaking at a Eucharistic Symposium at the Diocese of Arlington on Oct. 22, the 78-year-old prelate also accused the second Catholic president in the history of the United States of “apostasy on the abortion issue.”  In his address, titled “Do this in Remembrance of Me: Memory, Culture, Sacrament,” the archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia spoke about “American Catholics and our 200-year struggle to fit into mainstream American culture.”   “We succeeded. But in the process, we’ve been digested and bleached out by the culture, ...

After the China deal was signed in 2018, state officials in different regions of China removed crosses and demolished church buildings, and underground Catholics and clergy have reported harassment and detention. The Vatican announced Saturday it has renewed its 2018 deal with China on the appointment of Catholic bishops for an additional two years. “After appropriate consultation and assessment, the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China have agreed to extend for another two years the Provisional Agreement regarding the appointment of Bishops,” the Vatican said in an Oct. 22 press release. “The Vatican Party,” it continued, “is committed to continuing a respectful and constructive dialogue with the Chinese Party for a productive implementation of the Accord and further development of...

The alleged extraordinary events took place in the small village of San Sebastián de Garabandal between 1961 and 1965. The bishop of Santander, Manuel Sánchez Monge, has stated regarding the extraordinary events of Garabandal that “my position, like that of my predecessors, is that Rome’s assessment remains valid: ‘There are no signs of supernaturality.’” In addition, he acknowledged that he contacted the San Pablo Center of University Studies (CEU) to express his displeasure because they had not consulted him before hosting an event of devotees of the alleged apparitions. “I only let those at the CEU know, not Cardinal Osoro, that I did not like that they had not consulted me before authorizing that event,” the prelate told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister news agency.  The ...

The diocese also shared that Mary is the third of Dolan’s eight siblings to die by suicide, ‘underlining his urgent plea to get mental health ministry underway in the Diocese of Phoenix.’ PHOENIX, Ariz. — After announcing Bishop John P. Dolan lost his sister to death by suicide, the Diocese of Phoenix on Wednesday renewed his “urgent plea to get mental health ministry underway.” “Our hearts are breaking as we make known the loss of Mary Elizabeth Dolan, youngest sister of Bishop John P. Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix,” the diocese shared on its social media pages Oct. 19. “Mary, who from her days in college suffered from mental depressive disorder, was found on Oct. 16th to have died by suicide,” the statement said. The diocese also shared that Mary is the third of Bishop Dolan’s eight si...

The European Court of Human Rights sentenced France to pay the feminist a total of 9,800 euros (about $9,584) — 2,000 euros for moral damages and 7,800 euros for costs and expenses — triggering indignant reactions among Catholic commentators. The judges of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) have ruled unanimously that a feminist who simulated aborting Jesus on the altar of the Parisian church of La Madeleine, bare-breasted, was exercising her “freedom of expression”. In an Oct. 11 decision, the ECHR condemned France for having pronounced a suspended prison sentence against Eloïse Bouton, a former member of the group Femen, for acts of sexual exhibition. Bouton entered the famous Parisian church topless in December 2013, covered in pro-abortion slogans, interrupting a rehearsal of Ch...