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☆ Vatican court hears cardinal's secretly taped phone call with pope
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS/File PhotoVATICAN CITY, Nov 24 (Reuters) - A court at a Vatican corruption trial on Thursday heard a secretly recorded telephone call between the main defendant, embattled Cardinal Angelo Becciu, and Pope Francis. The money was sent to a company she had set up in Slovenia and she received some in cash, the court has been told. He told the court how he was ordered to make payments he considered unusual. The trial revolves around the purchase of a building in London by the Secretariat of State. The 10 defendants include former Vatican employees and Italian middle men who the prosecution says extorted the Vatican.

☆ Pope sacks leadership of worldwide Catholic charity, names commissioner
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

VATICAN CITY, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Tuesday fired the entire leadership of the Roman Catholic Church's worldwide charity arm following accusations of bullying and humiliation of employees, and appointed a commissioner to run it. The surprise move involved the executives of Caritas Internationalis (CI), a Vatican-based confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social services organisations working in more 200 countries. "Real deficiencies were noted in management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team spirit and staff morale," it said. The former staffer said employees had left jobs at the headquarters because of a climate of bullying, fear and "ritual humiliation". Apart from Tagle and one priest, all members of the CI executive were lay people.

☆ Women priests, homosexuality, not closed debate in Church, German bishop says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VATICAN CITY, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A leading German Catholic bishop on Saturday contested the Vatican's view that debates about women priests and homosexuality were closed, saying they will have to be confronted in the future. "As far as the ordination of women is concerned, for example, (the Vatican's) view is very clear, that the question is closed. The Catholic Church teaches that women cannot be priests because Jesus chose only men as his apostles and that while same-sex attraction is not sinful, homosexual acts are. "Popes have tried to say the question (of women priests) is closed but the fact is that the question exists. Many young women say 'a church that refuses all of this cannot be my church in the long run,'" he said.

☆ Pope hosts lunch for Rome's poor and homeless
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

VATICAN CITY, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Pope Francis hosted a lunch for 1,300 poor and homeless people on Sunday, the day the Roman Catholic Church marks the World Day of the Poor. The pope's guests were brought to the Vatican by charity groups who help them daily. The pope established the day in 2016 to bring more attention to poverty, particularly in wealthy nations. Catholic parishes and groups around the world hold events to help the poor in local communities. Reporting by Philip Pullella Editing by Gareth JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Vatican hit with $9.25 million claim by ousted auditor and deputy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Thursday he had no comment on the lawsuit, which was filed last week with the Vatican prosecutor's office by lawyers for Libero Milone and Ferruccio Panicco. Becciu told Reuters in 2017 that Milone "went against all the rules and was spying on the private lives of his superiors and staff, including me". Milone denies this, saying he just was seeking information he had a right to see as auditor general. The Vatican's prosecutor's office said it had recently re-opened an investigation about events at the time of the sacking in 2017. Becciu's lawyers said Milone had given a "a completely unfounded reconstruction" of events in the legal filing.

☆ Pope ends Bahrain trip with visit to Gulf's oldest church
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Yara NardiMANAMA, Bahrain, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Pope Francis departed from Bahrain on Sunday after a four-day trip that culminated with a visit to the Gulf's oldest Catholic church, where he told bishops, priests and nuns to remain united as they ministered to the faithful in the majority Muslim area. Many Catholics also visit from neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which bars public worship by non-Muslims. At the end of the church service, Pope Francis thanked King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for Bahrain's "exquisite hospitality". Pope Francis' visit, where he closed an East-West dialogue hosted by Bahrain, continues his policy of improving ties with the Islamic world following a historic visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2019. Thousands of Catholics in Bahrain and from around the Gulf poured into a stadium to hear the Pope say Mass on Saturday.

☆ In Bahrain, pope's message may get caught in Shi'ite-Sunni Muslim divide
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Workers take on last minute set up ahead of Pope Francis arrival at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Manama, Bahrain, November 2, 2022. It is home to the first Catholic church to be built in the Gulf area in modern times, which opened in 1939, as well as the cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, the largest Catholic church on the Arabian Peninsula. The London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and other human rights groups have urged the pope to speak out on what they say are rights abuses, including the imprisonment of pro-democracy dissidents. Bahrain rejects criticism from the United Nations and others over its conduct of trials and detention conditions. Bahrain, along with the UAE, forged ties with Israel in 2020 under U.S.-brokered pacts known as the Abraham Accords.

☆ Vatican confirms renewal of contested accord with China on bishops' appointments
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

VATICAN CITY, Oct 22 (Reuters) - The Vatican on Saturday said that it and China had renewed a secret and contested agreement on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops in the communist country. The deal was a bid to ease a longstanding divide across mainland China between an underground flock loyal to the pope and a state-backed official church. The Vatican-China deal centres on cooperation over the appointment of bishops, giving the pope the final and decisive say. They also point to increasing restrictions on religious freedoms in China for Christians and other minorities. Last month, the Vatican tried to arrange a meeting between Xi, 69, and the pope, 85, while both leaders were in Kazakhstan, but China declined.

☆ Jeff Bezos responds to criticism over investing in space travel instead of solving problems on Earth: 'We go to space not to abandon our home, but to protect it'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a speech at the Vatican, Jeff Bezos addressed people who ask why he invests "so much into space." The former Amazon CEO said investing in going to space will benefit the Earth and "protect it." The goal for Blue Origin, Bezos has previously said, is to make traveling to space cheaper, more frequent, and more accessible. In 2018, Bezos said Blue Origin was "the most important work I'm doing," in an interview with Axel Springer's CEO Mathias Döpfner. Bezos founded the Bezos Earth Fund in 2020, which will disburse $10 billion, committed by Bezos, in the current decade to fight climate change and protect nature.

☆ Russell Crowe at beer-and-popcorn Vatican screening of new film
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VATICAN CITY, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The Vatican treated new recruits of its police force and Swiss Guard to beer and popcorn at a special screening of the new film "The Greatest Beer Run Ever" on Monday, topped off by a meeting with one of its stars - Russell Crowe. Crowe, in Italy for the Rome Film Festival, dropped into the Vatican's small projection room - which seats only about 50 people - to greet the audience between two back-to-back screenings. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterDonahue is played by Zac Efron and Crowe plays hardened and hard-drinking war photographer Arthur Coates. In the film Donahue also carried a rosary from a neighbourhood mother to give to her son in Vietnam but he was killed before Donahue could find him. While the film was being projected on Monday, Small went to Pope Francis' nearby residence and the pope blessed several dozen rosaries that were given to those at the screening.

☆ Nicaragua asks EU ambassador to leave the country - diplomatic sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sept 28 (Reuters) - Nicaragua has asked the European Union's ambassador to leave the country, three diplomatic sources told Reuters on Wednesday, after officials deemed the representative "persona non grata." European Union Ambassador Bettina Muscheidt was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, where she was declared "non grata" and notified that she should leave the country, one of the diplomatic sources said. Muscheidt is no longer welcome in Nicaragua, according to one of the diplomatic sources who requested anonymity to discuss the decision. Hugo Rodriguez, a nominee to serve as U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua, was denied his post by the government in June. In February, the Vatican's ambassador to Managua, Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, was declared persona non grata and ordered to leave.

A rainbow flag is seen on the wall of a Catholic church as the building is open for same-sex couples to receive a blessing in Cologne, Germany, May 10, 2021. REUTERS/Thilo SchmuelgenVATICAN CITY, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Flemish Roman Catholic bishops on Tuesday issued a document effectively allowing the blessing of same-sex unions, seemingly in direct defiance of a ruling against such practices by the Vatican's doctrinal office last year. The document published on the website of the Belgian bishops conference suggested a ritual that included a prayer and a benediction for stable same-sex unions while stressing that it is not "what the Church understands by a sacramental marriage". It said the Church wanted to be "pastorally close to homosexual persons" and be a "welcoming Church that excludes no one". In March 2021, in response to formal questions from a number of Roman Catholic dioceses on whether the practice of blessing same-sex unions was allowed, the Vatican's doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), ruled that it was not.

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