OSV News

Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer in exile who tracks persecution of the Catholic Church, shared figures with OSV News showing 70 priests were serving the diocese — 57 Nicaraguans and 13 foreigners — prior to the regime's attacks on the church. Just 22 priests remain to cover a diocese of 615,858 Catholics and 29 parishes. Four of the priests died; two have retired, but continue to celebrate the sacraments; five were "kidnapped," while three are missing. Thirty of the priests were forced into exile.

A pastor of an Archdiocese of Cincinnati parish has resigned from his post following complaints from parishioners over his admitted effort to destroy evidence of a fellow priest's possession of pornographic images, including material that possibly involved the sexual abuse of children.

A retired FBI agent will head up the U.S. bishops' consultative safe environment body, while a clergy abuse survivor, a nursing professor and two clinical social workers are also among the board's Aug. 1 appointments.

The tax relief would have had a substantial direct impact on U.S. Catholic households. According to Pew Research, 55% of Catholic households make under $50,000, including 36% making under $30,000.

In a statement published July 24, Maria Campatelli, director of the Centro Aletti, said that while the center has remained silent as it awaits the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith's investigation into the accusations, it viewed calls for the removal of the priest's artwork as an attack against art and also a "desire for destruction."

Bishops in Venezuela called July 30 for the results of the nation's heavily disputed presidential election to be verified as protests break across the South American country over the official vote count — which gave President Nicolas Maduro a third consecutive term.

 

The three-judge tribunal — Francesco Paolo Pitarresi, Elisa D'Aveni and Maria Rosaria Santoni — stated that Bishop Rosario Gisana of Piazza Armerina was "well aware for many years of the reports made concerning the abuse suffered by" Antonio Messina, who was 16 at the time.

President Joe Biden July 29 called for legislation and a constitutional amendment that would result in massive changes to the U.S. Supreme Court, including term limits for justices and an enforceable ethics code.

Pope Francis has designated the provincial city of Santiago del Estero as Argentina's primatial see in a move described by Catholic leaders as a historic "reparation" and a reflection of his preference for putting the peripheries at the center of church attention.

On an emotional note, Edmonton Archbishop Richard W. Smith said: "We share the sense of loss with all of those who live in the town, who care for it and who have helped build it. And to those in Alberta and around the world who have experienced the magic of Jasper: The magic is not lost, and it never will be."

Hundreds of Mexicans have fled drug cartel violence in southern Chiapas state to neighboring Guatemala, causing the bishop of a Mexico border diocese to ask local authorities: "How long will they live trying to hide a sad and painful reality that we carry day by day?" The trend is a reversal of past decades, when Indigenous Guatemalans fleeing genocide and civil war sought shelter in Mexico.

The Archdiocese of Seattle's 136 parishes have officially became 60 parish families as part of Partners in the Gospel, the archdiocese's strategic pastoral planning initiative. The July 1 move comes after two years of planning and consultation with clergy, parish and school staffs and the laity, the archdiocese said. Each parish family will be led by a pastor or pastoral coordinator, and many will have at least one parochial vicar.

Ethiopian Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel of Addis Ababa has expressed deep sorrow at the deadly landslide in Gofa Zone, in the southern part of Ethiopia, where the death toll has reportedly reached 257. Humanitarian agencies, including those that are faith-based, have scrambled to rush emergency relief to Kencho Shacha Gozdi, a remote village in the Gofa Zone, following the first landslide that struck July 22.

Catholic immigration and anti-trafficking advocates are expressing grave concern over alleged systemic sexual abuse of unaccompanied migrant children by staff of a private contractor for the U.S. government. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit July 17 against Southwest Key Programs, an Austin, Texas-based nonprofit that provides housing for unaccompanied minors, as well as services for youth, family and job seekers.

One of Poland's most influential prelates has been asked to stay on beyond retirement by Pope Francis, days after the Vatican suspended his orders dismissing a prominent pastor and naming an overseer of the finances of the prominent Wawel Cathedral chapter in a dispute with local Catholics.

Newhart was pursuing a less-than-stellar business career when he suddenly shot to showbiz stardom in 1960 with his first album, "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart." The LP went on to earn a Grammy Award as Album of the Year — a first for a comedy recording.

The Bolivia province of the Society of Jesus failed to follow instructions from the Jesuit curia in Rome by allegedly not publicly disclosing the findings of an investigation into a pedophile priest, deepening a series of clerical sexual abuse scandals engulfing the order in the South American country.

The Brazilian bishops' Indigenous Missionary Council, known by its Portuguese acronym CIMI, released its 2023 annual report on the situation of Indigenous peoples July 22 "with deep sadness" in view of the increased number of violent attacks, explained Cardinal Leonardo Steiner of Manaus in presenting CIMI's report in Brasilia, the nation's capital.

Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix is resuming his duties as Quebec's archbishop, six months after stepping aside when he was accused of sexual misconduct for which a Vatican-mandated investigation found no evidence to support.

The president's announcement brings to an end several weeks of speculation about his political future, including both his viability in the November election and his ability to serve another four years in the White House.