The Vatican on Saturday expressed “surprise and pain” at Nicaragua’s expulsion of the papal nuncio, which comes at a time of growing pressure on opposition figures in the Central American nation.
International
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Brazilian bishop: I hope the synod will end clericalism in the church
“It is clericalism that prevents the church today from being missionary,” Bishop Cipollini said. “I have great hope that the synod on synodality can make clericalism collapse—perhaps not entirely, but at least in its major strongholds.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
This Catholic nonprofit in Nigeria is helping ex-convicts stay out of prison after their release
Without the Carmelite Prisoners’ Interest Organization, “I would still be suffering in the prison because I had no money to hire the services of a lawyer,” Chisom Eze said. “I had thought my life would end in prison until Capio saved me.”
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
El Salvador charges ex-president Cristiani in 1989 massacre of Jesuits and associates
Prosecutors announced charges against former president Alfredo Cristiani and a dozen other people, including former military officers, in the massacre. The list of charges will apparently include murder, terrorism and conspiracy.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Arizona priest who invalidly baptized thousands defended by former parishioners in Brazil
Members of one of his former communities said they doubt that he used incorrect formulas for sacraments while he worked there, and many of them recall him fondly as one of the most important priests in their lives.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
After Russian ships menaced off its shores, Ireland wonders if it should beef up its military spending
Few expected that the waters off Ireland’s southwestern coast would become a potential front in a confrontation with the Russian Federation. But that is exactly what happened at the end of January.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Truck protest against vaccine mandates is polarizing Canada — and clergy have mixed reactions
The main body of protesters continued a diesel-rumbling siege of Parliament Hill, igniting fire pits on city streets and sounding truck horns at all hours, driving local residents to despair.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
A priest calls out violence against the poor and homeless in Brazil: ‘We have to move from hostility to hospitality’
The Rev. Júlio Lancellotti is São Paulo’s designated vicar for street people. He has been posting images of spikes and other elements of hostile architecture gathered from cell phone photos or video from all over Brazil.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
A bombshell report on sex abuse left France ‘flabbergasted.’ Yet most French Catholics still believe there is hope for reform
The report landed on French Catholics like a bomb. French bishops had never considered sexual abuse a serious problem. “We have been in denial for 20 years,” Father Goujon said. “The bishops said that [that kind of abuse] could never happen here.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Interview: One year after a coup in Myanmar, Cardinal Bo on the chances for peace
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon assesses the future in Myanmar one year after a coup turned back a decade of democratic progress, calling for dialogue, the end of violence and the release of political prisoners.