A Catholic priest in Spain was forced to resign on Aug 28, a day after he welcomed a Hindu procession into the cathedral.

As per reports, local Hindus, carrying out a Ganesh Chaturthi procession, originally wanted to leave some floral offerings at the entrance of the church as a gesture of respect to Christians.  However, Vicar General Father Juan Jose Mateos Castro opened the doors of the church for the idol Ganesha and the procession. The video of the incident has gone viral on social media. However, it did not go down well with the people.

On Aug 28, Bishop Rafael Zornoza Boy issued a statement apologizing and expressing “deep sorrow for this unfortunate fact that has caused damage, confusion or scandal in the Christian community.”

The board of the Belgian Brothers of Charity announced on September 13, it will continue offering euthanasia to patients in their psychiatric centres, despite being ordered by the Vatican to stop doing so.

The “Broeders van Liefde” board had been given until the end of August to comply with the Vatican order, which was seen and approved by Pope Francis. Brothers of the order were also asked to sign a joint letter to their general superior, Brother René Stockman, confirming their adherence to Church teaching.

In a Sept.12 statement the organization defied the Vatican request and said it “continues to stand by its vision statement on euthanasia for mental suffering in a non-terminal situation.”
Furthermore, it claims that in adhering to this vision, the organization “is still consistent with the doctrine of the Catholic Church. We emphatically believe so.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 2277, states that: “Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacce-ptable.” The Brothers of Charity in Belgium run 15 psychiatric hospitals with 5,000 patients. The board controlling these institutions, which consists of a few Brothers but primarily of lay members, announced in the spring that they would permit euthanasia in their facilities.

The new law says that bishops now have the power to complete translations of the Mass from Latin into local languages. Pope Francis has issued a new law returning authority to bishops’ conferen-ces over liturgical translations, paving the way for the current English missal to be revised.

The new law, which is part of the Argentinian Pontiff’s attempts to shore up the reforms to Catholic worship started by the Second Vatican Council, says that bishops now have the power to complete translations of the Mass from Latin into local languages.

The Pope’s order “Magnum Principium” amends Canon Law (Canon 838.3) to say bishops are required to “faithfully” prepare and “approve” translations which are then confirmed by Rome. The words “faithfully” and “approve” are both new. This throws open the possibility that the 2011 English Roman Missal – which became mired in disagreement with claims that the Vatican had overly controlled the process – could be changed. The onus will now be on local bishops to take the initiative. Francis’ law also reverses moves by his predecess-ors to centralise the translation process, which saw Vatican officials editing, and re-writing the work of bishops’ confe-rences. The foundation stone to his new law, Francis explai-ned, is the “great principle” of Vatican II which stressed that “liturgical prayer be accommodated to the compre-hension of the people so that it might be understood.” This task, he pointed out, had originally been entrusted to the bishops in countries across the world.

There have been “seismic shifts” in America’s religious landscape over the last few decades with white Christians now being a minority, reveals a survey of 101,000 Americans.

Racial and ethnic changes are transforming nearly all major Christian denominations, stated the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in a survey that it declared was the largest of its type focusing on American religious and denominational identity.

“Today, only 43% of Ameri-cans identify as white Christian, and only 30% as white Protest-ant,” said PRRI about the survey results released Sept. 6. “In 1976, roughly eight in ten (81%) Americans identified as white and identified with a Christian denomination. A majority (55%) were white Protestants.”

The survey found a large shift in the makeup of the American Catholic Church with a large rise of Hispanics faithful in recent years.

In 1991, 87% of Catholics were white, non-Hispanic. Today they account for 55%. “Among Catholics under the age of 30, fewer than four in ten (36%) are white, non-Hispanic, compared to 52% who are His-panic,” said PRRI.

America’s 70 million Catho-lics make up 22% of the country’s 322 million people.

While Christians make up nearly 70% of Americans, the survey found a sharp increase in the numbers of the religiously unaffiliated who make up around a quarter of the population. The religiously unaffiliated includes atheists, agnostics, and those who don’t identify with any specific religion.

Funeral directors should have access to professional counselling and they face more sadness than any other profession, according to a new survey commissioned by The Art of Dying Well website, run by the Catholic Church in England and Wales. The survey is designed to highlight a new Online guide to Catholic Funerals and Cremations which sets out a step-by-step guide to anyone who is organising a Catholic funeral. According to the poll of 2000 adults, almost half (44%) think that funeral directors should have access to professional counselling. More than a third (36%) feel that funeral directors must struggle with the constant theme of death and grief while almost 40% of people believe that they face more sadness than other professions.