Cardinal Juan José Omella of Barcelona, considered one of Pope Francis' strongest allies among European bishops, has been elected president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE). His election comes at a crucial moment in Church-State relations in Spain.
Pope Francis has broken a Vatican glass ceiling by appointing the first female manager at the Holy See’s Secretariat of State. Dr Francesca Di Giovanni has been given a senior diplomatic role as the new under-secretary at the Section for Relations with States and will have responsibility for working with international bodies such as the United Nations.
Pope Francis has named Canon David Oakley, the leader of England and Wales’ largest seminary, as the new Bishop of Northampton. He succeeds Bishop Peter Doyle, who has reached the retirement age of 75, and will take over the governance of a diocese made up of almost 70 parishes spanning Bedford, Buckingham, Northampton and parts of Berkshire.
Pope Francis has named a Spanish Jesuit to succeed Cardinal George Pell as leader of the Vatican’s economy department. Fr Juan Antonio Guerrero will become the new Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, a role which charges him with pushing forward with reforms of the Vatican finances.
Pope Francis is expected to affirm the concerns of the Church in Japan regarding peace, an end to nuclear power plants, care for the marginalized of society, the problems of immigrants in Japan and protection of the environment.
He was an altar boy who dreamt of becoming a priest when he saw Jesuit priests visiting hinterland villages in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao. Bishop Jose Ramirez Rapadas, who at 46 years old became the country's youngest bishop, said he found his vocation when he went with the priests to the villages.
Fans of the Catholic author GK Chesterton have spoken of their frustration and disappointment at the decision not to open his cause for sainthood. Last week the Bishop of Northampton, Peter Doyle, wrote to the President of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Dr Dale Ahlquist, stating that following a year-long investigation into the cause, much prayer, and a visit to the Congregation for the Cause of Saints in Rome, he was unable to promote Chesterton’s canonisation.
A new seminary to train priests for the whole of Asia will open in the Chinese territory of Macau in September. The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples has entrusted management of the Redemptoris Mater College for Evangelization in Asia to the Neocatechumenal Way.
A Filipino priest was elected head of the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominican Order, during the congregation's general chapter in Vietnam on July 13. Father Gerard Francisco Timoner OP became the 88th master of the 800-year-old mendicant religious order and the first Asian to hold the post.
The Blessed John Henry Newman, one of the most significant figures of the 19th century, will be declared a saint on 13 October 2019. Pope Francis made the announcement of the date today during a public consistory for the causes of canonisations in the Vatican on 1 July.
A top Vatican official visiting Thailand to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Church's mission to Siam has highlighted the challenges evangelization efforts face across Asia. “Asia is the missionary continent par excellence. The universal Church requests your willing cooperation for missionary activities in this vast continent,” he said.
Claretian missionary priest Leo Dalmao was ordained and installed as the fourth bishop of Isabela, the island province’s capital, on May 24. Bishop Dalmao, 49, replaced Bishop Martin Jumoad who was named bishop of Ozamiz in 2016. He becomes the first Filipino Claretian missionary to join the College of Bishops.
A Chinese bishop is back in detention and a vicar general in custody amid a long-running dispute between a group of Beijing-affiliated priests and a diocese of the underground church in the northern province of Hebei.
The founder and all-women editorial board of the Vatican's women's magazine have tendered their resignation over what they allege was a Vatican campaign to discredit them and put them "under the direct control of men."
On Nov. 2, All Souls' Day, Catholic nuns operating in Myanmar received an unexpected order to leave the Wa hills bordering China. It was part of a United Wa State Army (UWSA) clampdown on Christianity.
Father Leo Dalmao, CMF, left, has become bishop of Isabela, while Father Cosme Almedilla has been named the new prelate in Butuan. Pope Francis named this week two new Filipino bishops who will serve in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao.
More than a thousand people took part in Rites of Election at cathedrals and churches across England and Wales last weekend, declaring their hope to become Catholics at Easter. The Rite of Election usually takes place at the beginning of Lent, and is one of the final stages in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) through which converts prepare for Confirmation or reception into full communion with the Church at the Easter Vigil.
Church leaders expect a newly established diocese in northern central Vietnam, which is prone to natural disasters, to bring good prospects, justice and peace to local people.
One was a bishop who gave his life in defence of the suffering people of El Salvador. The other was a career Vatican diplomat who rose to the Chair of St Peter and carved out a blueprint for the modern papacy. On Sunday 14 October, in a ceremony in St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis canonised Archbishop Oscar Romero and Pope Paul VI cementing these new saints as pillars of contemporary Catholicism.
Canonisation - Popoe Paul VI: Although I am not particularly happy with the canonisation of popes until they have been dead at least 50 years, I am sure that St Pope Paul VI – as he will be proclaimed tomorrow – was a holy man. I met him, and felt it.
