Pope issues new norms for 1962 Missal (Vatican News) After consulting the bishops throughout the world, Pope Francis has decided to modify the norms regulating the use of the 1962 missal granted 14 years ago by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, as the “extraordinary form of the Roman Rite”. The Pope has published the Motu proprio Traditionis custodes, dated 16 July 2021, regarding the use of the Roman liturgy prior to 1970. It is accompanied by a letter in which he explains the reasons behind his decision…
Diocese of Norwich files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (The Day) The Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich announced Thursday that it filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy and reorganization, calling it “the most equitable way” to resolve more than 60 pending lawsuits filed against the diocese alleging the rape and sexual abuse of boys who attended the former Academy at Mount Saint John in Deep River. In a video posted to the diocese’s website, Bishop Michael Cote said this “is probably the most important news that I have had to deliver in my 18 years as the shepherd of the Diocese of Norwich,” and it was “only taken after two years of careful deliberation and prayer…”
COVID-19 takes a toll on Catholic clergy in some countries (AP) The coronavirus has taken a heavy toll among Roman Catholic priests and nuns around the world, killing hundreds of them in a handful of the hardest-hit countries alone. The dead include an Italian parish priest who brought the cinema to his small town in the 1950s; a beloved New York pastor who ministered to teens and the homeless; a nun in India who traveled home to bury her father after he died from COVID-19 only to contract the virus herself…
More than 220,000 left the German church during pandemic (CNS) In the coronavirus year 2020, fewer Christians left the church in Germany than in previous years, two church organizations reported on Wednesday. About 221,000 Catholics quit the church, while 220,000 left the Evangelical Church in Germany, a federation of 20 Lutheran, Reformed and United Protestant regional churches and denominations and known by its German acronym EKD, reported the German Catholic news Agency KNA. The numbers represent a decline of about 20% from 2019, statistics showed…
