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The Catholic Church is intimately concerned about climate change. The Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences is the world's oldest, longest running scientific mission. That body, which advises the pope on matters of science, has concluded that global climate change is real and is caused, at least in significant part, by human activity. This is important to the Church because creation care is part of our mission. We are called to be stewards of creation. It's also important because climate change can exacerbate the ills of poverty. Poor people in much of the world are the most vulnerable to changes.

he papal remedy of Misericordina is not a cure. It is bestowed upon some, some not. This is decided according to how the affected parties will fit into the papal line. Last Friday, the Pope visited seven former priests, who were laicized, and allowed to marry. Not participating were the defenders of the Sacrament of marriage and the Church's moral teachings. At least not those who turned in public appeals with the requests to Pope Francis, to correct the controversial passages of the Post-Synodal Exhortation Amoris laetitia or completely withdraw the letter (Katholisches.info reported). On the previous Friday, there were...

Three priests with the Catholic Church have been kidnapped and murdered in Mexico in less than a week. The high profile murders mark the latest chapter in Mexico’s ongoing crime wave that continues to spread. The most recent murder took place the week of September 19 in the Mexican state of Michoacán when authorities confirmed the kidnapping and murder of Rev. Jose Alfredo Lopez Guillen. Over the weekend, the Michoacán Attorney General’s Office confirmed the discovery of Lopez’ body in a rural area called las Guayabas. Days before the kidnapping of Lopez, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, a group...

My opposition is you, the enemy has no chance against Me in any arena! So do not fear or give in to them but continue to take back My land for this land is the hearts of those yet to be saved. I am not found where a talent is wasted for it shall be given to another . . . My Kingdom is expanding not lukewarm and so as My Mighty Ones push right through the enemy lines, you will find me with those that press into ME for as they gather together to hear ME speak it is...

1.Priestly celibacy is not the issue – married men are more likely to abuse children than unmarried 2.Most child abuse takes place within the home. 3.All religious groups have pedophile scandals, and the Catholics (while the largest religious group) are at the bottom of the list statistically. 4.Child abuse is prevalent in all areas of society: schools, youth organizations, sports, etc. 5.Statistically, of all the professions, Christian clergy are least likely to offend. Doctors, Farmers and Teachers are the professions most likely to abuse children–not clergy. 6.Among clergy offenders Catholic priests are least likely to offend. 7.Catholic cases of pedophilia...

Jos Vanderlee, 65, suffered injuries during a robbery in Lanaken, Belgium, at around 2.40pm local time this afternoon Priest in Belgium stabbed 'by asylum seeker in his own home after letting him in to use shower' Jos Vanderlee, 65, suffered injuries to his hands during a robbery in Lanaken, Belgium, at around 2.40pm local time this afternoon Jos VanderleeThe priest has been named locally as Jos Vanderlee, 65 A priest has been stabbed in his own home by an asylum seeker he allowed in to use his shower - according to local prosecutors. The priest - named locally as 65-year-old...

Elderly priest, 86, is 'beheaded' by two ISIS knifemen shouting 'Allahu Akbar' after they took nuns and worshippers hostage at French church: Police shoot both attackers dead then search for bombs: A priest has been 'beheaded' by two ISIS knifemen who cut his throat after bursting into a French church and taking nuns and worshippers hostage before being shot dead by police. Five people including the 86-year-old priest, two nuns and two parishioners were held by assailants who raided the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy during morning mass at 9am. The clergyman, named as Jacques Hamel, is believed...

Elderly priest, 86, is 'beheaded' by two ISIS knifemen shouting 'Allahu Akbar' after they took nuns and worshippers hostage at French church: Police shoot both attackers dead then search for bombs Priest had throat cut while another hostage is fighting for life after knifemen burst into Normandy church at 9am Reports that one of the attackers shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as they launched attack at Gambetta Church near Rouen Vatican has condemned the 'barbaric' killing of the 86-year-old priest and an anti-terror investigation is underway ISIS claim responsibility for the atrocity while Francois Hollande says France is 'at war' with the...

The last Catholic priest to have been imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp has died at age 102. Father Hermann Scheipers was a young priest in 1940 when he was arrested by the Nazis and taken to the camp, near Munich. Dachau had a large population of priests: some 95% of the 2,720 clergymen imprisoned there were Catholic. Father Scheipers died June 2 in Ochtrup in Münsterland, the same town where he was born on July 24, 1913. His work among young people, soon after his ordination, drew the attention of the Nazis. An obituary at KNA, a German Catholic...

With all the hullabaloo on this topic, I have tried valiantly to avoid having a knee-jerk opinion on altar girls. Now, however, I have actually spent some time thinking about it. And I do have an opinion, based on my personal experience both as a Catholic mother and REGINA’s Editor. I raised a son and a daughter in the Catholic Church in Connecticut in the 1990’s and 2000’s. My daughter had zero interest in being an altar ‘server’ and I was somewhat dubious about then-popular claims that serving the altar would somehow prepare her to have a successful career. In...

Rumors of a klansman on campus have proven false after a priest innocently made his way through Bloomington. Last night around 9:15 PM, social media became a furious storm of confusion regarding a man in white robes roaming along 10th St. and purportedly armed with a whip. Students thought the white robes indicated Klu Klux Klan affiliation. In the spirit of Hoosiers helping Hoosiers, students were quick to look out for each other by spreading word of this potential safety risk. For instance, Eigenmann RA Ethan Gill notified his residents via email of the perceived threat in interest of their...

(AP) - The Archdiocese of Chicago expects to close an undetermined number of parishes in coming years due largely to a shortage of priests. Archbishop Blase Cupich outlined a "multi-year planning process" in a column in this week's archdiocesan newsletter, Catholic New World. He says "demographics have shifted dramatically" in recent decades, buildings are in disrepair and fewer priests means resources are spread too thinly. Cupich says by the time the process is complete "we will mourn together the loss of some parishes."

For five years, Omar Fernandes worked as a member of the ground staff at the Mumbai airport. The end of each day was marked by coffee and conversations with colleagues. "Most of the men I worked with were in their 40s and 50s," says the 30-year-old. "They would talk about how miserable they were at work, how they were struggling to provide for their families. It seemed like such a hard life." These conversations began to crystallise his resolve to become a priest. It's something he'd been thinking about for four years already. "I was 24 when I got my...

South Korea's Catholic Church announced on Monday it had reached agreement with North Korea to send priests there on "a regular basis," seeking an opening in a country with a long history of tight religious control, AFP reported. The agreement, which should see priests leading services in Pyongyang on major holy days from next year, followed a visit to the North Korean capital by South Korean bishops last week. The announcement by the Catholic Bishop's Conference of Korea (CBCK) came at the end of a 4-day visit to North Korea by a delegation of 4 bishops and 13 priests, on...

Two Poles and one Italian were killed by Shining Path guerrillas in 1991Three European missionary priests killed by Shining Path terrorists in Peru in 1991 have been beatified. According to Associated Press, 30,000 people attended the beatification ceremony for Franciscans Fathers Michal Tomaszek and Zbigniew Strzalkowski of Poland and Fr Alessandro Dordi of Italy in a stadium in Chimbote, in northern Peru, on Saturday. Italian Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the ceremony and there were representatives from all of the dioceses of Peru and groups from Poland and Italy. Father Zbigniew, 32, and Fr Michal, 30, were killed on August...

When Letitia “Tish” Rawles was ordained as a Catholic priest in April, it was the culmination of a lifetime’s worth of yearning—and a practical fix to ministering to the sick and dying at her Cincinnati assisted living facility, where it was often hard to find a priest to administer last rites. “I’ve wanted to be a priest since... probably the fourth grade, as soon as I started attending Catholic school,” she told The Daily Beast. “I always wondered why there were no women at the altar, only men.” But Rawles didn’t know any female priests then, so she became a...

Pilgrims fill St. Peter's Square for Pope Francis' Wednesday general audience on Oct. 15, 2014. Credit: Bohumil Petrik/CNA. Washington D.C., Jun 12, 2015 / 05:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The global Catholic population is growing – so quickly, in fact, that priest and parish numbers cannot keep up, says a new study on trends in the worldwide Church. And this poses a challenge: With an overall growth in the number of Catholics, especially in Africa and Asia, but not enough growth in the number of parishes and priests to supplement it, there are fewer opportunities for Catholics to receive the sacraments...

The Chinese government has allowed the ordination of Russian Orthodox priests, for the first time in 60 years, the AsiaNews service reports. Metropolitan Hilarion, who heads the external-affairs department of the Moscow patriarchate, announced the ordinations after his return from a visit to China. His trip came shortly after Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to Moscow, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Metropolitan Hilarion reported “very constructive talks” with government officials in Beijing, adding that China is a society that properly values the “role of culture, traditions and the moral factor in shaping the lives of...

Down with the Struggle or Up with the Cross? A Word to Priests, Catechists, and Parents By: Msgr. Charles PopeSome forty years ago, the Venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen admonished the priests of his day with these words:We become real priests when we empty ourselves, and no longer seek our [own] identity, and where we are lifted up to the cross, not going "down to people" Too many of us today feel we have to be loved $B!D (J [thinking] the young will not love us unless we talk like them, eat like them, drink like them, clothe ourselves...

A Silent Priest is a Dead Priest – A Meditation on a Teaching of St. Gregory the Great By: Msgr. Charles PopeA former Archbishop of Washington was known to often remark, “There’s nothing deader than a dead priest.” Some wondered as to the meaning of this expression, and those who knew him the best explained that it was a sort of version of the old Latin expression Corruptio optime pessima (The corruption of the best is the worst thing of all).Of all the men on the planet who need to be alive, vocal, clear, and active, the priest is...