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Father Tomislav Vlasic, a Franciscan priest who was prominent in the first efforts to publicize the alleged apparitions at Medjugorje, has been placed under interdict by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith because of his flagrant disregard for ecclesiastical discipline. Father Vlasic-- who eventually broke with the Medjugorje "seers" and founded his own quasi-religious community, was cited for "suspicion of heresy and schism, as well as scandalous acts contra sextum, aggravated by mystical motivations." Source(s): » Statement by Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar

The Vatican newspaper has re-opened the debate over whether brain death — defined as the cessation of all brain functions — marks the definitive end of life, as opposed to the moment when the heart stops beating. In a front page article in L'Osservatore Romano, Lucetta Scaraffia, Professor of Modern History at a Rome university and a regular contributor to the newspaper and the Italian media, noted that the Vatican had adopted brain death as a criterion for declaring a person dead after the publication of a landmark report by Harvard Medical School 40 years ago. Professor Scaraffia said that...

Vatican Warns of Growing "Christianophobia" ROME (Reuters) - "Christianophobia" is a growing problem around the world and it must be fought with the same determination as anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, the Vatican said on Friday. Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's foreign minister, spoke in the wake of attacks against Christians in India that have left at least 13 people dead this week. Mamberti, addressing a conference in northern Italy, said religious freedom was a vital part of international relations and human dignity. "In order to promote this dignity in an integral way, so-called 'Christianophobia' should be combated as decisively as 'Islamophobia'...

ROME (Reuters) - "Christianophobia" is a growing problem around the world and it must be fought with the same determination as anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, the Vatican said on Friday. Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's foreign minister, spoke in the wake of attacks against Christians in India that have left at least 13 people dead this week. Mamberti, addressing a conference in northern Italy, said religious freedom was a vital part of international relations and human dignity. "In order to promote this dignity in an integral way, so-called 'Christianophobia' should be combated as decisively as 'Islamophobia' and anti-Semitism," he said. This...

An Italian museum has defied Pope Benedict by refusing to remove a statue of a crucified green frog clutching a beer mug and an egg. The Vatican had condemned the modern art sculpture as blasphemous. The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano voted it was a work of art, however. The board decreed it would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition. The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a frog about 1 metre 30 cm (4 feet) high nailed to brown cross and holding a beer mug in...

When Fr Roger Schutz, founder of the ecumenical monastic community at Taizé, in south-east France, attended the April 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II, he received Communion from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. This raised a few eyebrows at the time -- Shutz was a Protestant pastor -- and gave rise to speculation that "Brother Roger", as he was always known, had secretly converted to Catholicism. This idea was supported by what subsequently came to light: that Schutz had repeatedly received Eucharistic communion from John Paul II and received the Eucharist every morning at the Catholic Mass in Taizé. The question...

Rome, Aug 26, 2008 / 04:22 am (CNA).- The head of the Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office, Dr. Pier Paolo Francini, has revealed the story behind the stamps that were used at the Vatican during the interregnum period of 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II. The design used for stamps during that time came after one of his co-workers saw a fresco by the Italian artist Carlo Malli that he thought would be appropriate for the occasion.Francini told the L’Osservatore Roman that “by tradition the stamps during a Vacant See should be printed as soon as...

“If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin and attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of that person, preventing him from committing a sacrilege,” he added. “We must avoid giving people the impression that one can be in a state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist,” the archbishop continued. “Secondly, there could be another form of scandal, consisting of leading people to think that the public act that this person is doing, which until now everyone believed was...

Aug. 18--In the minutes before the farewell Mass for Archbishop Raymond Burke on Sunday, well-wishers hurried to find what few seats were left inside the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica. On the cathedral's steps, the Knights of Columbus, the Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver, the Knights and Ladies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and the Knights and Dames of Malta, lined up to begin the processional. Their swords gleamed in the afternoon sun. Sweat dripped below their white-tufted chapeaus.Inside, nuns in white and blue habits sat next to little girls with black lace head coverings....

Pope Benedict's fondness for fur trim on his hats and capes has come under fire from an Italian animal rights group, which has launched an online petition to persuade the pontiff to switch to synthetics. Benedict has taken a traditional approach to papal formal wear to match his conservative views on liturgy and theology, reviving the camauro, an ermine-trimmed red velvet hat favoured by 17th-century popes and last worn by Pope John XXIII in the 1960s, as well as donning a cape trimmed with ermine, which is the white winter coat of the stoat. But his use of ermine, long...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the not-too-distant future, songs such as "You Are Near," "I Will Bless Yahweh" and "Rise, O Yahweh" will no longer be part of the Catholic worship experience in the United States. At the very least, the songs will be edited to remove the word "Yahweh" -- a name of God that the Vatican has ruled must not "be used or pronounced" in songs and prayers during Catholic Masses. Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Divine Worship, announced the new Vatican "directives on the use of 'the name of...

The Knights Templar are demanding that the Vatican give them back their good name and, possibly, billions in assets into the bargain, 700 years after the order was brutally suppressed by a joint venture between the Pope and the King of France. If the Holy See doesn’t comply, the warrior knights, renowned for liberating the Holy Land, will deploy that most fearsome of weapons: a laborious court case through the creaking Spanish legal system. The Daily Telegraph reports that The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ has launched a court case in Spain, demanding Pope Benedict...

The long-awaited, much-debated, new translation of the Order of the Mass has been approved by the Vatican, signalling the direction weekly Masses are to take in Catholic parishes across the English-speaking world. On 25 July the United States bishops' conference announced that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) had granted recognitio for the first, most important and most often-used section of the re-translated Missal, which contains the eucharistic prayers and prefaces, the Penitential Rite, the Gloria, the Creed, acclamations, the Lord's Prayer and other prayers and responses used daily. The intention of the new...

Homosexuality is a disordered behaviour that must be condemned, a Vatican official said yesterday.Walter Cardinal Kasper made the remarks during an address at the Lambeth conference, the once-a-decade gathering of the world's Anglican bishops in Canterbury.Kasper, who is president of the pontifical council for promoting christian unity, reminded delegates of the catechism of the Roman Catholic church on homosexuality: "This teaching is founded in the Old and New Testament and the fidelity to scripture and to Apostolic tradition is absolute."Quoting from a key document on Anglican and Catholic relations he said: "Homosexuality is a disordered behaviour. The activity must be...

Paul VI versus Playboy By Donald DeMarco In 1986, Brother Don Fleischhacker of the University of Notre Dame wrote a letter to Playboy protesting that magazine's fragmented view of human sexuality. Citing "Humanae Vitae," this intrepid Holy Cross religious reasoned that once "the contraceptive mentality is accepted, there can be no coherent objective ground for opposition to homosexual activity." If the unitive aspect of sex becomes an end in itself, he went on to explain, "There is no essential reason why sex should be restricted to couples of different sexes." Recent events have proven that Brother Don was as prophetic...

Cardinal William Levada Blackwood, Jul 30, 2008 / 05:24 am (CNA).- An exchange of letters between Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion shows warming relations between the two Churches as they begin to consider proposals for corporate reunion.Archbishop Hepworth, writing in the Messenger Journal, has announced that he has responded to a letter “of warmth and encouragement” he received on July 25 from Cardinal Levada. The archbishop said the entire Traditional Anglican Communion should be encouraged by Cardinal Levada’s letter, which was...

President-elect Fernando Lugo Asunción, Jul 30, 2008 / 01:52 pm (CNA).- The Holy See has confirmed through the Apostolic Nunciature in Paraguay the loss of the clerical state of former bishop and President-elect Fernando Lugo.In a statement released today and signed by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re, the decree granting a dispensation from the clerical state for Lugo was made public.  “His Excellency the Most Reverend Fernando Armindo Lugo Mendez, S.V.D., Bishop emeritus of San Pedro, requested dispensation from the clerical sate on December 18, 2006, in order to run in the...

Vatican, Jul. 25, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has given formal approval to a new English translation of the central prayers of the Mass for use in the United States. In a June 23 letter of Bishop Arthur Serratelli, the chairman of the US bishops' liturgy committee, the Congregation for Divine Worship announces its recognitio for the translation, which had already won the approval of the US bishops' conference, despite strong protests from some liberal prelates. The new translation adheres more closely to the Latin of the Roman Missal. Since the 2001 publication of Liturgiam Authenticam, the instruction on the...

The Pope played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests, according to a shocking documentary to be screened by the BBC tonight. In 2001, while he was a cardinal, he issued a secret Vatican edict to Catholic bishops all over the world, instructing them to put the Church's interests ahead of child safety. The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim, witnesses and perpetrator not to talk about it. And, to keep victims quiet, it threatened that if they repeat the...

Vatican City, Jul 14, 2008 / 02:34 pm (CNA).- L’Osservatore Romano published an article last week explaining how Pope Pius VII decided in 1808 that the Vatican colors would be white and yellow.  Historian Claudio Ceresa explained the history behind the Pope’s choice.In an article entitled, “Two centuries of yellow and white as the papal colors,” Ceresa explained that in order to understand why the colors were chosen, one must consider the “occupation of the city by Napoleonic troops in February of 1808.”“The commander of the French forces, General Miollis, posted notices on the walls informing that the Pope’s army...

(8 July 08 - RV) The Vatican Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity issued a Statement Tuesday regarding recent events within the Anglican Communion. The Council is headed by Cardinal Walter Kasper. The statement reads: “We have regretfully learned of the Church of England vote to pave the way for the introduction of legislation which will lead to the ordaining of women to the Episcopacy. The Catholic position on the issue was clearly expressed by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Such a decision signifies a breaking away from the apostolic tradition maintained by all of the Churches...

Archbishop Raymond Burke St. Louis, Jun 27, 2008 / 10:50 am (CNA).- Today the Holy Father appointed Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.  The archbishop, one of the leading experts of Canon law in the United States will leave the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri to take up his new post in Rome near the end of August. The appointment came on the same day that Pope Benedict named Cardinal Agostino Vallini, current prefect of the Supreme Tribunal, as the vicar general for the Diocese of Rome - the highest diocesan...

PARIS (Reuters) - The leader of a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group has rejected a Vatican offer to rejoin Rome, accusing Pope Benedict of trying to silence dissenting voices. Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) that broke with Rome 20 years ago, said conditions set by the Vatican amounted to muzzling the traditionalists who claim to be the only true Catholics since Church reforms in the 1960s.

VATICAN CITY — Were the makers of Angels and Demons, a movie based on a Dan Brown novel by the same name, seriously hoping to film scenes on the premises of Catholic churches in Rome? If so, they must have been dreaming.The movie, which is a prequel to Brown’s more commercially successful potboiler, The Da Vinci Code, sees Tom Hanks reprise his role as Harvard professor Robert Langdon. This time, however, instead of battling a murderous “Opus Dei monk,” Langdon is on a mission to save the Vatican from being blown up by a canister of antimatter. The storyline also...

New York, Jun 24, 2008 / 11:59 pm (CNA).- An Italian businessman who claimed to have close connections with the Vatican in his appeals to real estate investors was arrested on Tuesday on charges of operating a fraudulent real estate scheme.The 29-year-old Raffaello Follieri was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Reuters reports.According to federal prosecutors and the FBI, Follieri is accused of misleading investors into believing he has close links with the Vatican that would enable him to buy the Catholic Church’s unwanted U.S. real estate at a discount.Follieri and...

Are "The Five Conditions" necessary and reasonable? By Brian Kopp There is much debate going on inside and outside SSPX circles over "The Five Conditions." One may ask whether these conditions are "insulting" to the SSPX leadership, as some SSPX supporters insist that the SSPX already adheres to "The Five Conditions." By and large, this seems to be true of Bishop Fellay, though he recently slipped a bit in this regard: Bishop Fellay: Pope Benedict is a "perfectly liberal Pope"Given his record of otherwise prudent and measured statements regarding Pope Benedict XVI, this gaff of Bishop Fellay could easily be...

BEIRUT: Miraculous, perhaps. Tens of thousands of Lebanese gathered in Martyrs Square in Downtown Beirut on Sunday to witness the beatification of Yaaqoub Haddad, the late Capuchin priest who gained fame for his prolific work in founding an order of nuns, expanding the Capuchin school network and conceiving or establishing a number of religious and social institutions, some of which have gained iconic status in Lebanon. Haddad, who died more than 50 years ago, took a step toward sainthood in the first beatification ever to take place outside the Vatican - and people flocked to the capital to observe the...

Michelangelo 'hid secret code in Sistine Chapel' By Malcolm Moore in Rome 20/06/2008Michelangelo hid a secret code in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel made up of mystical Jewish symbols... according to a new book. The Sistine Chapel was intended to be decoded, the authors believe The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel,...is actually a "bridge" between the Roman Catholic Church and the Jewish faith", according to The Sistine Secrets: Unlocking the Codes in Michelangelo's Defiant Masterpiece. --snip-- Scanning...the arrangement of figures on the...14,000 square foot ceiling, the authors have found shapes that correspond to Hebrew letters. --snip-- For example, the...

On St. Isidore of Seville "Believers Up to Our Times Benefit From His Definitions" VATICAN CITY, JUNE 18, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square, focused on the figure of St. Isidore of Seville. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I wish to speak of St. Isidore of Seville, younger brother of Leander, bishop of Seville, and great friend of Pope Gregory the Great. This relation is important because it leads us to keep in mind a cultural and spiritual approach that is indispensable to...

A movie adaptation of Dan Brown’s book, Angels and Demons, is now in production; it is the prequel to the film, “The Da Vinci Code.” There are reports today that the Vatican has banned those associated with “Angels and Demons” from shooting in Catholic churches in Rome or in the Vatican itself. This is important because there are scenes in the movie that are supposed to take place in the Vatican and in two churches in Rome. “Angels and Demons” stars Tom Hanks in his role as Robert Langdon, the symbologist. This time he is trying to unravel a plot...

Orlando, Jun. 13, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Archbishop of Baltimore has revealed that he planned to banish the Legionaries of Christ (LC) from his archdiocese before Vatican officials persuaded him to impose restrictions on the Legionaries instead. In an unusually candid interview with John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien disclosed that he had gone so far as to inform the priests' council of the Baltimore archdiocese that he would tell the Legionaries to leave. The archbishop said that the announcement was warmly received. However, after consulting with Vatican officials, Archbishop O'Brien agreed to discuss his concerns...

President Bush may follow in the footsteps of his brother Jeb and convert to Catholicism, several European papers are reporting. In the wake of the president’s visit to see Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, Italian newspapers, citing Vatican sources, said Bush was open to the idea of converting to Catholicism. The Italian newspaper Il Foglio referred to such talk about Bush’s possible conversion and stated that “anything is possible, especially for someone reborn like Bush.� Noting that Tony Blair converted to Catholicism after leaving office as Britain’s prime minister last year, the paper also stated that “if anything happens,...

President of Papal Council for Christian Reunification, Cardinal Walter Casper says Vatican has no intention to recognize Kosovo's independence, reports InterFax. "Until this moment, the Wholly Synod has not recognized Kosovo as an independent country, and has no intention to do so" said Casper in an interview published by Magazine "Itogi". In the Interview, the Cardinal explains that Vatican understand why "Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church are worried with Kosovo" and admit that Kosovo is "craddle of the Serbian Orthodox Church". According to the Cardinal, the Wholly Synod understand that "each national minority as a right on social, religios...

The Vatican has banned the makers of Angels & Demons, the latest Dan Brown thriller to be filmed, from shooting scenes not only in the Vatican but in any church in Rome on the ground that it is "an offence against God" and "wounds common religious feelings". Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, head of the Vatican's Prefecture for Economic Affairs, said that the author had "turned the Gospels upside down to poison the faith. It would be unacceptable to transform churches into film sets so that his blasphemous novels can be made into mendacious films in the name of business."...

George W Bush and Pope Benedict XVI have held an intimate meeting in Rome as rumours mounted in Italy that the president may follow in Tony Blair's footsteps and convert to Catholicism. The two men spoke for half an hour in the 12th century Tower of St John, a private area in the Vatican gardens which is used by the pope for private reflection. The usual protocol for heads-of-state is a meeting in the pope's library in the Apostolic Palace, but a spokesman for the Vatican said Benedict wanted to reward Mr Bush for the "warmth" of his reception at...

The real 'options on the table' that should worry Europe and the world lay elsewhere - in the likelihood of moves by Iran's Arab neighbours to develop nuclear weapons of their own. He said the 'time is now' for the outside world to put in place 'diplomacy with consequences' to bring Iran's uranium-enrichment activities to an end, not least because he believed that a new group of European leaders had 'gone beyond the Iraq period' and were engaged with the US in multilateral efforts on a range of other issues. In London, however, Iraq inevitably will be back on the...

President & Mrs. Bush met today with Pope Benedict XVI at The Vatican. The pope treated the president to a rare tour of the Vatican Gardens, a spot where popes pray privately and only special guests are allowed to stroll. First Lady Laura Bush toured the Mattei Palace in Rome and met there with students in the American Study Center. The first couple then boarded Air Force One and traveled to Paris, France. During the flight, Mrs. Bush participated in a rare press gaggle with reporters on the plane. “Hey everybody, how are you all? Good to see you.” (Transcript)...

Reuters Photo: U.S. President George W. Bush (R) walks through the gardens of the Vatican to the..VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict gave George W. Bush an unprecedented welcome in the tranquility of the Vatican Gardens on Friday before the U.S. president resumed his campaign to rally European support for sanctions against Iran. Under tight security, Bush was driven from the bustle of Rome into the idyllic setting. As birds chirped, the two entered a restored medieval tower and held 30 minutes of private talks."Such an honor, such an honor," Bush said to the pope. After the meeting in the...

George W Bush and Pope Benedict XVI have held an intimate meeting in Rome as rumours mounted in Italy that the president may follow in Tony Blair's footsteps and convert to Catholicism. The two men spoke for half an hour in the 12th century Tower of St John, a private area in the Vatican gardens which is used by the pope for private reflection. The usual protocol for heads-of-state is a meeting in the pope's library in the Apostolic Palace, but a spokesman for the Vatican said Benedict wanted to reward Mr Bush for the "warmth" of his reception at...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican has thrown its support behind an Italian musical highlighting the life of Mary. The Vatican also will host the show's world premiere in the Paul VI audience hall June 17. "Mary of Nazareth: A Story That Continues" is being sponsored by the pontifical councils for Culture and for Social Communications; the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone; the Italian Senate; and Rome's city and regional governments. Some 40 actors, 12 dancers, and a 60-piece orchestra will bring the story of "the most important woman in the history of humanity" to the stage, according...

The President spent the day in Meseberg, Germany with Chancellor Merkel. They had meetings and held a joint press availability before the President continued on to Rome. TRANSCRIPT Mrs. Bush was in France for a four day visit.

The West is becoming obsessed with Islam at the expense of the other world religions, the Vatican has warned. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, said that the Church “has to have regard for all religions" and that the West's fascination with Islam was putting inter-faith dialogue at risk. Cardinal Tauran said the council had this week discussed new guidelines on how to achieve this. "Islam is very important, but there are also other great Asiatic religious traditions. Islam is one religion," he reveals on Catholic website Terrasanta.net. He added that Islam should not monopolise...

Bush also broke protocol when he welcomed the Pontiff last April 15. Bush, accompanied by his wife and daughter Jenna, went to Andrews Air Force Base to receive the Pope -- an honor the president has never given to a visiting head of state. The next day, Benedict XVI's 81st birthday, the president hosted a celebration in the White House. The Holy Father's welcome is meant to repay the president for his cordiality, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said. Bush will be accompanied by his wife and by Mary Ann Glendon, the U.S. envoy to...

Vatican says no peace until Israel quits territories   VATICAN CITY, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The Vatican said on Thursday peace between Israelis and Palestinians would never be possible until the Jewish state withdrew from the occupied territories and a Palestinian state was born. The Vatican made its position clear at the end of a day-long meeting presided by Pope John Paul and attended by Catholic religious leaders from the Middle East. A final statement from the Vatican spokesman said peace between the two peoples "can be realised only if rights and equality about fundamental questions are respected." It listed these fundamental points as "security for ...

Communion aside, there is a Catholic-Obama problem. Many Catholics, beyond Fr. Pfleger, will vote for Obama. It's not a problem of Communion-denying magnitude, but one they should at least know going into Election Day. McCain may be imperfect, but for me, even if I didn't have a laundry list of why I'm opposed to abortion, the pope explained why a Catholic cannot vote for a candidate like Obama long before most of us ever thought Obama would be a candidate for the presidency. In a 2006 address, B16 (Benedict XVI)said: "As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal...

Mr Ahmadinejad is one of 40 heads of state arriving in Rome on Tuesday for a vital United Nations summit on the world’s food crisis. Mr Ahmadinejad was keen to meet Benedict XVI, after writing to him two years ago on the subject of spirituality and the need for dialogue between Islam and Christianity. Relations between Iran and the Holy See are warming, and Mr Ahmadinejad said the Vatican was a “positive force for justice and peace” in April after meeting with the new nuncio to Iran, Archbishop Jean-Paul Gobel. Benedict is also thought to have the support of several...

Unique Book Dedicated to Trial against Templars on Display in Sofia 30 May 2008, Friday A copy of the unique book dedicated to the trial against templars, issued by Secret Vatican City archive, was presented Friday in Sofia's National Archeological Museum. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency) The unique book dedicated to the trial against templars issued by Secret Vatican City archive was presented Friday in Sofia's National Archeological Museum. The publication, called "Processus Conta Templarios", is an expensive limited edition of the proceedings of the 1307-1312 papal trial of the mysterious medieval crusading order of warrior-monks who were...

The Turin Shroud is to go on public display for the first time in a decade, sources at the Vatican have indicated, coinciding with a new set of tests on its age. The linen has only been put on display five times in the last century The Vatican keeps the 14ft by 4ft piece of linen, believed by some to be the death shroud of Jesus, in an aluminium case built by an Italian aerospace company to shut out all light, air and humidity. The case is filled with Argon gas in order to prevent bacteria from eating the...

KAZAN, May 27 (Itar-Tass) - Vatican Cardinal Walter Casper begins an unofficial visit to Kazan on Tuesday. Alexander Pavlov, press secretary of the Kazan bishopric, has told Itar-Tass, "The high-ranking official of the Vatican has headed the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity for many years. The guests is to have a conversation on the subject during a meeting with Archbishop Anastasiy of Kazan and Tatarstan". The Vatican envoy is to tour the restored Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of the Monastery of the Mother of God. The monastery was founded in 1578 in honour...

(AGI) - Vatican City, May 29 - A woman being consecrated as priest besides being invalid, automatically leads to the excommunication of the consecrating bishop and the consecrated woman. A decree issued by the Congregation for Religious Doctrine published today by the 'Osservatore Romano' establishes this. "The Congregation for Religious Doctrine, to protect the nature and validity of the sacrament of the holy order, in virtue of the special faculty to be consecrated by the supreme authority decrees that both the one trying to consecrate a woman in the holy order, and the woman who has tried to receive the...