Vatican defrocks former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick
The Vatican has defrocked former US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, making him the highest ranking Catholic to be dismissed from the priesthood in modern times. The move, which comes after Vatican officials found him guilty of sexual offences against adults and minors, means McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Washington, DC, can no longer celebrate Mass, wear […]
Pakistanis hopeful as Pope Francis elevates country’s second-ever cardinal
RNS Pakistan’s second-ever cardinal of the Catholic Church is slated to be installed on Friday. In May, Pope Francis tapped Archbishop of Karachi Joseph Coutts to be among 14 new cardinals. Coutts would be only the second Pakistani cardinal, after Joseph Cordeiro, who was named by Pope Paul VI in 1973 and died in 1994. […]
New cardinal warns of rise of ‘extremist Islam’ in Madagascar
World Watch Monitor One of Pope Francis’s new cardinals has warned of the rise of “extremist Islam” in the southern African island nation of Madagascar. “The fundamentalists are beginning to establish themselves and, little by little, as their numbers grow, we start to wonder when they will really show who they are, and this truly […]
Philippines churches could cancel services over terrorism threat
World Watch Monitor A Filipino cardinal has condemned as “terrorism” a bomb explosion outside a Catholic church in the southern Philippines as clergy in the capital warned they could cancel Masses because of the heightened threat of attacks. Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato was speaking after at least three people were injured in a bomb […]