Portal:Catholic Church/News/Archive


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2022

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2021

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"Holy Name of Jesus"
IHS with angels,
Crown of Thorns,
at Hostýn,
Czech Republic.

2020

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2020 News archive
Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Bill
The Senate begins to debate the legalization of abortion up until the 14th week of pregnancy. If passed, Argentina will become the third Latin American country to allow abortion to be performed on demand, after Cuba and Uruguay. The Catholic Church opposes the move. The bill has already been approved by the lower house. (Reuters)
 
"Immaculate Conception"
Painting by Murillo, circa 1678.
Wilton Daniel Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, becomes the first African American to earn the rank of cardinal. (The Washington Post)
2020 Democratic Republic of the Congo attacks
Allied Democratic Forces militants kills 21 civilians in an attack on a village in the village of Lisasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. More people were kidnapped, a health centre was ransacked, while homes were set on fire and a Catholic church desecrated. (Al Jazeera)
 
The Holy Rosary
Pope Francis announces the creation of 13 new cardinals, including the elevation of Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington who will become the first African-American cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. The elevation is scheduled to occur on November 28. (The Washington Post)
Four members of the Vatican Swiss Guard test positive for COVID-19, becoming the first positive cases since June. (NBC News)
The Secretary General of the Governorate of Vatican City State announces that as of 7 October it will also be mandatory to wear masks outdoors when it is not possible to maintain a safety distance. This rule will also apply in the extraterritorial properties of the Vatican in the city of Rome. (Catholic News Agency)
Vatican-based Filipino cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, tests positive for COVID-19. (Reuters via WTVB)
 
"Immaculate Heart of Mary"
Image of 19th century painting.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Catholic Church, COVID-19 pandemic in Vatican City
Vatican Press Secretary announces that the last remaining patient has recovered and that there are zero active cases in the state. (Vatican News)
 
Painting by
Herman Richir
The Canadian Catholic Jesuit community at Pickering, Ontario mourns the deaths of five members of their community, including four priests, who died of COVID-19 at the religious order's long-term care facility. (Crux)
George Pell wins his appeal in the High Court of Australia against child sexual abuse convictions. (CNN)
Roman Curia confirms three more cases, raising to four. (Il Messaggero)
Pope Francis, in a call for a worldwide prayer, announces he will hold a special service to pray for the end of the coronavirus pandemic. (Reuters)
Saint Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica closes to tourists between 10 March and 3 April after Italy lockdown (The Guardian)
The Vatican City reports its first case. (Reuters)

2019

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2019 News archive
 
"Immaculate Conception"
Painting by
Murillo,
circa 1678
Severe drought conditions continue in Zimbabwe where close to 7 million people are facing food shortages, according to a Catholic aid agency. Because of repeated droughts over the past five years, many of Zimbabwe's small farmers are unable to feed their families. Catholic Relief Services is working with farmers teaching soil and water conservation methods. The agency offers drought-resistant crops to farmers and is cooperating on a notification system warning farmers about threats to their harvest. (Catholic News Agency) (Bloomberg News)
 
"Christ in Limbo"
Painting by
Fra Angelico,
1441 - 1442
  • 26 November 2019 –
Two Roman Catholic priests are sentenced to more than 40 years in prison for sexually assaulting deaf children at a church school in Mendoza Province, Argentina; the school's gardener also receives an 18-year sentence. (BBC News) [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/25/roman-catholic-priests-argentina-sentenced-45-years-child-abuse-school-deaf (The Guardian)
During his 23 November to 26 November journey to Japan, Pope Francis visits Tokyo, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The only pope to previously visit Japan was Pope John Paul II in 23–26 February 1981.(Holy See Press Office)(Vatican News)
 
The Holy Rosary
Pope Francis arrives in Bangkok for a three-day visit to Thailand. The Catholic Church in Thailand is celebrating 350 years of Holy See recognition of the Church in Thailand. Bishop Arpondratana of Chiang Mai diocese states that the pope's visit is important for the Church in all of Asia. (Catholic News Agency)
The Australian High Court agrees to hear a final appeal from ex-Vatican treasurer and convicted child sex offender George Pell, who was found guilty of sexually assaulting three teenage choirboys. (Reuters)
  • 27 October 2019 – Catholic Synod of Bishops for the Amazon issues a final document.
Since convening on 6 October, the synod of bishops from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela, and Suriname gather with Pope Francis in Rome. According to the bishops, "a deep personal, social and structural conversion" is needed in response to the "unprecedented" environmental and social crisis in the Amazon. (Catholic News Service)
At Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City, the pope praises the 19th-century Anglican convert who was a unifying figure in both the Anglican and Catholic churches. (ABC News)
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks out about China's religious freedom violations during a visit to the Vatican. (Catholic News Agency)
 
Our Lady of Sorrows
Church of the
Immaculate
Conception,
Monte Grande,
Argentina
At St. Peter's Square Pope Francis reviews highlights from his African visit to Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius on September 4-10. (Crux)
The Supreme Court of Victoria rejects an appeal made by Cardinal George Pell against a six-year jail sentence for child sexual abuse. (The Guardian)
 
"The Precious Blood of Jesus
Image of artwork, 2015.
The Vatican asks China's communist government to stop intimidating Catholic clergy who want to remain unequivocally loyal to the pope and refuse to sign ambiguous official registration forms. (Reuters)
The Peruvian Catholic Church urges the government of that country to continue receiving Venezuelan immigrants. He also expressed concern about the "increase in the negative perception of migrants". This, after the president Martín Vizcarra decided to demand visa and passport for Venezuelan citizens who wish to enter Peru. (Gestión)
 
"Mary, mother of Jesus"
Painting by
Herman Richir
  • 2 April, 2019 - Peruvian authorities investigate the death of British De La Salle Brother Paul McAuley, age 71. According to the report he is burned to death in a home he founded for indigenous students in Iquitos, in the northeastern Amazonian region. (AP)
  • 30 March, 2019 -
  • Cardinal George Pell, the most senior official of the Catholic Church to be convicted of sexual abuse to date, is sentenced to six years in prison for the sexual assault of two children in the late 1990s. (CNN)

2018

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2018 News archive
A gunman kills four people and injures four others at a Catholic cathedral in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. The gunman commits suicide after the attack. (BBC) (NBC News)
 
"Christ in Limbo"
Painting by
Fra Angelico,
1441 - 1442
Pope Francis, head of state of the Vatican City and leader of the Roman Catholic Church, threatens to order the abdication of Andorran co-monarch Joan Enric Vives Sicília, Archbishop-Bishop of Urgell, if the country decriminalises or legalises abortion. (Diari d'Andorra - Catalan)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un invites Pope Francis to Pyongyang, and said he would be "warmly welcomed" to North Korea. (New York Times) (UPI)
Michigan authorities seize records from Catholic dioceses in the state as part of an investigation into possible sexual abuse by clergy. (CNN)
The Roman Catholic Church defrocks Father Fernando Karadima, a priest at the center of a sex abuse scandal in Chile. (Reuters)
Pope Francis arrives in Vilnius, Lithuania, on his visit to the Baltic States. (Catholic News Agency)
China–Holy See relations
The Vatican signs a provisional agreement with China on the process used to appoint bishops, a breakthrough after years of contentious negotiations on the management of Catholic leadership in the communist country. (The Washington Post)
 
"Immaculate Heart of Mary"
Image of 19th century painting.
  • August 28, 2018 - A Catholic priest held hostage for almost four months by Muslim militants in Marawi city in the southern Philippines says he still believes in inter-religious dialogue despite experiencing horrors that included seeing a fellow captive gunned down in crossfire and another one killed during an airstrike. (BenarNews)
  • August 26, 2018 - Pope Francis's visit to Ireland
Pope Francis holds Sunday Mass at Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ireland, for the World Meeting of Families. (CNN)
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò accuses Pope Francis of covering up sexual abuse allegations against Theodore McCarrick. Pope Francis declines to comment on Viganò's accusations. (ABC News)
After returning from his visit, the Pope says that, when parents discover their child is homosexual, they should not judge or condemn them. However, he also remarks that "many things can be done by psychiatry". (Belga via Het Laatste Nieuws) (The Washington Post)
The University of Scranton removes the names of three former Catholic bishops (James Timlin, J. Carroll McCormick and Jerome Hannan) implicated in a grand jury report on abuse in Pennsylvania from its campus buildings. (Times-Tribune) (CNN)
A grand jury report alleging that more than 300 priests abused over 1,000 children in six Pennsylvania Catholic diocese -- Allentown, Scranton, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, and Erie -- is released by state Attorney General Josh Shapiro. (Washington Post)(Wilkes Barre Times-Leader)
Pope Francis changes Catholic Church teaching to fully reject the death penalty, saying that it would work to abolish the death penalty worldwide. (The Washington Post)
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, is sentenced to 12 months in detention for covering up child sexual abuse in the 1970s. Pope Francis appoints Port Pirie Bishop Gregory O'Kelly as Apostolic Administrator, but with special near-full powers to govern the Archdiocese, though for now Wilson is still the Archbishop. (BBC)
 
Cardinal Parolin with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, 2018
Catholic bishops cancel the planned Episcopal Conference talks with the government after protests against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega turn violent. According to the Nicaraguan Human Rights Center, pro-government armed groups killed 11 people. (Reuters)
Philip Wilson, the Catholic archbishop of Adelaide, Australia, is convicted of concealing sexual abuse of children from authorities. (BBC)
 
"Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Eucharist at São Paulo, Brazil on 11 May 2007.
A court in Radom, Poland, hands a six-month suspended prison term and a 10,000 zloty fine to a Russian pilot who caused a security scare during Pope Francis's 2016 visit for World Youth Day. The Russian had flown from the Czech Republic to compete in an international aerobatics competition and unknowingly violated a no-fly zone imposed for the papal visit. After failing to contact the aircraft, local authorities scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to intercept it. (Radio Poland)
Pope Francis comforts a crying boy in San Paolo della Croce, Rome, by telling him his recently-deceased father, an atheist, will have ascended to heaven on the basis his father had "a good heart". (A.N.S.A.)
In a new apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate, Pope Francis mentions Satan or the Devil twelve times. Warning against Catholic media transgressing the eighth commandment, he calls to "see how the unguarded tongue, set on fire by hell, sets all things ablaze." (Reuters)
Pope Francis uses his Easter address to call for peace between the peoples of Israel and Palestine in response to the clashes. (The Guardian)
 
"Saint Joseph with Jesus"

2017

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2017 News archive
 
"Sacred Heart of Jesus"
Image of artwork, 2014.
 
"Saint Joseph with Jesus"

2016

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2016 News archive
 
The stamp is dedicated to the pastoral visit of Francis to Azerbaijan on 2 October 2016
 
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, 2016.
  • In a so-called VatiLeaks case, a Vatican City Court dismisses charges of publishing confidential information against two Italian journalists stating it lacked jurisdiction in this case. Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi wrote books on the inner workings of the Vatican. The court did convict a Vatican priest to 18 months, and assessed a 10-month suspended sentence on an Italian communications expert, for conspiring to pass documents to the journalists; a fifth defendant was cleared of all charges. (AP) (The Guardian) (Catholic News) (Vatican Radio)
 
Photo 20
May 2015
 
Photo 27
September 2009

2015

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2015 News archive
 
Pope Francis at St. Joseph, Kangemi on 27 November
 
"Christ in Limbo"
Painting by Fra Angelico,1441-1442
 
Pope Francis, Philadelphia, Sept. 26, 2015.
 
"Sacred Heart of Jesus"
Image of artwork, 2014.
 
At the May 2011
inauguration of
Mayor Emanuel

2014

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2014 News archive
 
"Immaculate Conception"
Painting by Murillo, circa 1678.
 
Pope Francis travels through Gwangwhamun Square during the beatification ceremony.
 
Pope Francis at Haemi Castle, Korea
 
Francis during the canonization of John XXIII and John Paul II on 27 April 2014

2013

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2013 News archive
 
Pope Francis with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
 
Pope Francis visits a favela in Brazil during World Youth Day 2013
 
Sean Cardinal O'Malley
 
A Free Syrian Army fighter at the Battle of Aleppo
 
Pope Francis

 

 
Pope Benedict XVI

2012

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2012 News archive
 
Angel in White by Anonymous, c. 1230, Mileseva Monastery, Republic of Serbia
 
Pope Benedict XVI
 
13th century Madonna with Child in the Italo-Byzantine style.
 
"Baptism of Christ, Juan Navarrete, 1567.
 
Meeting of the Lord, Orthodox icon from Belarus (1731)

2011

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2011 News archive
 
Pope Benedict XVI in Zagreb
 
Pope John Paul II

2010

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2010 News archive
 
Pope Benedict XVI
 
Archbishop Dominik Duka

2009

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2009 News archive
 
Pope Benedict XVI
 
Interior of St. Peter's Basilica
 
Cardinal Turkson
 
Blessed Damien of Molokai
 
Pope John Paul II

 

 

2008

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2008 News archive
 
Saint Brigid's Roman Catholic Church
 
"Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Eucharist at São Paulo, Brazil, on 11 May 2007.

2007

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2007 News archive
  • December 23: With 862,000 worshippers, who attended Catholic mass each week compared to 852,000 who went to Church of England services, Roman Catholics have overtaken Anglicans in church attendance in Britain. (Financial Times)
     
    Tony Blair
  • December 23: United States Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee angered Catholic voters by courting a controversial preacher accused of disparaging Catholics. (Reuters)
  • December 22: Tony Blair, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, was received into the Roman Catholic Church. (Times Oniline)