A Spanish priest arrested for sedating, raping and filming five women, had been cleared to attend World Youth Day and participated in the Lisbon event with a contingent of young people representing the diocese of Málaga. Police began investigating Fr. Francisco Javier Cuenca Villalba, the son of a former Poor Clare cloistered nun, after his live-in lover reported him to the Family and Women's Services Unit (FOEN) in Melilla, a Spanish autonomous city located on the eastern coast of Morocco. Read more
West Midlands Police in England have apologized to a charity volunteer who was arrested twice in the past year for silently praying near an abortion mill. The police confirmed that no charges will be filed against her. Read more
A Polish bishop is urging his priests to offer acts of reparation after an orgy of homosexual priests ended with a male escort suffering a heart attack from a Viagra overdose. Police and ambulance services forced entry into the sex party organized by Fr. Tomasz Zmarzły, editor of the Catholic weekly Niedziela Sosnowiecka, after the priest reportedly refused to let them in. Read more
A German Member of the European Parliament recently made a resolute promise to the people and her colleagues by pledging unwavering support for freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Christine Anderson has vowed to persistently confront what she referred to as "globalitarian misanthropists." Read more
In a rare intervention, the Holy See Press Office has rushed to clarify that a top cardinal's abrupt withdrawal from the forthcoming synod is not due to Rome's recent exoneration of a celebrity predator priest. Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, the former prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, canceled his participation in Pope Francis' pet project just after the vicariate of Rome published a report casting aspersions on the excommunication of Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik. Read more
Pope Francis has invited a leading Pentecostal so-called apostle and televangelist who supports the criminalization of homosexuality to participate in the forthcoming Synod on Synodality. Professor Opoku Onyinah, who backs the anti-LGBT bill unanimously passed by the Parliament of Ghana in July, will be permitted to join in the synodal discussions as a "fraternal delegate," but he will not be allowed to vote. Read more
A confidential investigation authorized by Pope Francis into an Australian bishop has found that the prelate may have sexually abused and groomed 71 young aboriginal males. In the 200-page bombshell report, witnesses described Bp. Christopher Saunders as "a sexual predator" who sought "to prey upon vulnerable aboriginal men and boys" and groomed his victims, plying them with cash, alcohol, hotels, phones, phone credit, air and bus travel. Read more
Faithful Catholics around the world are invited to join Benedictine monks in England for a novena to St. Michael the Archangel. The novena begins on Sept. 21 and runs through Sept. 29, the Feast of St. Michael. It's being initiated by the Benedictine monks of the historic St. Michael's Abbey in Farnborough, 30 kilometers outside of London. Read more
Victims of the sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by a former Jesuit celebrity artist are condemning Pope Francis and the diocese of Rome for downplaying the egregious acts committed against over 25 nuns. In a letter to Pope Francis published Tuesday, former nuns of the Loyola Community said they were "left speechless" by Rome's cover-up of serial abuser Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik. Read more
The cardinal-archbishop of Goa is directing priests and faithful to promote other religions — after a priest's sermon rebuking Catholics for venerating Hindu gods and patronizing witchcraft went viral on social media. Responding to Cdl. Filipe Neri Ferrão's directive, Salesian nuns running the Auxilium School in Mapusa venerated the idol of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha "with a traditional lamp lighting followed by a prayer service to invoke the blessings of Lord Ganesha." Read more
A prominent Filipino priest, celebrated for promoting devotion to the Rosary and a controversial Marian apparition, has been laicized by Pope Francis for allegedly abusing minors. The diocese of Borongan announced Sunday on its Facebook page that the holy father "has dismissed from the clerical state Fr. Pio Cultura Aclon." The priest is "no longer a cleric and cannot exercise priestly ministry in the Church." Read more
In a historic first, the Vatican has permitted an Indian patriarch heading an autocephalous church branded as heretical by the Holy Inquisition to celebrate the Holy Eucharist at a papal basilica in Rome. Christ "calls us to recognize and adore him at a single Eucharistic altar," Pope Francis stressed, as His Holiness Baselios Marthoma Mathews III offered the divine liturgy at the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls on Sunday morning in the West Syriac rite. Read more
The Vatican's new doctrine chief is warning against heresy and schism in both progressive and traditional circles. Cardinal-designate Abp. Víctor Manuel Fernández cautioned against those who would go against the "doctrine of the Holy Father" in a recent interview with Catholic journalist Ed Pentin. Read more
The Vatican has ordered a pro-LGBT bishop to investigate accusations of cover-up and sexual abuse against six Swiss bishops and several priests after a senior whistleblower priest reported the accused to the Holy See. "I can no longer accept dissimulation. For a long time, I watched and saw that nothing was happening," said Fr. Nicolas Betticher, former vicar general of the diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, admitting he had "made mistakes" by not reporting the abuse earlier. Read more