Catholic News

  • Ukrainian Catholic leader calls for prayer, fasting for peace on August 14 (CWN)
    Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, lent his support to an initiative to observe August 14, the day before the Feast of the Assumption, as a day of prayer and fasting for peace.
  • German police close abuse probe against Indian bishop (The News Minute (Bangalore))
    Citing the statute of limitations, German police ended their investigation into abuse allegations against Bishop Karnam Dhaman Kumar, MSFS, of Nalgonda, India. The Diocese of Münster barred the bishop from visiting there in June. Bishop Kumar, appointed a bishop last year by Pope Francis, ministered in Münster during the years of the alleged abuse (2005 to 2007).
  • Colombian bishops mourn assassinated presidential candidate (Vatican News)
    Colombia’s bishops mourned the death of Miguel Uribe Turbay, a senator and presidential candidate who was shot on June 7 and died on August 11. “We express our solidarity with his entire family and, in Christian hope, we commend them to the Lord that He may console them,” the bishops said in a statement. “We call on Colombians to ‘not let hope be stolen from us’ and to react peacefully, defending the principles and values that constitute us as a nation.”
  • FBI: 63 hate crimes against Catholics reported in 2024 (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
    The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released its hate crime statistics for 2024. The FBI’s Hate Crime in the United States Incident Analysis found 63 reported anti-Catholic hate crimes in the United States in 2024—and 437 anti-Catholic hate crimes over the past five years. The same analysis found 2,321 reported anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2024, as well as 287 anti-Islamic hate crimes.
  • Papua prelate warns of false allegations of witchcraft (Fides)
    In a lecture to catechists, Archbishop Anton Bal of Madang, Papua New Guinea, warned against false allegations of witchcraft—allegations that sometimes lead to violence against the accused. The prelate explained that false accusations are made to explain someone’s death. ”In times of mourning, evil takes advantage to insinuate itself,” he said. “But it is precisely then that the Church is called to be present.” The western Pacific nation of 10 million (map) is 95% Christian (32% Catholic), with 3% adhering to ethnic religions.
  • 'They beat me, but I thank God I survived,' says priest kidnapped by jihadists (Aid to the Church in Need)
    Father Alphonsus Afina, a Nigerian priest kidnapped and released by Boko Haram jihadists, discussed his experience in an interview. “Armed men came out of the roadside bushes, shooting at us. In the confusion of the moment, I abandoned my vehicle and ran,” said the priest, who once ministered in Alaska. “The men started beating me, and as a result, I sustained an eye injury, with blood dripping from my face into my eye and running down my shoulder.” “I felt the effects of the prayers offered for me all over the world in the way the armed men [of] Jama’at Ahl Sunna li Da’awa wal Jihad [Boko Haram] treated me subsequently,” he added. “I am, above all, grateful to God for sparing my life through this frightening experience.”
  • Cardinal Parolin begins trip to Burundi (CWN)
    The Secretariat of State announced that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, is traveling to Burundi from August 12 to 18 at the invitation of Church and civil authorities.
  • Vatican newspaper draws attention to hunger, violence in Sudan (CWN)
    L’Osservatore Romano devoted the most prominent article in its August 12 edition to hunger and violence in Sudan, a nation that has suffered from civil war since 2023.
  • USCCB honors 4 pro-life advocates with 'People of Life' award (USCCB)
    The US bishops’ Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities honored four pro-life advocates with its annual People of Life award. Valerie Washington, executive director of the National Black Catholic Congress, received an award, as did Judy Haag, chairperson of the New Ulm Diocesan Council of Catholic Women’s Reverence for Life Committee. Rita and Mike Marker were honored posthumously for their work as cofounders of the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force.
  • Papal general audience moved indoors because of heat (Vatican Press Office)
    The Prefecture of the Papal Household announced that because of the forecast heat, the Pope’s August 13 general audience would be moved from St. Peter’s Square to Paul VI Audience Hall. “Afterwards, the Holy Father will go to the Vatican Basilica to greet those who were unable to find a place in the Hall and who followed the audience on the maxiscreens,” the Prefecture added. The expected high temperature in Rome on August 13 is 101 degrees.
  • French-Iranian author pens front-page Gospel commentary for L'Osservatore Romano (CWN)
    For the second time this summer, he Vatican newspaper has published a front-page commentary on the upcoming Sunday’s Gospel reading by Lila Azam Zanganeh, a French author whose parents were exiles from Iran.
  • Ambassadors to Holy See call attention to starving Israeli hostages, Gaza civilians (CNS)
    In separate interviews, the Israeli and Palestinian ambassadors to the Holy See spoke about the starvation of Israeli hostages and Gaza civilians. “We are talking about a terrorist organization that kidnapped people from their beds and from music festivals and is holding them in sub-human conditions and deliberately torturing them and starving them to death—deliberately and on camera—and making them dig their own graves on camera,” said Yaron Sideman, the Israeli ambassador. “All credible international human rights organizations, including the United Nations, agree there is a famine in Gaza,” said Issa Kassissieh, the Palestinian ambassador. “If Israeli officials deny that there is widespread starvation in Gaza, then they should allow international media unrestricted access to the area, and let the cameras speak for themselves.”
  • Haitian bishops thank Pope for drawing attention to nation's plight (CWN)
    Reacting to Pope Leo XIV’s appeal for Haiti following his August 10 Angelus address, Archbishop Max Leroy Mésidor of Port-au-Prince said, “The Episcopal Conference of Haiti thanks the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, for this cry on behalf of the Haitian people and for this appeal to the international community to take greater and more concrete care of the situation in Haiti.”
  • Vatican expands paternity leave, other family benefits (Crux)
    Maximino Caballero Ledo, the lay prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, announced that Pope Leo XIV has approved additional days of paternity leave for curial employees, as well as three days of monthly paid leave for parents of children with severe disabilities. The changes were proposed by the Labor Office of the Apostolic See (ULSA), and published in an Italian-language rescript.
  • Names of children killed in Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be read aloud at Cardinal Zuppi's prayer for peace (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
    Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, will pray for peace in the Holy Land on the Vigil of the Assumption in Montesole, the site of the largest Nazi massacre of civilians in Italy. “We will read all the names of the [Israeli and Palestinian] children killed on and since October 7,” 2023, Cardinal Zuppi said. “We want to remember their names one by one, to honor each of them and rescue them from anonymity. No one is a number. Every person has a name, an identity.” “For the Holy Land, as between Russia and Ukraine, the only truly viable path is to sit around a table to reach a ceasefire as quickly as possible,” added the prelate, who sees a danger in “becoming accustomed to this escalation of death and destruction. Let us start again with the children and the horror that their suffering must inspire in everyone.”
  • Vatican diplomat welcomes Thailand-Cambodia ceasefire (Fides)
    Archbishop Peter Wells, the apostolic nuncio to Thailand and to Cambodia, welcomed a ceasefire agreement in the nations’ border conflict. “We are all very pleased that the path of dialogue undertaken by Cambodia and Thailand has led to numerous agreements that will hopefully lead to reconciliation and a stable and lasting peace between the parties involved,” Archbishop Wells told the Fides news agency. “We hope that this commitment will continue in the future to avoid a recurrence of the violence we have seen in recent weeks,” he continued. “We are also encouraged by the fact that we can now focus on the thousands of people displaced by this sad conflict and in need of assistance.”
  • Vatican again overrules Canadian bishop's decision to close parish (Pillar)
    For the second time in less than two years, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy overturned Archbishop Peter Hundt’s decision to close a parish in Portugal Cove-St. Philips, Newfoundland. The dicastery ruled that the prelate, who leads the Archdiocese of St. John’s, did not provide a just cause for closing the parish.
  • Detroit archbishop stirs controversy with new chancery appointment (Lepanto Institute)
    Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit has stirred controversy once again with the appointment of a priest associated with radical causes to be the archdiocesan ombudsman. Father David Buersmeyer has been associated with the Association of US Catholic Priests, a group that has supported causes such as the ordination of women and support for homosexual relationships. As ombudsman, he will be charged with reviewing any conflicts between priests and chancery staff, and “empowered to escalate the matter within the chancery chain of leadership.” Since his installation in March, Archbishop Weisenburger has twice caused protests: first by ending parish celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass, then by firing three distinguished professors from the archdiocesan seminary.
  • US bishops' assistance to retired religious tops $1 billion (USCCB)
    Since 1988, the first year of the annual collection for retired religious, the US bishops’ National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) has distributed $1,003,548,908 to religious institutes, according to a new statistical report. Nearly $28.2 million was donated to the collection in 2024; $20.2 million was distributed to women’s institutes and $9.8 million to men’s institutes. The $1.8-million deficit in 2024 was covered by reserves: since 1988, total collections have exceeded total disbursements by $29 million. According to the report, 28,779 of the nation’s 49,551 religious belong to institutes assisted by the NRRO. Of those 28,779, only 7,483 are under 70.
  • Abortion-pill manufacturer hit with wrongful-death suit (Washington Post)
    A Texas woman has filed suit against Aid Access, a European manufacturer of abortion pills, saying that her former boyfriend put the medication in her drink, causing her to have an abortion she did not want. The case is believed to be the first wrongful-death lawsuit against a manufacturer of the pills, which can now be obtained by mail. The lawsuit also charges that the use of the pill violated Texas law, which bans abortion in most cases.
  • More...