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2017-07-26T02:22:54+02002017-07-26T02:16:32+02002017-07-25T20:42:34+02002017-07-25T20:00:48+02002017-07-25T17:58:28+0200

John L. Allen Jr.

Beginning fight against abuse charges, Cardinal Pell goes to court

Inés San Martín

Nun ministering to transgender women gets thumbs-up from Pope

Commentary

Austen Ivereigh

Is British or American view of Charlie Gard tragedy more Catholic?

- Global Church
- July 26, 2017
Beginning fight against abuse charges, Cardinal Pell goes to court

Australian Cardinal George Pell made his first court appearance in Melbourne early on Wednesday, fighting to clear his name from what police have described as 'multiple' complaints of 'historical sexual offenses.' In the brief hearing, Pell's lawyer said he would "maintain his innocence" and the next hearing was set for Oct. 6.
- Commentary
- July 25, 2017
Is British or American view of Charlie Gard tragedy more Catholic?

A decision on Monday by the parents of Charlie Gard, an 11-month-old infant battling a rare genetic disorder, to drop their legal battle to purse experimental treatment and to "let our son go and be with the angels" leaves no one rejoicing. However, the question will have to be raised: Which is closer to a Catholic ethical standpoint — the American approach or the British?
- Global Church
- July 25, 2017
Nun ministering to transgender women gets thumbs-up from Pope

Despite theoretically slowing down over the summer months, Pope Francis remains one of those figures basically incapable of "down time." Among other things, he seems to be catching up on correspondence, including sending encouraging notes to an Argentine nun who ministers to transgender women in the pope's native country.

Editor’s Note on the One-Year Anniversary of Crux’s Independence Day

Pope & Trump Meeting

On Wednesday, May 24, Pope Francis and President Donald Trump will hold their first-ever meeting in the Vatican. It marks the intersection of two of the most riveting, not to mention contrasting, personalities on the global stage, and could bring both clash on some issues and a surprising degree of common cause on others. Click here for Crux’s comprehensive coverage.

Latest Stories

Ex-priest at center of clergy sex abuse scandal to be released
- Associated Press
- July 26, 2017
Paul Shanley, one of the most infamous pedophile priests is about to be released from prison. He has served his sentence and has been found not to be a sexually dangerous person. He will be on probation for 10 years and can have no contact with anyone under the age of 16. However, his victims are not satisfied with these terms.
Read more
Explosive device detonated outside Mexican bishops’ offices
- David Agren
- July 25, 2017
No one was injured by an explosive outside the headquarters of the Mexican bishops’ conference. The bishops’ offices occupy a busy strip across the street from the sanctuary of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The area is swarmed by pilgrims and tourists during the daytime and is transited by commuters in rush hour.
Read more
Pope's hospital says there was hope to save Charlie Gard if time had allowed
- Inés San Martín
- July 25, 2017
A day after the parents of 11-month-old Charlie Gard decided to drop their legal fight to save their son, saying ‘time has run out,’ a Vatican-sponsored hospital that had offered an experimental treatment acknowledged that they had “probably arrived too late.”
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Israel begins removing metal detectors from Temple Mount
- Associated Press
- July 25, 2017
Israel has begun removing metal detectors it installed in response to an Arab attack that killed two Israeli police guards at the Muslim-administered area of the Temple Mount, leading to protests from Muslims accusing Israel of trying to expand control at the site under the guise of security.
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Key ally of Philippines president introduces bills allowing for divorce, same-sex unions
- Crux Staff
- July 25, 2017
The Philippines is the only country in the world — except for the Vatican — to have no divorce law. That could change after the Speaker of the House introduced legislation to allow for “quick dissolution” of marriage.
Read more
Vatican official to UN: Migrants must be treated as human beings
- Crux Staff
- July 25, 2017
Jesuit Father Michael Czerny – handpicked by Pope Francis to be Undersecretary of the Section for Migrants and Refugees at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development – told a conference at the UN, migrants are seeking the “minimal conditions” of human dignity and integral and sustainable development.
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Cameroon: Bishops reject government’s bilingual commission
- Ngala Killian Chimtom
- July 25, 2017
Catholic bishops in the English-speaking parts of Cameroon have dismissed a new commission looking at bilingualism in the country as a missed opportunity. The minority Anglophone population says it has seen its educational and legal system systematically chipped away by the Francophone majority.
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NETWORK joins bishops’ press against Republican health care plan
- Shannon Levitt
- July 25, 2017
The U.S. Senate expects to vote on healthcare this week. The USCCB and NETWORK have spoken forcefully against the senate Republican bill, and the religious women at NETWORK have written a letter to give to all the senators urging them to vote no.
Read more

Latest From John L. Allen Jr.

Can anything burst Pope’s media bubble? Nah, probably not
- July 23, 2017
Next March will mark the five-year anniversary of Francis’s papacy, and one interesting question is whether the broad media love affair with Francis will still be in place when that moment comes. John Allen says “probably yes,” because by now the positive narrative surrounding Francis has become so entrenched as to be basically impervious to reconsideration.

By John L. Allen Jr.
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As latest Vatican trial opens, is it time to dust off ‘About Doctrine’?
- July 20, 2017
By John L. Allen Jr.
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Real story on Dolan and Tobin in NY? Try ‘America Past Acrimony’
- July 18, 2017
By John L. Allen Jr.
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Agree or not, it’s good to know what Vatican insiders think of America
- July 16, 2017
By John L. Allen Jr.
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By expanding sainthood, Francis reflects new realities of anti-Christian violence
- July 12, 2017
By John L. Allen Jr.
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Latest from Inés San Martin

Pope begins answering priests from troubled Nigerian diocese
- July 22, 2017
Last June, Pope Francis threatened the priests of the Ahiara diocese in Nigeria with suspension unless they wrote a letter addressed to him, apologizing for refusing to accept their bishop, appointed by Benedict XVI in 2012. Days after the deadline, letters from Rome responding to each priest individually began to arrive in the diocese.

By Inés San Martín
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Pope’s hospital says there was hope to save Charlie Gard if time had allowed
- July 25, 2017
By Inés San Martín
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Ex-Vatican doctrine chief says Church did what it could on German abuse scandal
- July 20, 2017
By Inés San Martín
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Vatican’s top diplomat condems attack against Venezuelan cardinal
- July 20, 2017
By Inés San Martín
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Benedict aide: It’s a ‘fantasy’ and ‘stupid’ to use him against Francis
- July 19, 2017
By Inés San Martín
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Latest from the Vatican

Questions multiply by the day in latest Vatican money scandal
- July 24, 2017
Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the former Secretary of State under Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, has denied rumors of involvement in a scheme to overpay for remodeling on his Vatican apartment in order to benefit an Italian businessman and longtime friend. Meanwhile, questions remain about how the businessman was able to bill two different Vatican departments almost $1 million for the same work, which was never even finished.

By Crux Staff
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Pope’s hospital says there was hope to save Charlie Gard if time had allowed
- July 25, 2017
By Inés San Martín
Vatican official to UN: Migrants must be treated as human beings
- July 25, 2017
By Crux Staff
St. Peter’s Square fountains being shut off due to drought
- July 25, 2017
By Associated Press

Latest from the Church in the US

NETWORK joins bishops’ press against Republican health care plan
- July 25, 2017
The U.S. Senate expects to vote on healthcare this week. The USCCB and NETWORK have spoken forcefully against the senate Republican bill, and the religious women at NETWORK have written a letter to give to all the senators urging them to vote no.

By Shannon Levitt
READ MORE

Ex-priest at center of clergy sex abuse scandal to be released
- July 26, 2017
By Associated Press
NFP: It’s not just a Catholic thing anymore
- July 25, 2017
By Maggie Maslak
Deaths in smuggler’s truck ‘completely senseless,’ Texas archbishop says
- July 24, 2017
By Catholic News Agency

Latest from the Global Church

Churches provide refuge to Kenyans fleeing al-Shabab attacks
- July 25, 2017
Extremist al-Shabab militants are allegedly terrifying thousand of Kenyans, the majority Christians, who have taken refuge in two churches and a school near the Somali border. Church leaders in the country speculate that the attackers are trying to influence the outcome of the upcoming elections by eliminating those who would oppose a strict form of Shariah, Islamic law.

By Fredrick Nzwili, CNS
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Explosive device detonated outside Mexican bishops’ offices
- July 25, 2017
By David Agren
Israel begins removing metal detectors from Temple Mount
- July 25, 2017
By Associated Press
Key ally of Philippines president introduces bills allowing for divorce, same-sex unions
- July 25, 2017
By Crux Staff

Latest Interviews

Ladaria: ‘I am in a deep and spontaneous harmony with the Pope’
- July 22, 2017
Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, the new Jesuit prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). said he is “in a deep and spontaneous harmony” with Pope Francis. The archbishop was speaking during a recent visit to the pope’s homeland, Argentina.

By Nicolas Mirabet
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