Pope urges religious orders to pray for new priests and nuns as their numbers continue to fall
Rome, Italy AP Pope Francis urged religious orders on Monday to work and pray harder for new priests and nuns to join, as he acknowledged the congregations’ futures are at risk with the numbers of men and women entering Catholic religious life plummeting in parts of the world. The Jesuit Pope asked representatives of a […]
Senior Vatican official makes case for a married priesthood
Vatican City Reuters The Roman Catholic Church should “seriously think” about allowing priests to marry, a senior Vatican official and advisor to Pope Francis said in an interview published on Sunday. “This is probably the first time I’m saying it publicly and it will sound heretical to some people,” Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who […]
Answering the call: In a secular age, some young Americans still choose religious life
While the numbers of priests and nuns have declined in recent decades, many millennials and Gen Zers still find a calling to religious life in the Catholic Church, even if the path to discernment has changed. ELIZABETH E EVANS, of Religion News Service, reports…
In Kenya, married ex-priests follow Vatican synod’s discussion of clerical celibacy
Nairobi, Kenya RNS As a summit of Catholic bishops in Rome considers allowing priests to marry, a young Kenyan clergyman drew attention to the question of celibate priests on Sunday when he married a woman and was ordained in the Catholic Charismatic Church, a splinter tradition, on the same day. Rev Edwin Githang’i Waiguru, a […]
Pope Francis expresses concern and dismay over alleged abuse by priests in Bolivia
La Paz, Bolivia AP Pope Francis expressed concern – and dismay – over the allegations of sexual abuse committed by priests in Bolivia in a letter sent Friday to President Luis Arce, as a paedophilia scandal involving priests continues to rock the the Andean country. The pontiff pledged “the full cooperation of the Church to […]
Catholic priest burned to death, another shot in north Nigeria
Reuters Gunmen burned a Catholic priest to death and shot and injured his colleague in north-west Nigeria on Sunday, police said, the latest violence raising concerns about security ahead of an election next month. Nigerians will vote for a new president on 25th February but kidnappings for ransom and killings by armed gangs in the […]
Pope warns Vatican staff an “elegant demon” lurks among them
Vatican City AP Pope Francis warned Vatican bureaucrats on Thursday to beware the devil that lurks among them, saying it is an “elegant demon” that works in people who have a rigid, holier-than-thou way of living the Catholic faith. Francis used his annual Christmas greeting to the Roman Curia to again put the cardinals, bishops […]
Jesuits remain in Mexican mountains after priests’ killings
Mexico City AP Two months after a pair of Jesuit priests were killed in a remote mountain community in northern Mexico, the suspected killer remains on the loose and townspeople are frightened, but the religious order says it is not leaving. The killings of Javier Campos and Joaquín Mora, as well as a tourism guide […]
On the Screen: The story of an improbable Catholic priest
DAVID ADAMS watches ‘Father Stu’…
Sight-Seeing: Why is the church failing in the West?
US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE explores why the Catholic Church is “failing in many Western countries”…