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Pope Francis said Sunday he is “saddened” and worried that Roman Catholic Bishop Roland Álvarez was sentenced to 26 years in prison for speaking out against the Nicaraguan government. Álvarez, 56, learned his fate from a Managua appeals court Friday after refusing to board a plane to the US with 222 other opponents of President Daniel Ortega. The bishop of Matagalpa was also stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship.

Records were created under disciplinary procedures mandated by Pope Francis to govern investigations of child sexual abuse allegations against bishopsALBANY — The Archdiocese of New York is waging a legal battle to block the disclosure of more than 1,400 pages of internal records related to its investigations of Howard J. Hubbard, who served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany from 1977 to 2014. The records are being sought in connection with a Child Victims Act case filed against Hubbard, the Albany diocese and deceased former priest Francis P. Melfe, who like Hubbard is a target of multiple...

New footage shows the trio who cops believe accosted a flashy Brooklyn bishop and snatched up more than $1 million in jewelry during a live-streamed church service. The footage, released late Thursday and marked with a timestamp of Sunday around 11:05 a.m. – minutes before the heist at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries – shows the three suspects walking on the sidewalk with their hoods pulled up and their faces covered. Bishop Lamor Whitehead, 44, was in the middle of his sermon at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie around 11:14 a.m. when the trio burst in,...

WASHINGTON — It’s “a fair question,” said Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, New Mexico, to ask whether U.S. bishops “are cherry-picking” from among several evils confronting society by “focusing on abortion” in relation to whether Catholic politicians who support it should receive Communion. “Why aren’t we seeking eucharistic sanctions for other evils that are rampant in society?” he asked, writing May 18 in the journal First Things. “The answer is that while there are many serious sins that diminish our worthiness to receive the Eucharist, only the gravest sins extinguish that worthiness entirely.” He also said that he and...

‘Mrs. Greene's statement about leaving the Church is as enlightening as it is saddening,’ commented Michael Hichborn, president of the Lepanto Institute.(LifeSiteNews) – Following criticism of comments she made about the U.S. Catholic bishops, conservative firebrand U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene revealed that she was raised Catholic but left the Church “with great sorrow” when she had kids because she had concerns about the left-wing hierarchy protecting abusive priests. “With great sorrow, and unwavering faith in Jesus Christ, I stopped attending Catholic Mass when I became a mother, because I realized that I could not trust the Church’s leadership to...

French bishops are not expected to direct worshippers on how to vote in the French presidential elections as more and more Roman Catholics have become supporters of populist challenger Marine Le Pen. French Roman Catholic bishops have a long history of advising their worshippers on how to vote in elections but, for the 2022 French presidential election, they are expected to remain silent. In 2002, when Jean-Marie Le Pen, father of presidential hopeful leader Marine Le Pen, challenged Jacques Chirac in the second round of that year;s presidential election, bishops were public in their opposition to him — but...

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, called for the resignation of German Cardinal Reinhard Marx Thursday for the latter’s public rejection of Catholic moral teaching.“Cardinal Marx has left the Catholic faith. He needs to be honest & officially resign,” wrote Bishop Strickland on his Twitter account, citing the cardinal’s pressure for a change in Church teaching on the immorality of gay sex.

CNA Deutsch reported that excerpts from Bishop Bätzing’s letter to Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki were published on the German bishops’ conference website on March 24.The chairman of Germany’s Catholic bishops’ conference has responded to a strongly worded critique of the “Synodal Way” by his Polish counterpart. Bishop Georg Bätzing said in a March 16 letter that he sought “a real theological exchange” with Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki over the direction of the controversial multiyear process bringing together Germany’s bishops and laypeople. CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported that excerpts from Bishop Bätzing’s letter were published on the German bishops’ conference website...

Tribunal convicts Mexico City cardinal, ex-cardinal of GuadalajaraAttacked for dissent on abortion, LGTB and for asking voters to prayTwo Mexican cardinals, a bishop, and three priests have been convicted of constitutional violations for warning the public against the ruling party’s opposition to the values of human life and family, their advocacy of the LGBT agenda, and their promotion of socialism.The convictions have caused alarm in Mexico regarding their implications for freedom of speech and the right to criticize the socialist ruling party “Morena,” which is accused of undermining Mexican civil liberties.Among the convicted were the Cardinal Archbishop of Mexico City,...

“Dear God, I ask you that you help me get out of here and that you take care of my mom.”That’s a prayer that the bishop of El Paso, Texas brought to a meeting of 20 Catholic bishops and Vatican officials. It’s a child’s prayer, written in Spanish, collected from a migrant in a tent city south of the border. It’s heart-wrenching; there’s no soul as innocent as a child’s, and in this simple plea, it shows.But there’s no peace coming to children like these; not right now, in this moment — at least not in this world.The images flickering...

LifeSite has compiled a non-exhaustive, researched list of prelates who have opted to use the motu proprio to restrict the Traditional Mass, as well as those who have granted permission for the Mass to continue – for now. Less than 24 hours after Pope Francis promulgated his new motu proprio restricting the celebration of the traditional liturgy, bishops across the world began to issue restrictions against the traditional liturgy, although some prelates have granted temporary permissions for the current “status quo” to continue. Pope Francis issued his new motu proprio entitled Traditiones Custodes, on Friday, July 16, promoting a number...

Members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are trying to clarify their position and deal with the confusion caused by their announcement last week that they would create a teaching document on the Holy Eucharist or the meaning of Communion. The statement caused many to speculate that the church was looking to deny President Joe Biden and other pro-abortion Catholic politicians from receiving Communion.The speculation was misplaced, said the bishops.“There will be no national policy on withholding Communion from politicians,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a Q&A document dated June 21.“The intent is to present a...

As Catholic Bishops in the United States, we join with the Tyler Clementi Foundation in standing up for at-risk LGBT youth in our country. As we see in the Gospels, Jesus Christ taught love, mercy and welcome for all people, especially for those who felt persecuted or marginalized in any way; and the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that LGBT people are to be treated with “respect, compassion and sensitivity.” All people of goodwill should help, support, and defend LGBT youth; who attempt suicide at much higher rates than their straight counterparts; who are often homeless because of families...

After a long slumber, it looks as if the Catholic bishops are waking up to the nature of the assault on Church teachings from abortion-favoring Democrats, such as Joe Biden, who use their status as Catholics to rope in votes.Here's what they are up to, according to the Associated Press:U.S. Catholic bishops overwhelmingly approved the drafting of a "teaching document" that many of them hope will rebuke Catholic politicians, including President Joe Biden, for receiving Communion despite their support for abortion rights.The decision, vehemently opposed by a minority of bishops, came despite appeals from the Vatican for a more cautious...

In the past few months, several Catholic bishops have issued statements on the question of whether to publicly deny pro-abortion politicians the Eucharist. I am grateful to all my brother bishops who have courageously spoken out on this thorny subject. When bishops share according to their conscience and listen to others' points of view, they foster genuine dialogue—a necessary step on the path to unity. I would therefore like to respond to Bishop Robert McElroy’s recent essay, “The Eucharist is being weaponized for political ends. This must not happen.” His title suggests that political motives are driving the bishops' current...

United States bishops are considering formalizing their opposition to pro-abortion Catholic politicians receiving communion as they continue to speak out against President Joe Biden, a Catholic, over his support for abortion. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, scheduled to hold a national meeting in June, is considering approving a draft document that would advise Catholic politicians who support abortion not to receive communion. The consideration of the document comes as Biden continues to advocate for liberal abortion policies that directly conflict with the teachings of his faith, specifically, that all human life is sacred from natural conception until natural death....

In his latest challenge to Rome’s authority, the president of the German bishops conference is publicly rejecting recent Vatican instructions regarding this issue.In his latest salvo to challenge Rome's authority, the president of Germany’s bishops’ conference has said that any German Protestant who wishes to receive Holy Communion in a Catholic Church on Ökumenischen Kirchentag — a day of Christian unity in May — may do so. “Anyone who is Protestant and attends Communion can receive Communion,” Bishop Georg Bätzing told an online discussion in Frankfurt on Thursday about the May 15 event that usually brings thousands of Christians to...

When U.S. Catholic bishops hold their next national meeting in June, they’ll be deciding whether to send a tougher-than-ever message to President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians: Don’t receive Communion if you persist in public advocacy of abortion rights. At issue is a document that will be prepared for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops by its Committee on Doctrine, with the aim of clarifying the church’s stance on an issue that has repeatedly vexed the bishops in recent decades. It’s taken on new urgency now, in the eyes of many bishops, because Biden — only the second Catholic...

Most bishops now less resemble the apostles and more the Pharisees and Sadducees, trading moral and spiritual authority for worldly prestige and wealth.As many Christians can attest, and as Carina Benton details here, priests across the country are kicking out parishioners for not complying with their mask mandates. Sometimes, as Father Milton Ryan did with pregnant mother Deidre Hairston after she received communion at Holy Trinity Catholic Parish in Dallas, Texas, they will even resort to having law enforcement escort them out of the building during Mass. What’s more, many bishops fully support their priests taking such actions. In a...

The working group, formed in November, met twice and produced two recommendations by the end of the year 2020.WASHINGTON — A source at the U.S. bishops’ conference (USCCB) has disputed the notion that a special working group formed to deal with new President Joe Biden was terminated prematurely this week. Reports earlier this week at the National Catholic Reporter indicated that the USCCB’s working group on dealing with new President Joe Biden was “disbanded,” just three months after it was formed in November after the presidential election. According to a USCCB source with knowledge of the situation, however, it is...