A new home for Morning Catholic Must-Reads
From today, Morning Catholic Must-Reads has a new home on The Catholic Herald’s new website.
Thank you for reading the blog here. I look forward to seeing you over at CatholicHerald.co.uk.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Benedict XVI has named Swiss Bishop Kurt Koch as the new president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (video).
Cardinal Marc Ouellet has said he was surprised to be named the new prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. Communio has posted links to his articles.
Rome Reports profiles Archbishop Rino Fisichella, first president of the new Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation (video).
The Economist pontificates on the “Popeshuffle”.
Nine governments have challenged the European Court of Human Rights ruling on crucifixes in Italian public schools.
The Catholic Church has given £350,000 to the needy in London.
Vatican Radio talks to the Holy See’s lawyer Jeffrey Lena.
Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark looks ahead to the papal visit to Britain (audio).
Thinking Faith talks to the Catholic chaplain to Manchester United about football chaplaincy.
Fr Michael Gollop asks what Pusey would have made of the Pope’s offer to Anglicans.
Michael Sean Winters signs off at America magazine.
And comedy writer Jane Bussmann explains why a visit to Uganda cured her anti-clericalism.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Pope Benedict XVI described the pallium as a sign of the bond that protects the Church from evil when he presented the woollen band to 38 new archbishops yesterday (video).
The Vatican has loaned the world’s oldest Hebrew book to the Jewish Museum in London.
A website has inspired the faithful to pray 28,000 rosaries for over 250 bishops in six months.
A Vatican website is aspiring to become “the Yellow Pages of the Catholic media“.
The Trumpet accuses Pope Benedict of launching “a new crusade”.
Peter Bingle says Peter Bingle’s appointment as British ambassador to the Holy See would be inspired.
Joseph Bottum takes Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan to task over partial-birth abortion.
Michael Sean Winters is leaving America magazine for the National Catholic Reporter.
And a woman in Coventry has invited the Pope to examine her drainpipe during his visit to Britain in September.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Pope Benedict XVI announced the creation of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation yesterday. John Allen analyses the move (video, full text of papal homily).
The US Supreme Court has declined to review a case claiming that the Vatican is responsible for the actions of a clerical abuser. Jeffrey Lena, the Holy See’s lawyer, responds to the decision.
Westminster Cathedral is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its consecration this week (photo gallery).
Grant Gallicho is puzzled by yesterday’s Vatican statement “slapping” Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. Rod Dreher is infuriated by the rebuke, as is Andrew Sullivan.
John Allen explains why the abuse crisis is so explosive in Belgium. Time also offers analysis.
And Mark Shea says John Paul II sinned when he ignored warnings about Fr Marciel Maciel.
Morning Catholic must-reads
The weekend’s big story was the Vatican’s response to the unprecedented police raid on the Belgian Church. Pope Benedict XVI described the police’s methods as “deplorable” and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said they were “unbelievable”. A lawyer for the Mechelen-Brussels archdiocese said the Church was considering legal action. But Belgian anti-paedophilia campaigner Fr Rik Devillè insisted the raids were “a good thing”. Rod Dreher says the Pope was wrong to speak out. And Fr Tim Finigan considers the state of the Belgian Church.
Archbishop Angelo Amato beatified the Maronite monk Estephan Nehmeh in Lebanon yesterday.
Pope Benedict urged the faithful to “contemplate the divine-human heart of the Lord Jesus” at his Angelus address yesterday (full text).
Cardinal Walter Kasper has confirmed his imminent retirement as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Ann Widdecombe will be the next British ambassador to the Holy See, the Sunday Telegraph reports.
The Pope has turned down an offer to appear on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day programme, the Telegraph suggests.
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the UN in Geneva, has addressed the Human Rights Council on maternal mortality (full text).
Rocco Palmo says the Vatican’s year is ending on a diplomatic high note.
Valle Adurni wonders what will happen to church buildings if Anglicans accept the Pope’s offer.
John Coleman SJ hails an “almost perfect” film.
And James Preece predicts that the Pope will beatify Cardinal Newman in a red telephone box.
Morning Catholic must-reads
The Pope will beatify Cardinal Newman in Birmingham rather than in Coventry and tour the Birmingham Oratory during his visit to Britain, it emerged yesterday.
The Russian Orthodox Church and Poland’s Catholic Church promised yesterday to help their nations seek reconciliation.
Pope Benedict has told cloistered nuns at the Dominican convent of Santa Maria del Rosario in Rome that their prayer helps to sustain the Church (full text).
Benedict XVI has blessed a 29ft-tall restored statue of the Virgin Mary at the Don Orione Centre (full text).
The Diocese of Brooklyn is promoting the Cause of a priest who welcomed black people into the Church in New York in the 1920s.
The organisers of World Youth Day 2011 have launched a new promotional advert (video).
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has said the methods of the professional liturgical establishment have led to “a dead end” (full text).
Michael Sean Winters offers a “final note” on the controversy over the alleged fabrication of quotes at a USCCB meeting.
Fr John Trigilio Jr argues that Fr Marcial Maciel duped Pope John Paul II.
And Louis Ruprecht praises the “eminently modern institutions” of the Vatican Library and the Vatican Museums.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Archbishop Celestino Migliore has urged the international community to do more to tackle transnational organized crime (full text).
The oldest known image of the Apostles Andrew and John has been discovered in the Catacombs of Rome.
An Angolan Catholic priest has gone on trial accused of “crimes against state security” in connection with an attack on Togo’s national football team.
The Archbishops of Birmingham and Southwark will be among the 38 metropolitan archbishops receiving the pallium on June 29.
Pope Benedict XVI will greet an estimated 3,000 schoolchildren at an event during his visit to Britain.
The collapse of a masonry firm may hamper restoration work at St Andrews’ Cathedral in Glasgow.
An 83-year-old nun was killed in a collision with a minivan in Harlem yesterday.
Jack Smith urges Helen Osman, the USCCB secretary of communications, to clarify her criticisms of the Catholic News Agency.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Bishop Kurt Koch of Basel is expected to be named president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, replacing Cardinal Walter Kasper.
Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples says he has forgiven his accusers after he was implicated in a corruption scandal.
A confidential file accusing Bishop Walter Mixa of alcoholism and sexual harassment has surfaced in Germany.
Caritas says that millions will face hunger in Niger as a result of food shortages.
Giovanni Maria Vian, editor of the L’Osservatore Romano, sums up the Year for Priests.
Edward Pentin says the Arabian peninsula is seeing a remarkable increase in its Christian population.
Valle Adurni hunts for the final, definitive version of the new translation of the Mass in English.
Peter Schineller SJ wonders why Benedict XVI is preparing to venerate the relics of St Celestine V.
The papal visit to Britain now has an official Twitter account and Facebook page.
And Mick Brown urges England fans to pray that the team’s Catholic manager, Fabio Capello, will find divine inspiration.
Morning Catholic must-reads
The Pope is expected to name Archbishop Velasio DePaolis the Apostolic Delegate to the Legion of Christ.
The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York are reportedly preparing to make a last-ditch effort to prevent thousands of traditionalists leaving the Church of England.
The Vatican’s spokesman expressed “esteem and solidarity” with Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe yesterday as it emerged that police are investigating the Archbishop of Naples for alleged corruption.
Benedict XVI made an urgent appeal for peace in southern Kyrgyzstan and prayed for the world’s refugees after the Angelus on Sunday (full text, video).
Pope Benedict ordained 14 new priests for the Diocese of Rome in St Peter’s Basilica yesterday (hfull text).
A Vatican spokesman has denied reports that the disgraced former Archbishop of Poznań, Juliusz Paetz, is to be “rehabilitated”.
Zenit publishes the final part of Pope Benedict’s question-and-answer session with priests.
Fr Edward Daly welcomes the Saville report into Bloody Sunday.
Commonweal responds to criticism by the US bishops of its stance on the healthcare bill.
John Allen points out the “elephants in the room” of the Catholic debate on healthcare reform.
Kevin O’Rourke looks at “the complicated reasons behind an abortion at a Catholic hospital” in Phoenix.
George Weigel describes the alternative to “Catholic Lite”.
Karl Giberson urges Christians not to vilify the New Atheists.
Joanna Bogle profiles Catholic Voices, which aims to transform the media image of Catholicism during the Pope’s visit to Britain.
Austen Ivereigh applauds Archbishop Vincent Nichols’s efforts to promote the papal visit.
Rocco Palmo reports on the remarkable success of the iBreviary app for the iPhone.
And Fr Z wonders if the iPad will replace the altar missal.
Editor's Briefing 