News of catholic

Pope seeks to 'liberate' Virgin Mary from the Mafia

18-09-2020 14:15 Pope Francis gives blessing to new Vatican think tank that seeks to prevent the Mafia and organised crime groups from exploiting the image of the Virgin Mary for their own illicit ends.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pleasures of food and sex 'simply divine,' says Pope Francis

09-09-2020 16:50 The pleasures of a well-cooked meal or loving sexual intercourse are "divine" and have unjustly fallen victim to "overzealousness" on the part of the Church in the past, says pontiff.

The Pope & the Pandemic

What happens when pandemic locks down a globe-trotting pope?

30-08-2020 08:37 During the virus crisis, Francis has become a 21st century “prisoner of the Vatican," as one of his predecessors was once known, robbed of the crowds, foreign travel and visits to the peripheries that so defined and popularised his papacy.

Coronavirus vaccine

Pope calls for social justice and vaccines for all

19-08-2020 14:40 Pope Francis on Wednesday called attention to the ways in which Covid-19 has exacerbated global issues of inequality and said that he hopes the eventual vaccine will not be reserved for the wealthiest.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope Francis names six women to Vatican economic council

07-08-2020 14:32 Women will serve as lay experts on the 15-member body, which also includes eight cardinals and another male lay expert, the Vatican said in a statement.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Argentine bishop resumes work in Holy See as Vatican abuse probe wraps

15-06-2020 15:28 Vatican spokesman confirms Archbishop Gustavo Zanchetta has resumed work in Holy See, but claims it in no way interferes with investigations probing alleged sexual abuse.

EASTER WEEKEND

Pope Francis guides locked-down world through virtual Easter

10-04-2020 09:51 Church doors will be shut and the Vatican sealed off when Pope Francis leads 1.3 billion Catholics in Easter Sunday celebrations held under a worldwide coronavirus lockdown.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Próvolo abuse survivors ask Pope for justice

22-02-2020 10:26 Deaf survivors of clerical sexual abuse fly to Vatican, hoping to build pressure on Pope Francis to come clean about the crimes committed against them.

Church Abuse

Deaf Argentine abuse survivors target pope with defiant message

19-02-2020 15:33 The victims of the Próvolo Institute are seeking a private meeting with Pope Francis in an effort to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Long read: Church Abuse

Disgraced religious order tried to get abuse victim to lie

17-02-2020 16:04 The church went through great lengths to hide the truth that Reverend Reséndiz sexually abused a Venezuelan child, among others.

CHURCH ABUSE SCANDALS

Deaf Próvolo child abuse victims accuse Pope Francis of inaction

13-02-2020 14:49 The victims, represented by the global organisation Ending Clergy Abuse, have requested a public audience with the Argentine pontiff.

Dueling Popes

Seven years after stepping down, Benedict fuels 'two popes' headache

11-02-2020 13:10 The "emeritus" Pope Benedict XVI, who is a co-author on an upcoming book that decries the topic of married priests, has created tension in the unprecedented situation at the Vatican.

Diplomacy

María Fernanda Silva to be Argentina's new ambassador to Vatican

30-01-2020 14:41 Catholic and the first Afro-descendant woman of the Argentine foreign service, according to local reports, Silva will be the first woman to occupy the role.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope's new aide is Uruguayan priest who worked with street kids

27-01-2020 11:50 Argentine pontiff has known the Reverend Gonzalo Aemilius since 2006 when Francis was then archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Vatican controversy

Retired Pope Benedict distances himself from book on priest celibacy

14-01-2020 16:38 Pope Benedict XVI's co-authorship of new book defending priestly celibacy, despite failed attempt to remove name from cover, creates tension in the Vatican.

CHURCH SCANDAL

Church sex abuse scandal deepens with La Plata priest’s suicide

21-12-2019 10:36 The recent suicide of Eduardo Lorenzo and the alleged cover-up surrounding possible decades of abuse sparks renewed discussion about the crisis of the Catholic Church in Argentina and around the world.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Vatican office lifts veil, revealing vast caseload of abuse claims

20-12-2019 17:28 Unprecedented numbers of reports flood the Vatican's central offices. The tribunal is already straining to keep up, and cases from a slough of new regions indicate that this recent surge is only the tip of the iceberg.

Church Sex Abuse Scandal

Pope Francis strips 'pontificial secrecy' from abuse-related cases in the Church

17-12-2019 13:55 While documentation from the Church's in-house legal proceedings will still not become public, the reform removes any excuse to not cooperate with legitimate legal requests from prosecutors, police or other civil authorities.

Transition 2019

Health Ministry veteran González García to return, confirms Fernández

04-12-2019 17:07 Ginés González García will serve for a third time as nation's health minister, president-elect confirms – and he says he will reinstate the abortion protocol struck down last month by President Macri.

Military Dictatorship

Archbishop Miguel Hesayne dies aged 96

02-12-2019 17:05 The archbishop of Viedma was known for his refusal to become "complicit" in the military junta's abuses during the brutal 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Legal reckoning: New abuse suits could cost Catholic Church over US$4 billion

02-12-2019 12:59 Catholic dioceses in the United States are facing a new wave of sexual abuse lawsuits after multiple states extended or suspended the statute of limitations to allow claims stretching back decades.

PRÓVOLO ABUSE TRIAL

‘Survivors, not victims’ – ex-Próvolo students finally find justice in court

30-11-2019 10:50 Celebrations in Mendoza as two Catholic priests accused of sexually assaulting and raping students at Antonio Próvolo Institute for the deaf are sentenced to over 40 years in prison.

by Carly Graf

Film review

‘The Two Popes’ proves to be charming buddy movie in vestments

29-11-2019 06:00 Director Fernando Meirelles imagines a meeting between the two popes, Benedict and Francis, before the German decided to resign the papacy. It arrives December 1 on Netflix.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Bishop appears at court in Orán for hearing on abuse charges

27-11-2019 16:57 Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta returns to Argentina from the Vatican to attend hearing on sexual abuse charges.

Church Sex Abuse Scandal

Vatican still refusing to expel priests condemned in Próvolo case

27-11-2019 12:41 Convictions and sentencing of two priests for rape and sexual abuse of minors reignites controversy around Holy See's protection of members of the Catholic Church facing such allegations, many of whom continue to be supported by the institution.

by Mariana Sarramea

Abortion debate

Ex-ambassador to the Vatican: 'Abortion will be legal in Argentina'

27-11-2019 08:00 Mercosur Parliament lawmaker Eduardo Valdés says he finds the debate over the legalisation of abortion to be “archaic” and predicts it will be legalised in the coming years.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDAL

Próvolo victims hope priests' sentences send Pope a message

27-11-2019 07:25 "This is a watershed case for society, justice, the victims and also for the Church," warns bishop, as victims demand Pope Francis take note of historic abuse case at Provólo Institute in Luján de Cuyo.

'PRÓVOLO' CASE

Priests who sexually abused deaf children get 40-year jail terms

25-11-2019 14:46 Mendoza court sentences Nicola Corradi to 42 years in prison and Horacio Corbacho to 45 years for sexually abusing deaf children at the Antonio Próvolo Institute for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Children.

CHURCH ABUSE SCANDALS

Verdict nears for Próvolo priests as Church struggles to deal with abuse scandals

25-11-2019 08:58 Pope Francis’ homeland faces a complicated week of reckoning with the sex abuse scandal that has plagued the Roman Catholic Church.

CATHOLIC CHURCH & ABUSE

Próvolo case: Legal team expects justice for Church sex abuse victim

23-11-2019 11:38 In this exclusive report from Mendoza, Carly Graf meets lawyers from Xumek, the NGO representing plaintiffs in the shocking ‘Próvolo’ scandal, in which two priests stand accused of the rape and sexual assault of minors at an institute for deaf children in Mendoza.

by Carly Graf

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Argentine bishop accused of abuse slams prosecutors for seeking arrest order

22-11-2019 10:26 Gustavo Zanchetta has been formally accused of "aggravated continuous sexual abuse” of two seminarians, charges that carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

RELIGION IN ARGENTINA

Catholicism on the decline in Argentina, says CONICET study

20-11-2019 23:50 Almost 63% of Argentines identify as Catholics today, compared to 76.5% in 2008.

ARGENTINE PONTIFF

Pope demands tech companies prevent kids from viewing porn

14-11-2019 12:45 Pope says tech companies should assume a moral responsibility to protect young people from what he said were the ruinous effects of pornography on their emotional and sexual development.

VATICAN CEREMONY

Argentine, British bishops exchange statuettes of Our Lady of Luján at Vatican

30-10-2019 13:23 Pope Francis appeared to wipe away tears on Wednesday, during an emotional ceremony that saw Argentina and Britain make powerful gesture of reconciliation, 37 years on from the war between the two nations.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope Francis' bodyguard resigns over leak scandal

14-10-2019 11:50 Argentine pontiff said to be furious over publication of internal police notice which featured the photographs of five Vatican employees – including two senior figures – targeted in a probe reportedly into a real estate deal.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Married priests debate raises fears of split in Catholic Church

10-10-2019 08:29 Suggestion that married men should be allowed to become priests in remote locations is bitterly dividing a Vatican assembly on the Amazon, with critics warning the emotive issue could fracture the Catholic Church.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope seeks 'courageous' debate over Amazon priest shortage

08-10-2019 16:44 Argentine pontiff opens a three-week meeting on preserving the rainforest and ministering to its native people as he fended off attacks from conservatives who are opposed to his ecological agenda.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope's upcoming visit to Thailand will come with a family reunion

15-09-2019 11:16 Sister Ana Rosa Sivori, originally from Buenos Aires, shares a great-grandfather with Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who, six years ago, became Pope Francis. So, she and the pontiff are second cousins. Next month, the two will come face-to-face... in Thailand.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope describes attacks by US Catholic critics as 'an honour'

04-09-2019 15:57 The ultra-conservative wing of the church in the United States frequently takes aim at Francis, saying he is not outspoken enough on abortion, too compassionate towards homosexuals and divorcees, and too accommodating towards Muslims.

MENDOZA TRIAL

'They're demonic': the deaf victims of Argentina's paedophile priests speak out

05-08-2019 12:03 Victims testimony shakes trial of Catholic priests in Mendoza accused of sexual abuse.

ABUSE SCANDAL IN CHURCH

Bishop close to Pope Francis formally accused of abuse in Argentina for first time

07-06-2019 17:52 The prosecutor's office in Salta Province said Friday that prosecutor Mónica Viazzi had accused Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta of "aggravated continuous sexual abuse."

SEX ABUSE SCANDAL

Pope: Argentine bishop accused of abuse is now facing Vatican trial

28-05-2019 17:27 Pontiff says he received the results of a preliminary investigation into Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta two weeks ago and ordered the case be handed over for trial by a Church tribunal.