world news
Vatican announces contest to design Holy Year 2025 logo
The Vatican is looking for designs for the official logo for the Holy Year 2025 that will highlight its theme, “Pilgrims of Hope.”
Fraternity of St. Peter can continue with pre-Vatican II liturgies
Pope Francis has confirmed that members of the Fraternity of St. Peter may continue to celebrate the Mass, sacraments and Liturgy of the Hours using the pre-Vatican II texts and forms, the fraternity said.
Women speakers emphasize need for ‘reciprocity’ in church’s ministry
Promoting better collaboration between women and men in the Catholic Church is not primarily about equality but about allowing the church to fulfill the mission given to it by God, said women speakers at a Vatican conference on priesthood.
Celibacy not ‘divine law’ for priests, but promotes holiness, speakers say
The requirement that most priests in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church be celibate has theological and spiritual foundations and not only practical motivations, said speakers at an international conference on priesthood.
Pope decries warmongering, prays for Eastern Catholics in danger
Meeting leaders of the Eastern Catholic churches — many from countries at war, facing the threat of war or dealing with the destruction left by war — Pope Francis said human beings seem to be “attached to wars, and this is tragic.”
Tensions over vaccine mandates creep into church
The issue of coercion, rather than the morality of COVID-19 vaccines, that tends to be the preeminent source of tension between those who seek greater restrictions and those who seek greater freedom, and Catholics appear to be divided as societies in general.
Archbishops’ friendly Super Bowl wager raises $22,000 for Catholic schools
Donors contributed more than $22,000 for tuition assistance scholarships as part of a friendly wager between Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles and Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Cincinnati over Super Bowl LVI’s outcome.
Cancel Crusade: How gossip, scandal ruined a rare Renaissance treasure
During a lecture Feb. 15 in Rome, Francesco Buranelli, president of the Commission for the Protection of Monuments of the Holy See and former director of the Vatican Museums, presented a picture of what can happen when fierce family rivalries, a Counter-Reformation “cancel culture” and 500 years of “fake news” find the perfect target in a problematic pope.
Italian court blocks referendum on euthanasia
Italy’s Constitutional Court has blocked a national referendum on legalizing euthanasia, saying it would violate constitutional protections of human life.
Grant of $3.65 million will fund network of institutes of Catholic thought
A national network of institutes of Catholic thought will soon launch as part of a new $3.65 million grant, issued by the John Templeton Foundation Feb. 1.