Author: Nicole Winfield
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Italy allows more migrants off rescue ships, standoff eases
MILAN • The Italian government’s weekslong standoff with aid groups running rescue ships partially eased Tuesday, as officials allowed all remaining migrants on two rescue ships to access port. But a ship with 234 rescued migrants still at sea appealed to France to offer it a safe port after more than two weeks of silence…
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Pope in Canada honors grandparents after Indigenous apology
EDMONTON, Alberta • Pope Francis celebrated his first big Mass in Canada on Tuesday as reverberations echoed from his historic apology for the Catholic Church’s role in severing generations of Indigenous family ties by participating in Canada’s “catastrophic” residential school system. About 50,000 people filled Commonwealth Stadium and a smaller nearby venue for the Mass.…
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Wives of Mariupol defenders to pope: ‘You are our last hope’
VATICAN CITY • The wives of two Ukrainian soldiers defending the Mariupol steel mill met with Pope Francis on Wednesday and begged him to intervene to arrange for a third-party evacuation of the troops before Russian soldiers capture or kill them. “You are our last hope. We hope you can save their lives. Please don’t…
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Cardinal: Pope OK’d spending 1M euros to free kidnapped nun
VATICAN CITY • Pope Francis authorized spending up to 1 million euros to free a Colombian nun kidnapped by al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali, a cardinal testified Thursday, revealing previously secret papal approval to hire a British security firm to find the nun and secure her freedom. Cardinal Angelo Becciu’s bombshell testimony could pose serious security…
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Pope’s Ukraine diplomacy a political and spiritual tightrope
VATICAN CITY • His appeals for an Orthodox Easter truce in Ukraine went unheeded. His planned meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church was canceled. A proposed visit to Moscow? Nyet. Even his attempt to showcase Russian-Ukrainian friendship fell flat. Pope Francis hasn’t made much of a diplomatic mark in Russia’s war in…
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Retired pope asks pardon for abuse, but admits no wrongdoing
ROME • Retired Pope Benedict XVI asked forgiveness Tuesday for any “grievous faults” in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases, but denied any personal or specific wrongdoing after an independent report criticized his actions in four cases while he was archbishop of Munich. Benedict’s lack of a personal apology or admission of guilt immediately…
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Vatican cancels live TV broadcast of Biden greeting pope
ROME • The Vatican on Thursday abruptly canceled the planned live broadcast of President Joe Biden meeting Pope Francis, the latest restriction to media coverage of the Holy See that sparked complaints from White House- and Vatican-accredited journalists. The live broadcast of Biden’s Friday visit was trimmed to cover just the arrival of the president’s…
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Vatican law criminalizes abuse of adults by priests, laity
VATICAN CITY • Pope Francis has changed Catholic Church law to explicitly criminalize the sexual abuse of adults by priests who abuse their authority and to say that laypeople who hold church office also can be sanctioned for similar sex crimes. The new provisions, released Tuesday after 14 years of study, were contained in the…
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Vatican bars gay union blessing in the Catholic Church, says God ‘can’t bless sin’
ROME (AP) — The Vatican decreed Monday that the Catholic Church won’t bless same-sex unions since God “cannot bless sin.” The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal response Monday to a question about whether Catholic clergy have the authority to bless gay unions. The answer, contained in…
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Vatican faults many for McCarrick’s rise, spares Francis
ROME • A Vatican investigation into former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has found that a series of bishops, cardinals and popes downplayed or dismissed reports of sexual misconduct with seminarians, and determined that Pope Francis merely continued his predecessors’ handling of the predator until a former altar boy alleged abuse. The Vatican took the extraordinary step…