Latest Roman Catholicism News
Catholic diocesan hermit approved by Kentucky bishop comes out as transgender
(RNS) — Diocesan hermits by nature don’t get much attention. A small subset of religious persons, hermits mostly spend their lives engaged in quiet prayer. Brother Christian Matson, a Catholic diocesan hermit in Kentucky, has spent years doing just that. His monk’s habit might...
Vatican makes fresh overture to China, reaffirms that Catholic Church is no threat to sovereignty
ROME (AP) — The Vatican made another big overture to China on Tuesday, reaffirming the Catholic Church poses no threat to Beijing's sovereignty and admitting that Western missionaries had made “errors” in past centuries in their zeal to convert the Chinese faithful. The Vatican...
Why US Catholics are planning pilgrimages in communities across the nation
A long-planned series of Catholic pilgrimages has begun across the United States this weekend, with pilgrims embarking on four routes before converging on Indianapolis in two months for a major gathering focusing on Eucharistic rites and devotions. The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage...
Some of the Catholic Church's best-known approved, and not approved, reports of apparitions of Mary
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has revised how it evaluates purported supernatural events, such as reported visions of the Virgin Mary, to guard against hoaxes and account for news going viral. Previous approved apparitions have turned these sites into major pilgrimage...
Vatican moves to adapt to hoaxes, Internet and overhauls its process for evaluating visions of Mary
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican on Friday overhauled its process for evaluating alleged visions of the Virgin Mary, weeping statues and other seemingly supernatural phenomena that have marked church history, putting the brakes on making definitive declarations unless the event is obviously...
Why the speech by Kansas City Chiefs kicker was embraced at Benedictine College's commencement
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker may have stirred controversy in some quarters for his proclamations of conservative politics and Catholicism on Saturday, but he received a standing ovation from graduates and other attendees of the May 11 commencement ceremony at Benedictine College in...
Afro-Cuban drums, Muslim prayers, Buddhist mantras: Religious diversity blooms in once-atheist Cuba
HAVANA (AP) — The 1959 Castro-led revolution installed an atheist, Communist government that sought to replace the Catholic Church as the guiding force in the lives of Cubans. But 65 years later, religion seems omnipresent in Cuba, in dazzling diversity. The bells...
Afro-Cuban drums, Muslim prayers, Buddhist mantras: Religious diversity blooms in once-atheist Cuba
HAVANA (AP) — The 1959 Castro-led revolution installed an atheist, Communist government that sought to replace the Catholic Church as the guiding force in the lives of Cubans. But 65 years later, religion seems omnipresent in Cuba, in dazzling diversity. The bells...
Parishioners subdue armed teenager at Louisiana children's service
ABBEVILLE, La. (AP) — Parishioners subdued a teenager with a gun who entered a Louisiana church during a service for dozens of young children, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. Officials in the Catholic diocese are weighing new safety protocols, including the possibility of someone...
Shunned for centuries, Vodou grows powerful as Haitians seek solace from unrelenting gang violence
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The Vodou faithful sing, their voices rising above the gunfire erupting miles away as frantic drumbeats drown out their troubles. They pause to swig rum out of small brown bottles, twirling in unison as they sing in Haitian Creole: “We don’t care if...
