Columnist: Christopher Altieri
Vatican Denies Rumors of Rupnik Acquittal
The Vatican on Wednesday denied rumors a verdict had been reached in the Church trial of Father Marko Rupnik, a notorious former Jesuit and a celebrity artist-priest, days after rumors ...
Cardinal Cupich BLASTS Trump – Claims He’s “Gamifying” Iran War
A senior U.S. cardinal has issued a stinging condemnation of the Trump administration’s “gamifying” behavior, as the U.S.-led bombardment of Iran enters its second full week. Blase Cupich, the cardinal ...
Why is the Vatican STILL Featuring Artwork by Disgraced Rupnik?
It is getting more and more difficult to imagine how the Vatican types from Pope Francis on down could possibly mean it when they say they do care about victims ...
Pope Francis’s “All-Out Battle” Against Clerical Abuse has been an Epic Failure
Five years ago, the Pontiff railed against “abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth…” His record since has been abysmal and even scandalous. The largest ...
Fiducia Supplicans: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Two developments—both entirely foreseeable, one so easily avoidable as to be in essence an unforced error—are making the already improbable management of the Fiducia supplicans fiasco almost entirely impossible. The ...
The Spectacular Failed Launch of Fiducia Supplicans
It isn’t every day that the top papal lieutenant goes on the record to discuss something about which he’d just said there would be no further clarification, but that’s what ...
The Rupnik Affair Will Leave an Indelible Mark on the Francis Papacy
How bad is this Rupnik business? It is very, very bad. The Rupnik business is worse—by orders of magnitude—than l’Affaire Barros, l’Affaire Inzoli, worse even than l’Affaire Zanchetta. The disgraceful ...
Francis Packs the Conclave
Pope Francis on Sunday announced a consistory for the creation of new cardinals, and it’s a bumper crop. On September 30th, eighteen new red hats will gain voting rights in ...
Keeping Quiet: The Downside to “Voluntary Laicization”
Pope Francis quietly laicized a priest accused of grave immorality and serious canonical crimes in 2017, rather than have him stay in the priesthood long enough to face trial. The ...
Mahony’s Baloney Sandwich is Dry and Stale
To be perfectly frank, the Fall Meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore, Md., is near the top of the list of things about which I could ...
Former Cheyenne Bishop Skates on Abuse Charges
The Vatican has exonerated Bishop Joseph H. Hart, emeritus of Cheyenne, Wyoming, on seven counts of child sexual abuse. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handled the ...
Accusations of Grave Mishandling of Abuse Case Across Church Jurisdictions
A priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Fr Kevin McGoldrick, is quietly seeking voluntary laicization after that archdiocese investigated a claim he sexually assaulted a young woman who had been ...
Why is the Vatican Keeping Bishop Scharfenberger in the Dark?
Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany, New York, is in a tough spot. Appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Buffalo after the resignation of Bishop Richard Malone, Bishop Scharfenberger is the public face ...
Could Financial Scandal Isolate the Holy See?
The Holy See is caught in a financial scandal that has seen it suspended from the information-sharing network of the world’s premier financial intelligence club. Some of the players in ...
New Questions Emerge Over Apostolic Visitation in Buffalo
Whistleblowers were discouraged from bringing counsel to their interview sessions As the US bishops begin their plenary meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, the Catholic bishops of New York are in Rome ...
Amazon Synod: Where We Are After Week One
Priestly celibacy, the role of women, and Scalfari's latest claims: this has been an intense week at the Vatican The working sessions at the synod assembly broke for lunch on ...
Viganò Corroboration #14: Homosexual Abuse in Vatican Seminary
Vatican City’s chief prosecutor has handed down criminal indictments against two priests in connection with sexual abuse allegedly committed at the Preseminario Pio X, a minor seminary located inside Vatican ...
Vos Estis: Why Crookston but not Buffalo?
US Church authorities seem hesitant to test the new Vatican law Interesting times got more interesting this week, when the Archdiocese of St Paul-Minneapolis confirmed to the Catholic News Agency that the ...
Cardinal Dolan Considering Options Over Scandal-Hit Buffalo Diocese
The Catholic Herald has learned that the Archdiocese of New York is closely monitoring the crisis in the Diocese of Buffalo, and that broad consultations are ongoing, with a view ...
Will Rome Finally Intervene In The Troubled Diocese Of Buffalo?
The diocese is embroiled in allegations of cover-ups, morally ambiguous behaviour and serious dysfunction The protracted crisis in the US Diocese of Buffalo has piqued Rome’s interest, as many of ...
The Church’s Next Scandal Is Money
A new report gives a disturbing insight into the way that money circulates among Church leaders. How long can it continue? “The Devil always enters by way of the pocket.” ...
