Small but dramatic change to Pope’s General Audience (AP) Pope Francis called Wednesday for simplified adoption procedures and urged couples to have more children as he presided over his first general audience of the New Year with a novel supporting cast that emphasized his call for a less-clericalized Catholic Church. For the first time, a layman and a nun provided the English and Spanish translations of Francis’ weekly catechism lesson rather than a cloaked monsignor, a small but revolutionary change for the Vatican…
Leading European Cardinal calls for COVID passports at churches (The Tablet) The head of a commission representing the European Union’s Catholic bishops has called for Covid passports to be required for anyone wishing to access religious services in Europe, in the latest move towards a general Church endorsement of tighter controls…
Abuse report to review Ratzinger era in Germany (CNS) In mid-January, the law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl is scheduled to publish a report into the handling of clerical sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. The potentially explosive aspect is that three of the highest-ranking officials are still alive: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — now retired Pope Benedict XVI — and Cardinals Friedrich Wetter and Reinhard Marx, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA. The investigation followed two years of research and covers the period from 1945 to 2019, centering on who knew what about sexual abuse and when, and what action they took, if any, KNA reported…
Supporters of Latin Mass plan march in Europe (National Catholic Register) Some faithful devoted to the Traditional Latin Mass are mobilizing to convince the Pope to temper his restrictions arising from the recent motu proprio Traditionis Custodes on the use of pre-Vatican II Roman liturgy. Considering the papal document as being the result of a misleading perception of traditional communities within the Church hierarchy, some French faithful have organized to launch the association La Voie Romaine, with the aim of collecting letters in which faithful from across the country and beyond would express their concern and testify to the reasons for their liturgical attachment to traditional rites…
Father Mike Schmitz Bible podcast hits #1 — again (PR Newswire) Déjà vu for 2022: America’s top New Year’s Resolution is once again to read the Bible with a Catholic priest. Hit podcast The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)™ featuring Jeff Cavins is back in the #1 position on the U.S. Apple Charts,one year after achieving the same feat in January 2021…
