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Whistleblower priest Father James Haley, whom I quoted at length in a previous column, is now coming forward with information that certain mainstream veteran journalists have known for some time, but have thus far been unable to “prove”: Cardinal (then Bishop) Theodore McCarrick allegedly had “invited” certain seminarians to sleep in the same bed with him. Recounts Father Haley: “The story I know well is the story of Smith Jones [not his real name], former priest of Metuchen, now a successful lawyer, and a best friend of mine from the seminary of Mt. St. Mary's in Emmitsburg. After his sudden...

As car fires (and nursery school fires, hospital fires and parish fires) still blaze in France, I’m reminded that recently, Pope Benedict XVI asked Muslim leaders to do something that many in the West have been clamoring for Muslim leaders to do: Make it very publicly clear that the kind of violence so prominent in the Islamic world is to be condemned and repudiated. One person to respond to the Pope’s call was King Abdullah of Jordan, who issued a strong statement condemning the Bronze-Age fanaticism of so many of his co-religionists, and calling for Muslims of good will to...

The state Supreme Court declined to overturn an appeals court ruling that forces Cardinal Roger Mahony to turn over the private personnel files of two former priests accused of sexual molestation. The ruling this week is the latest development in a battle between the Los Angeles County district attorney, who subpoenaed the files three years ago, and the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese. Mahony has argued that opening the files would violate the church's constitutional right of religious freedom. Donald Steier, an attorney for the individual priests, said he was considering appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The...

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 16, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Mass is a moment of reflection and encounter with God, rather than a form of entertainment, says Cardinal Francis Arinze. In an interview with Inside the Vatican magazine, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments made a comprehensive assessment of the recent Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist and of developments in liturgical practice 40 years after the Second Vatican Council. Regarding "music in the liturgy, we should start by saying that Gregorian music is the Church's precious heritage," he said. "It should stay. It should not be banished....

VATICAN CITY, November 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Cardinal Francis Arinze, as the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, is the highest authority in the Catholic Church - next to the Pope himself - on the question of communion for pro-abortion politicians.  As such, he has oft been asked for his position on the matter in light of the raging public debate on the issue which has bishops pitted on opposite sides of the question as well as many unwilling to take any position.In an interview published Saturday by Inside the Vatican, the Cardinal, somewhat exasperatedly, responded once again to...

The Voice of Catholic Tradition on Long Island (a traditional Catholic radio program, sympathetic to the SSPX), is reporting: A significant development has occured in Rome with the announcement that H.E. Jorge Cardinal Medina Estevez will celebrate a Solemn Pontifical Mass in the Latin Rite (Traditional) on Sunday, November 6, 2005 at the Church of the Gesu on the Via del Corso.

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ For decades, the Los Angeles Archdiocese ignored parishioners' sex abuse complaints and shipped accused priests between therapy and new assignments, according to newly released personnel records involving 126 clergymen. In many cases, there was little mention of child molestation. Instead, euphemisms such as ``boundary violations'' were used to describe the conduct. The summaries of the personnel records were released Tuesday as part of settlement talks with lawyers for more than 500 accusers who sued the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese. The records, released after nearly three years of legal wrangling, cover priests who were ordained as...

Cardinal Pell on the Dictatorship of Relativism "A Recipe for Disenfranchisement and Passivity" CANBERRA, Australia, SEPT. 23, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Here is the text of an address Cardinal George Pell of Sydney delivered Wednesday at the National Press Club in the Australian capital. * * * The Dictatorship of Relativism Address to the National Press Club By Cardinal George Pell Shortly before he entered the conclave in which he was elected Pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger preached the homily at the pre-conclave Mass and warned against the rise of "a dictatorship of relativism." It is an evocative phrase which frightened some and...

Southeastern Arizona knows Jim Kolbe as its long-serving congressman. The world knows him as the go-to lawmaker for foreign aid. Whether it's money to build homes in Gaza, eradicate poppy fields in Afghanistan or feed starving refugees in Sudan, the Tucson Republican has a say in how it's spent. Some say Kolbe exercises a greater level of influence over American aid than almost any other member of Congress. As chairman of the Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on foreign operations, export financing and related programs, Kolbe oversees the distribution of taxpayer dollars to disease-plagued and war-torn countries around the globe. During his...

Cardinal William H. Keeler, chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Committee for Pro-life Activities, criticized Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's announcement today that he will support federally funded stem cell research that requires destroying human embryos. Cardinal Keeler's statement follows. * * * * * "Today Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced he will support using federal funds to encourage the destruction of living human embryos for their stem cells. Despite the Senator's disclaimers to the contrary, this position is not 'pro-life.' "Especially disturbing is the Senator's insistence that human embryos unwanted by their own parents are owed 'the same dignity...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez has denied an outspoken cardinal's allegation that he is leading Venezuela toward a dictatorship as tensions mounted between the leftist leader and the Roman Catholic Church. Chavez said anyone who thinks his "revolutionary" government is gradually turning into a dictatorial regime "is crazy enough to be tied up or just ignorant (and) doesn't know what's happening in Venezuela." The statements made by Chavez in Lima, Peru, where he was attending an Andean summit meeting, were released by his press office in Caracas on Monday. A day earlier, Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara said Chavez's...

PITTSBURGH, July 25, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - According to Francis Cardinal Arinze, the Vatican's chief over the administration of the sacraments, the denial of Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians is a no-brainer. Speaking at a dinner in Pittsburgh over the weekend, Arinze responded with his usual wit to the question, "Should Catholic legislators who support legal abortion 'be refused' Communion?"The Cardinal elicited laughter when he rejoined, "I ask you, do you really need a cardinal from the Vatican to find the answer?"He quipped, "Are there no children from First Communion to whom you can pose the question and receive the answer?...

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela's highest Catholic prelate on Sunday condemned President Hugo Chavez's rule as a dictatorship and urged Venezuelans to reject it in an attack likely to strain already poor church-government ties. "I am convinced that what we have here is a dictatorship," Cardinal Rosalio Castillo, who is retired, said in a interview published by El Universal newspaper. He told Venezuelans to use their constitutional right to refuse to recognize the left-wing president on the grounds he was not ruling democratically. Castillo did not elaborate on what actions he thought Venezuelans should take.

Are these the words of a sane man? The words of a statesman? The words of a man with class?: "The Cardinal (Castillo Velazco) is a pantomine, it makes me sad and fills me with disgust, he is a coupster, the Pope has to know this, the Vatican's Ambassador has to know this, the Apostolic nuncio has to know this, the devil does not respect a priest's robes, he is a bandit, immoral, a coupster...may God forgive him and the devil receive him when the time comes.." All of this because the Cardinal called Chavez' Government "ominous", the CNE a...

An influential cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, which has long been regarded as an ally of the theory of evolution, is now suggesting that belief in evolution as accepted by science today may be incompatible with Catholic faith.

LONDON (CNS) -- A British cardinal has condemned the "false" religion of terrorists who murdered about 50 civilians in a series of bomb attacks July 7 in London. At a July 8 Mass at London's Westminster Cathedral, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster denounced the "havoc and tragedy and pain" brought to London by the suspected al-Qaida terrorists, for whom police are still hunting. "The people who carried out these monstrous acts with chilling efficiency and forethought are believed to have acted in the name of religion," said the cardinal, before asking: "Who is their god? "It is not the God...

Mexican official comes under fire at binational conference Louie GilotEl Paso Times Mexico's foreign minister spoke to Catholic workers and clergy Friday in El Paso about the hardships encountered by immigrants to the United States. But his audience called him to task over the abuse by Mexican officers of South American immigrants as they cross Mexico to get to the United States. Alejandro Siller Gonzalez, of the Mexican-American Cultural Center in the San Antonio Catholic Diocese, told the minister, Luis Derbez, that he has heard "horror stories" of rapes, robberies and beatings from Central and South American immigrants who said...

Cardinal Sin, who died yesterday aged 76, blithely ignored the Roman Curia's nervous disapproval of clergy becoming directly involved in politics when, amid a blaze of international publicity, he played a key part in bringing down President Ferdinand Marcos's regime in the Philippines. A man of ready wit, well aware of his comically inappropriate name, Sin initially trod a cautious line on becoming Archbishop of Manila in 1976. Although he and Marcos did not always see eye to eye, he remarked, they could work hand in hand. If he did not attend to the spiritual needs of the president and...

Church leaders to discuss role in immigration Leonard MartinezEl Paso Times A Catholic cardinal, 17 bishops from the United States and Mexico, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and the Mexican foreign minister will meet in El Paso next week in what is being described as a historic meeting about the church’s spiritual, moral and legal obligation toward immigrants. The conference, the first of its kind along the U.S.-Mexico border, will include 150 diocesan staff members from the two countries and will feature a variety of workshops on treating immigrants and fulfilling their religious needs. “As members of a universal church, we...

The Church and its people are in crisis, according to the Archbishop of Westminster EUROPE is filled with angst and the Catholic Church is in crisis, the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, said last night. In a lecture at Westminster Cathedral, the spiritual leader of more than four million Catholics in England and Wales said that the Church in Europe, in particular Britain, was in a time of crisis and of “dying and rising”. He described the modern European as a person of angst, in spite of, or perhaps because of, the many liberties enjoyed in contemporary Western culture....