News of church

Reports: Pope Francis receives coronavirus vaccine

13-01-2021 12:05 Pope Francis, 84, was given the coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, according to media reports.

Pope recalls his youth playing football, dubs Maradona "poet"

03-01-2021 16:16 The first pope from Latin America called Diego Maradona a "poet" on the field, as he weighed in on the joys of sport in an interview with Italian newspaper.

Abortion bill

Argentina's Catholics, evangelicals unite against abortion bill

27-12-2020 09:12 As the Senate prepares for a December 29 vote on a bill that would legalise abortion in the first 14 weeks, the Catholic Church has joined forces with evangelical Christians to fight the measure tooth and nail.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope Francis appoints first African American cardinal

29-11-2020 08:56 Pope Francis created 13 new cardinals on Saturday – including the first African-American – putting his personal stamp on the body that will one day choose his successor.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Vatican breaks silence, explains pope's civil union comments

02-11-2020 17:36 The Vatican says pontiff's comments on gay civil unions were taken out of context in a documentary that spliced together parts of an old interview, but confirms Francis’ belief that gay couples should enjoy legal protections.

TERROR ATTACK

France on 'emergency' footing after knifeman kills three at church

31-10-2020 09:32 Nation on highest alert setting after knife-wielding man kills three people at a church in Nice, in what officials described as a “terror attack.”

US ELECTION 2020: CANDIDATE PROFILE

Joe Biden: From tragedy to verge of triumph

31-10-2020 08:56 At 77 and leading in the polls just days ahead of the November 3 vote, Democratic hopeful Joe Biden is on the cusp of becoming the oldest US president ever.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

'Unafraid' pope to escalate Vatican corruption fight

30-10-2020 14:12 Argentine pontiff hints he's preparing to ramp up his fight against corruption in the Vatican, weeks after the shock ousting of a cardinal over embezzlement accusations.

Constitutional referendum

Chileans vote on whether to rewrite dictatorship-era charter

25-10-2020 11:08 Chileans will decide on Sunday whether or not to replace the constitution that dates back to the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and secondly, if the current Congress or other citizens should write the new text.

Protests in Chile

Riots escalate in Chile as crunch referendum draws closer

20-10-2020 08:48 President Sebastián Piñera condemned burning of two churches and other violence that marred anti-government demonstrations, as Chile prepares to hold a landmark constitutional referendum.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope meets with Australian cardinal acquitted of child abuse charges

12-10-2020 12:35 Pope Francis met Monday with Australian Cardinal George Pell for the first time since he was jailed – and then acquitted – on child sex abuse charges.

Global pandemic

Pope: Market capitalism has failed in pandemic, needs reform

04-10-2020 09:04 In new encyclical, Argentine pontiff says the coronavirus pandemic has proven that the “magic theories” of market capitalism have failed and that the world needs a new type of politics.

Global pandemic

Pope Francis makes first trip outside Rome since virus lockdown

03-10-2020 16:47 Pope Francis travels to Assisi for first trip since the Vatican's coronavirus lockdown.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Prosecutors in Entre Ríos investigate claim priest raped nephew

29-09-2020 14:03 Sergio Decuyper accuses his paternal uncle, Reverend José Francisco Decuyper, of raping him more than 35 years ago. 42-year-old says Pope Francis asked him not to file a criminal complaint.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

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.

Global pandemic

Latin America's evangelical churches hard hit by pandemic

26-08-2020 14:26 Evangelical churches have kept spreading the Gospel despite government measures meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

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 MESSAGE

Pope celebrates joy of Easter amid sorrow of virus pandemic

12-04-2020 08:02 Pope Francis on Sunday called for the reduction or forgiveness of the debt of poor nations suffering in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

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

Cardinal Pell lawyers claim child sex conviction is 'wrong' in appeal

11-03-2020 12:48 Lawyers for disgraced cardinal claimed the senior cleric's conviction for child sex abuse was based on "improbabilities", as they launched a last-ditch appeal in Australia's top court on Wednesday.

Abortion debate

Catholic Church stages Mass in rejection of upcoming abortion bill

09-03-2020 13:37 Catholics in Argentina flocked to Luján on Sunday for a Mass “in favour of life” on International Women's Day.

Coronavirus outbreak

Vatican suspends investigative mission to Mexico over coronavirus

06-03-2020 17:08 The Vatican suspends a mission to Mexico to investigate clerical abuse due to the inability to travel in the face of coronavirus.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

French cardinal exits over failure to report alleged sex abuser

06-03-2020 13:34 The Pope has accepted the resignation of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, whose conviction for shielding an alleged child-molesting priest was overturned on appeal last month.

Abortion rights

Argentina braces anew for abortion battle

05-03-2020 07:00 In his first speech to Congress upon the arrival of a new legislative session, Alberto Fernández vowed to begin a project to legalise abortion in the coming weeks. Campaigners on both sides are preparing for another showdown.

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.

Child Abuse

Boy Scouts of America's future uncertain after bankruptcy filing

18-02-2020 11:51 A new barrage of sex-abuse lawsuits have forced the 110-year-old institution to reassess its future.

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.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope voices 'outrage' over Amazon exploitation

12-02-2020 12:35 In a highly anticipated text, Argentine pontiff on Wednesday pleaded for social justice and environmental respect for the Amazon basin – but failed to recommend the controversial idea of married priests.

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.

CHURCH SCANDALS

Pope defrocks Argentine priest for sexual misconduct, abuse of power

10-02-2020 22:57 Pontiff moves against Roberto Juan Yannuzzi, after a four-year investigation determined he had sex with adults under his authority, absolved them of the sin during confession and otherwise abused his power.

ABORTION DEBATE

Government aims at legalisation, Church challenges abortion plan

07-02-2020 20:44 While the government looks to forward to the legalisation and decriminalisation of abortion, Archbishop Emeritus of La Plata Héctor Aguer challenged the Fernández administration: "Let's see if they get the votes.”

Catholic Church Abuse

Pope defrocks fellow Argentine priest Roberto Yannuzzi

05-02-2020 15:27 Yannuzzi stands accused of abusing his power by having sex with adults under his authority.

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.