Author: Maike Hickson

Cardinal Schönborn Backtracks on the Possibility of Female Priests and Bishops
The Austrian cardinal just gave an interview to an Austrian TV channel in which he now claims that the ordination of female priests is not permissible. However, women might somehow still be admitted to the first stage of sacramental ordination: …

Cardinal Brandmüller Questions Francis’ Claim Not to Have Received the Dubia Before Publication
Today, on 20 June, Reuters published a new interview with Pope Francis. Although the interview is making headlines because of the Pope’s criticism of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy, it also contains another controversial assertion: the pope surprisingly now claims …

Bishop Schneider on the Pan-Amazon Synod, Married Priests, and Female Preachers
In a new interview, Bishop Athanasius Schneider discusses the working document of the upcoming 2019 Pan-Amazon Synod and rejects the idea of ordaining married men. He argues that priestly continence is a Church tradition that goes back to Apostolic times. …

The Pope’s Ticona Problem: Bolivian Cardinal-Designate Continues to Court Controversy
A new scandal is continuing to develop for Pope Francis, regarding one of the men he plans to make a cardinal at the 29 June consistory. The Bolivian bishops’ conference has just distanced itself from one of their own, Bishop …

Report: Austrian Bishop Has Female Companions While Church’s Leadership is Silent
Today, on 15 June, there is a stunning story breaking in Austria. The Austrian magazine NEWS published a report that might turn out to be devastating for the Catholic Church in Austria, especially for its President, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, as …

Vatican Specialist: There is a Rending Civil War in the Church; Francis Knows It
The German progressivist bishops are unanimously indignant and disappointed about the recent CDF letter from Archbishop Ladaria which told them not to make public their controversial intercommunion guidelines. In a new interview, a Vatican specialist explains that there is, indeed, …

Chinese Dissident & Author: Pope Francis is the “Worst Pope in History”
Image: Liao Yiwu by Elke Wetzig (Elya), Liao Yiwu 2010 Cologne, CC BY-SA 3.0 A Chinese dissident and author who was imprisoned by Chinese Communists for four years has warned the Catholic Church about making a “deal with the devil” as regards …

The 2019 Pan-Amazon Synod and the Possibility of Married Priests, Even Female Priests
The Vatican presented something important today, 8 June, at a press conference: the Preparatory Document for the upcoming 2019 Pan-Amazon Synod in which there is now talk about giving women some “type of official ministry” and of making “courageous” and …

Respected Predecessor of New La Plata Archbishop “Tucho” Fernández’ Ordered to Depart His Diocese Immediately
It is a story that reads like a passage from The Dictator Pope: Pope Francis recently accepted the age-related resignation of Héctor Aguer, the Archbishop of La Plata, Argentina — the capital city of the Buenos Aires province — and …

Does the New CDF Statement on Female Priests Imply an Opening to Female Deacons?
A few days ago, Archbishop Luis Ladaria, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), restated the Church’s infallible teaching about the ordaining of female priests in the Catholic Church. The statement was followed by many …