The British government and the Roman Catholic Church colluded to protect a priest suspected of involvement in a 1972 bombing in Northern Ireland that killed 9 people, an official report said on Tuesday.

The Police Ombudsman’s report revealed that an Irish cardinal was involved in transferring Father James Chesney out of British-ruled Northern Ireland, highlighting again the role of the Church hierarchy in protecting priests against allegations of criminal activity.

Justice must be served for nine people killed in NI bombings who were “failed” by a cover-up of a priest’s suspected role, victims’ relatives have said.

Police raided the headquarters of the Belgian Catholic Church on Thursday following fresh accusations of child sex abuse involving priests.

The latest blow to the scandal-hit Roman Catholic Church came as a meeting of bishops took place in the presence of the Vatican’s ambassador to Belgium, in Mechelen, just north of Brussels.

Long a thorn in the Vatican’s side, Austrian Catholics have ramped up their quest for a more liberal church in the wake of the global clerical sex abuse scandal.

What is particularly troubling for Rome is that Austria – historically a major symbol of Catholicism in Europe and a bulwark against the Protestant Reformation – is losing worshippers in record numbers as calls for reform grow stronger.

One of Italy's most prominent Catholic cardinals and a former minister have been put under investigation as a corruption scandal that has tainted the government spread to touch the Vatican.

Although himself an avid football fan, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, is worried that the forthcoming Papal visit could be marred by vuvuzelas.

The French Catholic Church said on Friday it had no proof the Virgin Mary had been speaking through a local woman known as Marie-Pierre at monthly sessions drawing large crowds of believers from across France and western Europe.

Churchgoers in almost 300 parishes that disapprove of women priests may take advantage of Pope Benedict XVI’s offer to change denomination if their “flying bishops” lead the way.

“Flying bishops”, who provide “episcopal oversight” to parishes that cannot accept women priests.

He added that the assault on Pope Benedict XVI on Christmas Eve by a mentally unstable woman and the sex abuse scandals which have engulfed the Church in the US, Ireland, Germany and other countries, were proof that the Anti-Christ was waging a war against the Holy See.

Charging that the Catholic Church should lose its tax-exempt status, a consortium of atheists and Catholic activists filed two lawsuits against Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, Assemblymember Vito Lopez (D-Williamsburg) and the Catholic Diocese over their role in producing a recorded message sent to Williamsburg’s registered voters less than a week before they went to the polls.

The Vatican announced Thursday the dismissal from the clerical state of rebel priest Emmanuel Milingo who in 2001 broke his celibacy vow by marrying a Korean woman — via the Moonies cult — and who was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 2006 when he ordained bishops without papal consent.

The participation of the faithful ‘in any future celebrations organized by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo is to be considered unlawful,’ the Vatican added.

Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church urged a court Monday to let Christians use “Allah” as a translation for God and overturn a government ban that has become a symbol of religious grievances in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

In 2008 The Herald, a weekly magazine circulated among the country’s 850,000 Catholics, nearly lost its publishing licence for using the disputed word.

An enterprising Italian inventor has patented an automatic holy water dispenser for use in Catholic churches. Some parishes in northen Italy have already installed the fonts and many more all over the country are expected to follow suit. [video]

A rare look at how the Roman Catholic Church goes to great lengths to keep clergy members’ clandestine relationships hidden and the priests in active ministry.

Clergy members of many faiths have crossed the line with women and had children out of wedlock. But the problem is particularly fraught for the Catholic Church, as Catholics in many countries are increasingly questioning the celibacy requirement for priests.

A pharmacist in western NSW, Australia has banned the sale of condoms, the contraceptive and morning-after pill because it is against his beliefs as a Catholic.

In a move that has angered health experts, Griffith pharmacist Trevor Dal Broi has refused to sell the oral contraceptive pill, the morning-after pill and condoms, referring customers to other chemists in the area.

“As a practising Catholic, it is my obligation to accept the official teaching of the Catholic Church against the use of artificial contraception,” he said.

British film-maker Roland Joffe is to recreate the life and miracles of Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer, the Spanish priest who founded Opus Dei, one of the most influential and secretive organisations within the Catholic Church.

The film seems set to stir up more controversy, following in the wake of several screen hits tapping into public fascination with tales of Opus-inspired crimes and conspiracies, which have set Vatican chasubles aflap.

« Newer — Older »