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The longtime personal secretary to Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI has spoken of a "dramatic struggle" at the conclave of 2005, and insisted that the former Pontiff did not resign because of the "Vatileaks" scandal. Speaking at the launch of a book about Pope Benedict, Archbishop Georg Gänswein-- who continues to act as secretary to the retired Pontiff, while also serving as prefect of the pontifical household-- said that the "Vatileaks" scandal had "little or nothing" to do with the Pontiff's decision to resign. He said that Benedict XVI was motivated by his realization that he was growing weaker. By resigning, Archbishop...

La Stampa is reporting the grim news that Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor is a close adviser of Pope Francis, confirming something that Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said in his recent interview with The Catholic Herald when he boasted that Pope Francis greeted him after his election by saying jokingly, ‘It’s all your fault’. La Stampa reports: ‘Then there is the over 80-year-old British cardinal Murphy O’Connor, who plays less of a centre-stage role. He certainly did not see eye to eye with Benedict XVI when it came to bishop-related issues but under Francis’ pontificate he seems to have gained in importance and Francis consults...

Father Jerome Murphy-OConnor, a renowned expert on the New Testament, has what some are referring to as "a bold view of what happened in the Gardner of Gethsemane." I would call it something else entirely: asinine. Demonic even. How about blasphemous? In an article for the Catholic Herald which may be found here, Fr. OConnor is quoted as having said that Jesus suffered a "nervous breakdown" and adds, "When realizing the imminence of His own demise, Jesus was deeply distraught and troubled, out of control." A nervous breakdown, otherwise referred to as a "mental breakdown," is statically defined as "a...

The leader of Britain's Catholics claimed yesterday that "Judaeo-Christian values" were the only thing binding British society together, on the eve of a lecture series on the place of faith in British public life.Speaking to the Guardian, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor hit out at representatives of an "aggressive secularism" that he believes is gaining ground in the UK, defended the Catholic Church's combative intervention last week in the debate over "hybrid" embryos, and argued that Christian leaders should hold a privileged position over the representatives of other faiths when it came to their input into public policy.The cardinal's comments are likely...

LONDON, August 1, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Department of Health report for 2005 on abortion in England and Wales indicates the abortion rate is rising, and confirms a growing awareness in Parliament that it needs to revisit the 1967 Abortion Act in order to address the rise of abortions throughout the United Kingdom, reports Zenit.org. According to the data published July 4 by Britain’s Department of Health (DOH), abortion rates increased for resident women in England and Wales by .4%, up from 186,416, compared with 185,700 a year earlier. The data indicated also that Britain has acted as a haven...

LONDON, June 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – England’s Catholic primate, Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, has called upon the British Parliament to re-examine the 1967 act that made abortion legal in nearly all cases. The BBC reports that he is supporting a Commons motion by 31 MPs who are calling for a review of the law and specifically a reduction in the time limit for gestational age for legal abortion. In a meeting with the health minister, Murphy-O’Connor said today, “This is not primarily a religious issue. It is a human issue.” The Cardinal agreed with the 31 MP’s that the gestational age...

The Army announced this week that Protestant and Roman Catholic chaplains will be brought together in a single, ecumenical chaplaincy department. Since 1920, the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department has been divided into two branches, the Roman Catholic and the “Unified” (representing Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists and other denominations), each with its own head. The new arrangement means there will be a single head of service, known as the Chaplain-General, for both Catholics and Protestants. The next Pope must give greater authority to Roman Catholic bishops, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor has said. Speaking at an ecumenical forum, the Archbishop of Westminster suggested that...