WelCom June/July 2022 Pope Francis has challenged Patriarch Kirill over his support of the war in Ukraine warning that the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church ‘cannot become Putin’s altar boy’. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Francis explained that during their 40-minute Zoom discussion in March the Patriarch spent half of it reading […]
WelCom June/July 2022 Calls are being made by Canada’s government leaders and Indigenous communities for Pope Francis to issue a formal apology for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system when he visits the country in July. Earlier this year the pope held private individual meetings in Rome with delegations from Canada’s Assembly […]
WelCom June/July 2022 Retired Archbishop of Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, 90, was arrested on May 11 for breaking China’s national security law. He was one of five people detained for being associated with the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, a now-defunct organisation, which helped pro-democracy protesters to pay their legal fees. They are accused of […]
WelCom June/July 2022 Much of what the church has built up in Ireland over the last two centuries is crumbling before our eyes, says Galway’s new bishop. But fresh opportunities are also presenting themselves, he maintains. At his installation Mass, Bishop Michael Duignan (51) of Galway and Kilmacduagh dioceses highlighted the Church’s diminishing role in […]
WelCom June/July 2022 The merging of dioceses in the many countries with shrinking Catholic populations is historically unusual but it is becoming increasingly common under Pope Francis. The trend may well continue in the face of declining numbers of clergy and Mass-going Catholics in the western world. Pope Francis announced in February that the Irish […]
WelCom June/July 2022 The US Catholic bishops said that the country was facing an ‘epidemic of evil and violence’ after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Texas. In a statement issued on May 24, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) urged citizens to ‘implore our elected officials […]
WelCom June/July 2022 An unprecedented leak took place last month of a draft opinion by the US Supreme Court, suggesting the court may overturn Roe v. Wade, a 1973 decision that broadly legalised abortion in the United States. The court is expected to release its final opinion in late June or early July in the […]
WelCom June/July 2022 After a prominent Jesuit priest was accused of sexually abusing a girl, Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced he is contemplating opening a nationwide investigation into the Catholic Church. Fr Felipe Berríos was accused by a woman who said he abused her starting in 1998 when she was 12 until 2003 when she […]
WelCom June/July 2022 Former leaders of Pacific nations have warned that the climate crisis is the biggest threat to the region, not rising military tensions. The Pacific Elders Voice group, which includes former leaders of the Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati and Tuvalu, said that ‘the primary security threat to the Pacific is climate change,’ rather […]
