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LOS ANGELES - That Cardinal Roger Mahony attended grammar school here, in the modest St. Charles Borromeo parish more than a half-century ago, was a fact lost on many parishioners on a recent Sunday. But little else is forgotten about the neighborhood-kid-done-good whose national profile has been on the rise, largely for his willingness to take on controversy, especially his stand on illegal immigration. Mahony, 70, who leads the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, is scheduled to participate in today's planned mass protests in Los Angeles, except not the one to be held downtown. Rather, after celebrating noon Mass at...

ROME, April 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The controversial Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a favourite of liberal dissidents within the Catholic Church many of whom hoped he'd be elected Pope, has given an interview on abortion, embryo research, assisted procreation, AIDS and condom use to the Italian weekly L'Espresso.  The lengthy interview, a dialogue with Italian bioethics expert Ignazio Marino, reveals publicly the Cardinal's differing opinion on matters of sexuality with the Catholic Church.  Even though he retired at age 75 in 2002, the former Archbishop of Milan continues to be a darling of the liberal media.The full interview published today...

Just something I thought was pretty funny so I put it up on YouTube Bernard McGuirk as Cardinal Egan

Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen has called on China to change its "prejudiced" attitude towards the Vatican in order to bring about the normalisation of relations between the two. Zen reaffirmed his belief that the pope wished to visit China and said that the time was ripe for the re-establishment of diplomatic ties. "The opportunity for success is greater now," the newly elevated cardinal told reporters here a day after returning from Rome. Low-level contact between China and the Vatican has increased since the death last year of Pope Benedict XVI's predecessor, John Paul II, he added. However, Zen said...

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced plans yesterday for the most sweeping reorganization in its history of more than 150 years, recommending the closing of 31 parishes and 14 schools throughout the metropolitan region.At the same time, the archdiocese recommended creating five new parishes in Staten Island, Orange County and Dutchess County and constructing several new church buildings, mostly in northern Westchester County, Rockland County and Dutchess County, where many Catholics who have left the city have relocated.The closings would hit the archdiocese the hardest in its southern parts — the Bronx, Staten Island, Manhattan, Yonkers and central...

ROME (CNS) -- Although he said he would continue to wear his brown Capuchin habit most of the time, the archbishop of Boston did go to a tailor for a final fitting of his new red cassock three days before he was set to become a cardinal. Cardinal-designate Sean P. O'Malley told Boston reporters that he told the tailor, "I could always wear it if I was called to be on a hunting expedition with the vice president," Dick Cheney. "It's very red." The cardinal met with his hometown media March 21 at Rome's North American College. He was scheduled...

Vatican City, Mar. 14, 2006 (CNA) - Cardinal Ignace Moussa I Daoud, the Vatican’s prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches has sent a letter to bishops around the world urging support for Christians who live in the troubled Holy Land, namely, by way of the Church’s annual Good Friday collection.In his letter, Cardinal Daoud laments that “the Land of the Lord continues to be the scene of a conflict that has lasted for decades and deprives Catholic communities and institutions of the adequate means to maintain and promote religious, humanitarian and cultural activities.”“This distressing situation”, he continued, “leads...

'Revolution' fears over Hong Kong cardinal By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 11/03/2006) The ''official'' Catholic Church in Beijing has accused Hong Kong's newly-appointed cardinal of trying to do to China what the late Pope did to Poland. "Why would you appoint someone who doesn't support communism as a cardinal?" said Liu Bainian, the vice-chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, in a direct attack on Cardinal Joseph Zen. "Is it like Poland? Didn't the Church play a big role in Poland?" Mr Liu, whose organisation controls all of China's state-sanctioned Catholic churches, was speaking on Hong Kong radio after...

Well, we're 16 days from the consistory which will elevate 15 prelates to the College of Cardinals. As the magic date of 24 March draws nearer, I'd like do a little piece here, a little bit there on the College, the various aspects of its role in the life of the church and how it operates. Then again, if you want to make God laugh, you tell him your plans. Nevertheless, I will try. It's been said that there's no greater secret in the world than the identity of a prince of the church named in pectore -- that...

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony called on Roman Catholics Wednesday to embrace immigrants regardless of their legal status, criticizing what he said was increasing hostility toward the nation's bulging undocumented population. The cardinal also said he would tell priests to defy any law enacted that would try to force churches and other organizations to determine the legality of immigrants before giving them assistance. Mahony, a longtime advocate of immigrant rights who oversees a racially diverse archdiocese of more than 4 million people, used Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season to urge Catholics to "make room" for immigrants. "Unless...

Polish Pope’s closest aid to become cardinal Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, of Kraków, has been named cardinal by Pope Benedict. While the appointment is seen as a victory for the Church’s more open wing in Poland, it comes at a time when the darker aspects of the Church is coming under more and more scrutiny. Report by Michal Kubicki The Krakow archbishop is one of 15 new cardinals from five continents whose names were announced by Pope Benedict XVI. In the city of Krakow, which has traditionally had a cardinal as head of archdiocese, the nomination did not come as a...

On Feast of Chair of St. Peter "A Privileged Sign of the Love of God" VATICAN CITY, FEB. 22, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's address at today's general audience, on the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters! The Latin liturgy celebrates today the feast of the Chair of Peter. It is a very ancient tradition, witnessed in Rome since the end of the fourth century, which renders thanksgiving to God for the mission entrusted to the Apostle Peter and his successors. "Cathedra" literally means the established seat of...

A GROUP of leading liberal Catholics has complained to the Vatican that Cardinal George Pell is teaching inaccurate and misleading doctrine. Spokesman Frank Purcell went further, accusing the cardinal of fostering an "Eichmann mentality" whereby people in the church did not think for themselves but simply obeyed orders. (Adolf Eichmann was the Nazi in charge of exterminating Jews in World War II.) The Catholics wrote in November to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — formerly the Holy Inquisition, and a body on which Cardinal Pell served under the present Pope — but have had no reply. They...

I was waiting for it.The first to complain Archbishop O’Malley’s designation to become a Cardinal is one of the local shark-attorney who has represented alleged sex abuse victims in lawsuits against the Archdiocese: Mitchell Garabedian. “O’Malley hasn’t treated the latest group of plaintiffs with any urgency. Many victims feel O’Malley is being rewarded for a job not very well done.” The drama of the victims is out of the question as well as the Church’s responsibility. But the incredible effort of Archbishop O’Malley to settle in a fast, fair and compassionate manner cannot be ignored. It just happens that for...

Pictures and text showing the activities last Saturday of Cardinal Lehmann at Carnival and Cardinal Danneels at an empty vocations conference.

February 10, 2006 - Chicago's Francis Cardinal George sent a letter containing an ultimatum to priests. Seemingly stunned by the ongoing issue of priest sex abuse, the cardinal has called for any priest living a double life to come forward for the good of the church. Francis Cardinal George is tending to his wounded flock, dispatching a letter to more than 400 churches across the Archdiocese. In his letter to priests the Cardinal writes: "All of us are sinners, but there are types of perversion that are completely incompatible with the calling toward ordained priesthood." The cardinal apologizes for not...

Venezuela nearing Marxist dictatorship, cardinal says Jan. 16 (CNA/CWNews.com) - In one his harshest criticisms to date of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara accused that country’s government of having “lost its way” and of showing “signs of dictatorship.” The retired Salesian cardinal presided at the traditional procession of the Divine Shepherdess—a popular Marian devotion that draws millions of people every year—through the downtown streets of Barquisimeto. Although he focused most of his homily on Marian devotion and the Catholic roots of Venezuela, Cardinal Lara launched his criticism of the Chavez regime at the end of his remarks....

Vatican's Evolutionists By Rafael Brom Catholics should wonder why Vatican constanly issuing a stout defence of Charles Darwin's Fraudulent Communist Religion "Theory of Evolution". Now we have Vatican's high ranked Cardinal claiming that the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly. Looks like that 150 million martyrs who were tortured and killed by communists since 1917 in the name of "Theory of Evolution" did not read their Bible correctly. I am sure that Vatican's Evolutionists will one day declare St. Peter as the First Communist...

I will address the topic of Christianity and Islam by limiting myself to a brief presentation of historical facts, without entering into the specifics of religious and theological dialogue. This seems useful to me, because the celebration of the fifth centenary of the birth of Pius V was a bit muted, especially in academic circles. The victor at Lepanto in 1571, this pope who had the courage and the energy to construct an alliance of almost all the Christian kingdoms against the Ottoman empire – which was advancing to threaten Europe and had already established dominion over the Balkans –...

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...