International

Holiness does not come from following rigid rules, pope says

Redemption is the work of God, not of human beings, so be careful and do not listen to “fundamentalists” who claim holiness comes through following certain laws, Pope Francis said during his weekly general audience. The belief that holiness comes by observing particular laws “leads us to a rigid religiosity, a rigidity that eliminates that […]

Pope Francis is preparing a radical reform of the church’s power structures

In 2001, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was a rapporteur for the summit of bishops at the Vatican — and he did not like what he saw. The Catholic Church had adopted a top-to-bottom approach that stripped local churches of any decision-making power, and the synod of bishops was reduced to nothing more than a stamp of […]

Pope pleas for “diversity” during stopover in Budapest

Pope Francis has challenged Catholics in Hungary to make a deeper commitment to following Jesus, saying it is not enough to just call oneself Catholic. “Jesus unsettles us; he is not satisfied with declarations of faith, but asks us to purify our religiosity!” the Pope said Sunday morning in Budapest while presiding at the closing […]

Iranian Christians sentenced to five years in prison for apostasy

Three men in the town of Karaj were sentenced on 22 August to five years in prison for propaganda against the state after they converted to Christia-nity from Islam. The sentence was later reduced to three years on appeal. In the meantime, they were released on bail with obligation to report weekly to the intelligence branch of […]

German Catholic bishop proposes alternative ‘Synodal Way’ text

Bp Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, southern Ger-many, presented the text on a website launched on Sept. 3, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. In an introduction to the website, the bishop wrote: “We are joining in the Synodal Way, but we are increasingly convinced that [this process] will not reach its goal if it continues along the path […]

Pope warns of anti-Semitism as he visits Hungary

Pope Francis has warned the threat of anti-Semitism is “still lurking” in Europe, during a brief trip to Hungary. He was speaking after meeting Hungary’s populist and anti-immigrant PM Viktor Orban, with whom he has stark differences on the issue of refugees. Mr Orban has also been accused of an anti-Semitic stance, but he has […]

Pope Francis: We need ‘creativity of the Gospel,’ not ‘a defensive Catholicism’

Pope Francis told Slovakia’s Catholics on September 13 that the Church should respond to secularization with the “creativity of the Gospel,” not “a defensive Catholicism.” Speaking to clergy and lay people in St. Martin’s Cathedral in the capital, Bratislava, on Sept. 13, the Pope encouraged Catholics to draw inspiration from Sts. Cyril and Methodius, who […]

Priest Helps Orphans Flee Afghanistan: 12,000 Christians in extreme danger

Barnabite priest Fr. Giovanni Scalese, ecclesiastical superior of the Catholic mission Sui Iuris in Afghanistan, told la Repu-bblica in late August how he helped 14 disabled children and 5 nuns escape from the embattled city of Kabul. Father Scalese spoke to the newspaper the day after landing in Rome on Aug. 25, saying, ”I would […]

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Pope: Red Cross’ humanitarian work shows that fraternity is possible

New Vatican document lists ‘grave violations’ of human dignity