IN passing sentence on convicted child abuser George Pell, above, Chief Judge Peter Kidd today told the 77-year-old high-ranking Vatican official there was a possibility that he could die in jail. I am conscious that the term of imprisonment, which I am about to impose upon you, carries with it a real, as distinct

After decades of controversy, Pope Francis has announced that he will open the records of Pius XII’s papacy to researchers—along with other restricted Church holdings.

In a remarkable admission, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx said Saturday that documents that could have contained proof of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church were destroyed or never drawn up. "Files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed or not even created," said Marx, the archbishop of Munich and president of the German Bishops' Conference.

Marveling at the mysterious sanctum that his new book explores, the French journalist Frédéric Martel writes that “even in San Francisco’s Castro” there aren’t “quite as many gays.” He’s talking about the Vatican. And he’s delivering a bombshell. Although the book’s publishers have kept it under tight wraps, I obtained a copy in advance of its release next Thursday. It will come out in eight languages and 20 countries, under the title “Sodoma,” as in Sodom, in Western Europe and “In the Closet of the Vatican” in the United States, Britain and Canada.

Some of the most senior clerics in the Roman Catholic church who have vociferously attacked homosexuality are themselves gay, according to a book to be published next week. Eighty per cent of priests working at the Vatican are gay, although not necessarily sexually active, it is claimed in the book, In the Closet of the Vatican.

Pope Francis has admitted that clerics have sexually abused nuns, and in one case they were kept as sex slaves. He said in that case his predecessor, Pope Benedict, was forced to shut down an entire congregation of nuns who were being abused by priests. It is thought to be the first time that Pope Francis has acknowledged the sexual abuse of nuns by the clergy. He said the Church was attempting to address the problem but said it was "still going on".

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises wit…

WikiLeaks, the tell-anything anti-secrecy organization, on Wednesday took aim at one of the world’s most secretive institutions, the Vatican, releasing a small collection of documents about a power struggle involving Pope Francis, a leading traditionalist cardinal and a medieval Catholic order of knights. The documents offered little new about a fight that two years ago was widely covered in the media.

LSN reported that a press release is to be be published today in several different languages that contains more disclosures about the book authored by French journalist Frédéric Martel, above. According to the French version of the press release, the book, which became available on Amazon last week, claims that there now exists in the Vatican...

Recently, a very angry man took out his frustrations on me because of pedophile priests in the Roman Catholic Church. I don’t blame him for being angry. His language would curl your ear hair,…

Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte has called on the Catholic Church to allow priests to have boyfriends. In a shocking speech given at a groundbreaking ceremony for a school near the capital Manila on Friday Duterte claimed 'most priests are gay' as he doubled down on a previous claim that 'almost 90 per cent' of the clergy are homosexuals. 'Only I can say bishops are sons of b*****s, damn you. That is true. Most of them are gay,' he said.

The secretive canonical process, in which bishops determine the fate of the disgraced church leader, is underway in the Vatican.

Pope Francis has called on people in developed countries to live a simpler and less materialistic life. He also condemned the huge divide between the world's rich and poor, saying Jesus's birth in poverty in a stable should make everyone reflect on the meaning of life. He spoke out while leading a service in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican for the traditional Christmas Eve Mass.

We've written in the past about things like "super injunctions" in the UK and elsewhere that often put a huge and near absolute gag order on writing about a famous person enmeshed in some sort of scandal, and apparently Australia has...

The Vatican’s third-most powerful official has been convicted in Australia on all charges he sexually abused two choir boys there in the late ’90s, according to two sources with knowledge of the case. A unanimous jury returned its verdict for Cardinal George Pell on Tuesday (Australian time) after more than three days of deliberations, the sources said, in a trial conducted under a gag order by the judge that prevented any details of the trial being made public.

And, ironically, closed Christian churches are sometimes repurposed into sanctuaries of worship for other faiths, like Islam, which, unlike Christianity, is growing in the U.S. Welcome to the 21st century’s brave new world of brick-and-mortar retailing of God and mammon.

Pope Francis is “concerned” about what he describes as the “serious issue” of homosexuality, saying in an interview published on Saturday that being gay is a “fashion” to which the clergy is susceptible. “The issue of homosexuality is a very serious issue that must be adequately discerned from the beginning with the candidates,” the pontiff said with regards to would-be priests. “In our societies it even seems that homosexuality is fashionable and that mentality, in some way...

According to the president of the Pontifical Mission Societies, there is a clear link between next October’s focus on missionary work and the synod on the Amazon that makes the convergence of the two events fortuitous.

Pope Francis compared abortion to a mafia-style killing Wednesday, saying it's the equivalent of hiring a hit man to "take out a human life to solve a problem." Francis made the comments, among his strongest yet against abortion, during his weekly Wednesday audience dedicated to the commandment exhorting the faithful not to kill.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has invited Pope Francis to visit the country, South Korea's presidential office has announced. The invitation to visit Pyongyang will be delivered by South Korean president Moon Jae-in who will be in the Vatican next week as part of a trip to Europe. No pope has ever visited North Korea, though the late Pope John Paul II was once invited.