SUPERIOR, Wis. (OSV News) – Superior Bishop James P. Powers accused Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganó, former apostolic nuncio to the U.S., of defamation, while seeking clarification into an allegedly illicit priest ordination. Wisconsin, released a strongly worded statement April 5, responding to
The prelate of Opus Dei said members "accept with sincere filial obedience" the slight modifications Pope Francis made to the section of the Code of Canon Law dealing with personal prelatures." The Vatican had announced Aug. 8 that Pope Francis had promulgated
A reader writes: “Are the laws of the Roman Catholic Church explained in Canon Law to be respected and even obeyed by its laity even though there are changes from the 1917 code to the 1983 code that are no longer valid?”
Almost two years after updating a section of the Latin-rite Code of Canon Law dealing with crimes and punishment, Pope Francis promulgated a similar update to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
Titled "Vocare Peccatores" (To Call Sinners), the document begins
Saying he wanted to protect the rights of members of religious orders facing expulsion, Pope Francis made small changes to canon law, giving them more time to appeal their dismissals.
The changes, announced by the Vatican April 3, apply to both the Code
Granting an exception to canon law, Pope Francis said the Vatican office that deals with religious orders can permit men's communities that are made up of both priests and brothers to choose one of the brothers to be a provincial superior or
Saying he wanted to promote a "healthy decentralization" of some aspects of church life, Pope Francis made several changes to church law, granting greater authority to individual bishops, bishops' conferences and synods of bishops of the Eastern Catholic churches.
The changes, the pope
A reader asks: “Somebody told me that this past Jan. 1 was not a holy day of obligation. I was surprised to hear it and doubt that this is so. Can you clarify if Jan. 1 is a holy day of obligation?”
On May 23, 2021, the solemnity of Pentecost, Pope Francis promulgated the apostolic constitution, Pascite gregem Dei, with which he revised Book VI of the Code of Canon Law. As Kurt Martens explains in an essay for Our Sunday Visitor, the current
A series of laws and procedures promulgated by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI and, especially, by Pope Francis to protect children, promote the investigation of allegations of clerical sexual abuse and punish offenders are included in a heavily revised section of the Code