Stories Archived for Two Months

Church responding decisively to new sex abuse reports, official says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The religious orders and bishops' conferences dealing with cases of clerical sexual abuse of children in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands are acting quickly, decisively and with transparency to uncover the truth and assist the victims, said the Vatican spokesman.

Cleanup comes slowly, housing a priority in devastated Chilean towns
LIMA, Peru (CNS) – Cleanup is beginning in towns on Chile's central coast as electricity and telephone service is slowly restored and people try to rebuild their lives after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake killed nearly 800 people and caused millions of dollars in damage.

Sony-Vatican TV deal will put pope in HD
VATICAN CITY (Zenit.org) — A new agreement  between Sony and the Vatican Television Center will make high definition images of the pope available by October, according to the director of the Vatican press office.

African bishops seek vision to address 'formidable challenges'
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) – The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar has asked Catholic universities in Africa to come up with ways that the church can meet the continent's "formidable challenges," said a member of the symposium's standing committee.

US bishops pledge to help rebuild church institutions in Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) – Walking around the massive tent city at the Petionville Club March 2, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of San Antonio wondered what will become of the thousands of Haitians left homeless by the Jan. 12 earthquake.

US medical teams in Haiti refocus medical care on chronic illnesses
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) – On her second medical mission to Haiti since the Jan. 12 earthquake, Patty Skoglund, a disaster response expert with Scripps Health in San Diego, sees an evolution in medical treatment taking place.

Caritas struggles to reach rural victims of Chilean earthquake
LIMA, Peru (CNS) – While media attention focuses on looting in Concepcion, the largest city near the epicenter of the magnitude 8.8 earthquake Feb. 27, Catholic Church workers struggle to reach quake victims in rural areas who are far from the spotlight.

Church coordinates aid, offers condolences to quake victims' families
LIMA, Peru (CNS) – As Chile's Catholic Church coordinated aid to victims of the massive earthquake that struck the country's central coast on Feb. 27, church leaders expressed their condolences to families of the more than 700 people killed.

Pope prays for victims of massive earthquake in Chile
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the victims of the massive earthquake in Chile and pledged the assistance of Catholic relief organizations.

Rosemary Goldie was first woman in position of authority at the Vatican
CANBERRA, Australia (CNS) – Rosemary Goldie, the first woman to hold a position of authority at the Vatican, died Feb. 27 in Randwick. She was 94.

Pope expresses sorrow over murder of Christians in Iraq
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his deep concern and sorrow over the continuing wave of violence against Christians in Mosul, Iraq.

Olympic prodigy trades skates for sandals of Franciscan sister
LONDON (CNS) – In the silence of St Joseph's Convent in Leeds each morning, Sister Catherine dresses herself in a gray habit. She fixes a black veil on her head and fastens to her waist a cord tied into three knots – representing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience – and she slips her feet into the sandals of a Franciscan nun.

Man accused of ordering murder of Sister Dorothy Stang gets new trial
SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNS) – Five years after the murder of U.S.-born Sister Dorothy Stang, a man accused of ordering her killing will face his third trial.

Church statistics show increase in Catholics, priests, seminarians
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The latest Vatican statistics show a slight increase in Catholics as a percentage of the world's population, and a slow but steady rise in the number of priests and seminarians worldwide.

US seminarians begin Lenten pilgrimage to Rome's ancient churches
ROME (CNS) – For seminarians at the Pontifical North American College, Lent did not begin with receiving ashes in the warmth of the seminary chapel; it began with a long, cold walk in morning darkness down one hill and up another to the Church of Santa Sabina.

Tens of thousands of Brazilian Catholics pick alternative to Carnival
SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNS) – Tens of thousands of Brazilian Catholics did something different during the four days of Carnival. While their counterparts danced in the streets to the latest samba rhythm, these Catholics attended spiritual retreats.

Irish-Vatican summit on sex abuse ends with call for courage, honesty
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The pastoral care of the sick and infirm is a priceless gift the church offers to those who suffer, to their families and to the world, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Church's care for sick is an invaluable
gift to the world, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The pastoral care of the sick and infirm is a priceless gift the church offers to those who suffer, to their families and to the world, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Abandon superficiality in favor of complete conversion, says pope
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Lenten season calls Christians to strip themselves of evil, superficiality and lukewarm morality and to turn themselves fully over to Jesus Christ, said Pope Benedict XVI.

Pope to canonize Mary MacKillop, Andre Bessette
Oct. 17
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI will create six new saints Oct. 17, including Blessed Mary MacKillop, who will be Australia's first saint, and the Canadian Blessed Andre Bessette, who will be the first saint of the Holy Cross Brothers.

Pope Benedict hopes Winter Olympics will produce more than medals
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI said he hopes the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, will bring more than gold to everyone involved in the event.

Church's care for sick is an invaluable gift to the world, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The pastoral care of the sick and infirm is a priceless gift the church offers to those who suffer, to their families and to the world, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Boston priest visits Haitians, urges strength in face of uncertainty
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) – Father Gabriel Michel had heard plenty of stories about life at the mammoth tent camp that has grown on the Petionville Club golf course since Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake.

British archaeologist: Find shows Turin shroud not from Jesus' time
JERUSALEM (CNS) – Results from studies on the remains of a first-century shroud discovered on the edge of the Old City of Jerusalem prove that the famous Shroud of Turin could not have originated from Jerusalem of Jesus' time, said a prominent archaeologist.

Remembering Holocaust, pope prays for respect for all people
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Pope Benedict XVI prayed that honoring the memory of the 6 million Jews who died in the Nazi death camps would lead everyone to greater respect for each human being.

Caritas official: Agencies must gear up to help Haitians in long term
LIMA, Peru (CNS) – Nearly two weeks after the Haitian earthquake, Catholic aid agencies must gear up to provide longer-term food, housing and health care assistance to people who lost their homes and possessions.

Amid cathedral rubble, Haitians celebrate church leaders' funerals
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) – Amid the rubble of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, Haitians celebrated the lives of the archbishop and vicar general of Port-au-Prince, both of whom were killed in the country's earthquake.

Woman rescued from cathedral rubble seven days after Haitian quake
MEXICO CITY (CNS) – Caritas search and rescue teams miraculously found and pulled a 69-year-old woman from the rubble of the badly damaged Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, where she had been clinging to life for seven days.

Israeli ambassador urges Jews to dialogue with Catholics
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – For the good of the world and for the Jewish community itself, Jews should be willing to engage in dialogue and joint projects with Catholics, said the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See.

Church groups struggle to distribute aid; Dominican hospitals overflow
MEXICO CITY (CNS) – A Mexican nun operating a medical center in Port-au-Prince said plenty of aid is arriving in the Haitian capital, but it is failing to reach many of those who were injured and left homeless by the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Pope meets, forgives Christmas Eve attacker
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As a sign of his forgiveness, Pope Benedict XVI met with the woman responsible for knocking him down during a Christmas Eve Mass, a papal spokesman said.

Selfishness, lack of respect for life lead to destruction, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – War, hunger, oppression, environmental degradation and the current global financial crisis are all the result of selfishness and a lack of respect for the human person created in God's image, Pope Benedict XVI told diplomats from around the world.

Rome rabbi says pope's visit shows commitment to dialogue
ROME (CNS) – Rome's chief rabbi said the planned visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the city's main synagogue and community center is a sign that Catholics and Jews are committed to respectful dialogue, even when their relationship hits stumbling blocks.

Stories of hope, sadness emerge from earthquake ruins in Haiti
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Here is a collection of vignettes from Haiti.

CRS distributes food from Haitian warehouses, Dominican Republic
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Although getting basic supplies such as food and water to the hundreds of thousands left homeless by Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake has been a Herculean task, aid workers were finding ways around traffic blockades, crowds of people and the country's lack of infrastructure.

Pope prays for victims of Haiti quake, urges worldwide relief
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI prayed for victims of a massive earthquake in Haiti and urged the international community to provide generous assistance to the stricken population of the Caribbean nation.

Local Haitians, friends react to news of earthquake, initiate relief efforts
SPRINGFIELD – Local Haitians and friends of Haiti struggled Jan. 13 to assess the full impact of an earthquake which devastated most of the capital city of Port-au-Prince Jan. 12.

Pope lauds North American College on its 150th anniversary
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI marked the 150th anniversary of the Pontifical North American College, and said the seminary deserves thanks for "training generations of worthy preachers of the Gospel and ministers of the sacraments."

Cardinal Kasper expresses solidarity with Copts after attack in Egypt
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Vatican's chief ecumenist sent a letter of support to the Coptic Orthodox patriarch, Pope Shenouda III, expressing his solidarity after a Christmas attack on Egyptian Coptic Christians.

Austrian cardinal says private Medjugorje visits bring good results
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – After visiting Medjugorje, the site of alleged Marian apparitions in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna said the church must recognize that private pilgrimages to the village result in prayer and reconciliation.

Insensitivity, pretension keep people from God, pope says during Epiphany Mass
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – An insensitive, hardened heart, over-confidence and world-weary smugness keep people from experiencing the true joy and love found in Jesus Christ, said Pope Benedict XVI.

Synod, saints, shroud all on papal calendar for 2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As Pope Benedict XVI says goodbye to 2009, his 2010 calendar is already being filled.

Pope offers thanks for 2009, encourages solidarity in 2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As 2009 came to a close and a new year was about to be ushered in, Pope Benedict XVI invited the world's Christians to look beyond the passage of time toward eternity.