Vatican News

Australian bishops oppose forcing priests to reveal details of confession

Vatican City, Aug 14, 2017 / 07:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The bishops of Australia have indicated that they will resist the Royal Commission's proposal that priests be legally obligated to disclose details of sexual abuse revealed in the confessional, facing criminal charges if they don't.

“Confession in the Catholic Church is a spiritual encounter with God through the priest,” Archbishop Denis J Hart of Melbourne said in an Aug. 14 statement.

Trust in Christ – not in horoscopes, Pope Francis says

Vatican City, Aug 13, 2017 / 04:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday Pope Francis repeated a message he often has, warning against putting one's trust in horoscopes and fortune telling rather than Christ, who is the only true security that gets us through times of trial and darkness.

Pointing to how Peter begins to sink when walking toward Jesus on the water in the day's Gospel reading, Francis noted that the same thing can happen to us when we put our trust in false securities.

Pope Francis: Jesus went to the cross for sinners, not the perfect

Vatican City, Aug 9, 2017 / 03:12 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis said the Church doesn't exist for people without faults, but for sinners in need of God's mercy – a point he often returns to – and lamented the fact that there are many Catholics who believe the opposite.

“We who are accustomed to experiencing the forgiveness of sins, perhaps too much like 'a cheap market,' we should at times remind ourselves of how much we cost the love of God,” the Pope said Aug. 9.

Vatican clarifies: Gay couple received standard form letter from Pope, not endorsement

Vatican City, Aug 8, 2017 / 11:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A congratulatory letter sent from Pope Francis to a same-sex couple regarding the baptism of their children was a standard form letter sent to all who write to the Pope, a Vatican source has confirmed.

The letter was not an endorsement of gay unions, the source told CNA, and the Pope may not have known that the letter was going to a gay couple, since it was addressed to a single individual.

Ukranian archeparchy in Philadelphia gets a new auxiliary bishop

Vatican City, Aug 8, 2017 / 05:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Tuesday it was announced that Pope Francis has named Fr. Andriy Rabiy, who has a background in child protection, as an auxiliary bishop for the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia.

Announced in an Aug. 8 communique from the Vatican, Rabiy's appointment means he will join fellow auxiliary Bishop John Bura in serving the Archepharchy's Metropolitan Archbishop, Stefan Soroka.

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