Worldcrunch
VATICAN CITY — To the priests who invited him to take a vacation with them, the late Cardinal Alberto Idelfonso Schuster of Milan replied, smiling, that there would be plenty of time for that in the afterlife. Pope Francis — the Jesuit whose agenda would wear out any 40-something — seems to be inspired by […]
Argentine politicians may not all have liked Jorge Bergoglio when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. But from President Kirchner to her potential successors, all want a piece of the pontiff.
Even in the middle of April, when Venice is consumed with its annual carnival stravaganza, priests remained dignified and serious. Unless these two were actually Venetians in disguise, walking past the Doge’s Palace on their way to the festival?
After becoming the first person in Poland born from in vitro fertilization, Agnieszka Ziolkowska, 26, decided it was time to act after Catholic leaders compared IVF to “plant breeding.”
A view from Italy, where the Protestant revival-style musical festival never had a chance…
A new study in Germany explores the role of Christian belief in driving Nazi brutality.
Leading by example can be more powerful than any doctrinal diktat.
LA REPUBBLICA (Italy), VATICAN RADIO Worldcrunch VATICAN CITY– Just four days before his historic resignation, Pope Benedict XVI delivered his final weekly Angelus prayer Sunday from the window of his Vatican apartment. A large crowd below in St. Peter’s Square interrupted several times with applause during the brief address as the 85-year Benedict alluded to […]
MARKTL AM INN – Not a lot of folks out on the streets on this day after the news arrived. But not because of the wind that slices right through you, or the icy temperature. The 2,700 residents of Marktl am Inn in the German region of Bavaria are holed up inside to avoid the […]
With his historic resignation, Benedict offers a more modern vision of the Catholic Church. Otherwise, says a commentator from his native Germany, he was a man stuck in the last millennium.
As the Catholic Church reels from the surprise announcement Monday that Pope Benedict XVI will step down at the end of the month — the first papal resignation in nearly 600 years — the world will again watch from afar as the Cardinals prepare for the secret Conclave to pick his successor. Meanwhile, the Russian […]
Worldcrunch 1. ARGENTINA “Benedict XVI resigns because of waning energy” – Clarin 2. CHINA “Pope announces resignation” – Apple Daily 3. USA New York Times 4. FRANCE “Pope resigns. Benedict XVI doesn’t have “enough energy” to lead the Church. He will be stepping down on Feb. 28.” – Libération 5. ITALY “Pope announces: I will […]
OpEd: Same-sex civil unions have been defeated in Poland’s Parliament, thanks to a hard-right minority inside the ruling party. History tells us this will not stand.
DIE WELT (Germany) Worldcrunch BERLIN – A forensic analysis of the psychiatric and psychological profiles of 78 German Catholic priests accused of child abuse between 2000 and 2010 shows that only nine were pedophiles. Four showed homosexual tendencies towards adolescent boys. Of the remaining 65, 54% were heterosexuals, 37% were homosexual, and nine were bisexual. […]
PARIS – To look at them, you would never know the agony these young men, relaxed and self-assured, have endured. Drinking wine and eating blinis in their comfortable Parisian apartment, Nicolas (not his real name), Bertrand, Fabrice and Damien all tell a similar story. Raised in practicing Catholic families, and believers themselves, they have taken […]
REUTERS, THE AUSTRALIAN, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Australia) Worldcrunch SYDNEY – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has called for a Royal Commission, the highest form of investigation in the country, into the hundreds of child abuse cases within the country’s institutions, including abuses and cover-ups by the Catholic Church. Gillard sais she wants the commission […]
ROME – It was a disquieting statement from the former butler of Pope Benedict XVI, as he took the stand in a Vatican court hearing his case. Paolo Gabriele, who lived for six years in the papal apartment, explained the motives that had led him to photocopy the Pope’s private papers: “Over time, I developed […]
LE MONDE, LE PARISIEN (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – On August 15, a controversial “Prayer for France” will be read out at French Catholic churches, reviving a centuries old tradition as the country celebrates the Feast of the Assumption — the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven. The wording of the prayer, which […]