The Diocese of Syracuse, New York, will exit bankruptcy proceedings after the final approval of a massive nine-figure abuse settlement, the diocese said this week. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Wendy Kinsella gave the green light for the $176 million settlement, the diocese said in a press release on Feb. 25, marking the “official conclusion” of the…
Lourdes University in Ohio announces closure amid ‘mounting financial pressures’ Lourdes University in Ohio will shut down due to declining enrollment, rising costs, and an “unsustainable funding model,” the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio, and the school’s board of trustees revealed this week. The university will continue operations through the remainder of the…
Here is a roundup of Catholic world news you might have missed this week: Sri Lanka police arrest former top intelligence official over 2019 Easter suicide bombing Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department has arrested Major General Suresh Sallay, the former director of military intelligence at the time of the 2019 Easter suicide bombings that targeted…
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recovered money that it says the U.S. Department of State owed the conference for refugee resettlement and voluntarily ended its lawsuit against the department. According to court records, Judge Trevor N. McFadden dismissed the lawsuit on Jan. 23, one day after the bishops requested the federal District Court…
International human rights advocates called on the Trump administration to caution Armenia’s government against veering into authoritarianism amid increased suppression of the country’s Apostolic Church. “The reality is that the government’s campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church, which has been going on for well over a year, continues unabated to this day,” said Ambassador Alberto…
Bishop Erik Varden continued leading the Vatican’s Lenten spiritual exercises on Feb. 26 with meditations on angels, trust in God, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s path from lofty ideals to what Varden described as a realism grounded in mercy. In his eighth meditation of the retreat, Varden recalled Christ’s temptation in the desert, when the…
Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1895–1979) was an award-winning radio and television personality who, amid fame and success, kept Christ at the center of his life. Now, he’s on the path to sainthood, with the Vatican recently announcing that his beatification — the second of three major steps in the canonization process — will be moving…
The monumental wooden doors at the entrance of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, one of the holiest sites for Christians of all denominations, were removed from their hinges on Feb. 19 by workers restoring the basilica’s floor and will undergo a restoration process. The work is part of the ongoing restoration of…
BRUSSELS — The European Commission has rejected a proposal to create a new European Union-wide financing mechanism for abortion access but said existing EU funds may still be used by member states to support women traveling abroad for abortion services. The decision, announced Feb. 26, comes in response to the European Citizens’ Initiative “My Voice,…
More than 60 years after the pinnacle events of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, a Catholic parish in Montgomery, Alabama, remains a “place set apart” due to its notable role in the push for racial justice in the segregated U.S. South. The City of St. Jude Parish, which sits on the outskirts of Montgomery, is…
