Catholic Church

From the beginning of my service as Bishop of a diocese, it seemed that every year as the celebrations of Christmas and Easter approached, there would be a profoundly sad event in the diocese or difficult crisis to face for the good of the diocese. Just as I was anticipating with joy the celebrations of the great mysteries of our salvation, something would happen, which, from a human point of view, put a dark cloud over the celebrations and called into question the joy they inspired. Once, when I commented to a brother Bishop about this distressingly too regular experience, he simply responded: “It is Satan, trying to steal your joy.”

By Paul Smeaton, LifeSiteNews - 'It is alarming that a man had to spend nearly 14 months in prison on the uncorroborated say-so of a single accuser, despite having multiple alibis. There is a need for both the police and the public prosecutor to respond to charges of malicious prosecution,' said a former altar boy at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne… The High Court of Australia has acquitted Cardinal George Pell of his convictions of historic child sexual abuse and ordered his release from prison, in a unanimous decision by the court’s seven justices.

By Kevin Jones, CNA - In the wake of the coronavirus epidemic, the nationwide shutdown of Catholic churches has halted regular Mass attendance and impeded access to other sacraments for the Catholic faithful. Now, some Catholics have endorsed an open letter asking the Catholic bishops to do everything possible to make the sacraments more available… “We don’t absolutely need to have the Eucharist, but we want to be in the presence of the Eucharist, we want to have Mass said. We want adoration, we want processions, we want all these things,” she told CNA April 2, describing the goals of the open letter and its supporters.

By Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th., Church Militant - Pope Francis is praying for those who are persecuted by an unjust sentence. He did so shortly after news broke that Australia's High Court acquitted Cdl. George Pell of sex abuse… Without mentioning Pell's name in his homily at Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday Francis said, "I would like to pray today for all the people who suffer an unjust sentence because of aggressive persistence [against them]."… The approach the Vatican took regarding Pell's having to stand trial in Australia was not in step with the approach it's taken in the case of other prelates accused of corruption, who were shielded by diplomatic immunity.