vocations

For World Day of Vocations, Pope Francis encourages Church - 'Take heart, do not be afraid!'

“I know your worry about the future”: For World Day of Vocations, Pope encourages Church to overcome “ghosts of disbelief”

Irish diocese prepares for life without priests

Irish diocese prepares for life without priests

Missionary warns coronavirus Mass cancellations soon to become permanent reality... thanks to lack of priests

Missionary warns coronavirus Mass cancellations soon to become permanent reality… thanks to lack of priests

Abbot laments - 'Today there are too many monasteries in Switzerland. Several will have to close'

Abbot laments: “Today there are too many monasteries in Switzerland. Several will have to close”

'True vocations crisis' in Poland but country still home to one-in-four new priests in Europe

“True vocations crisis” in Poland but country still home to one-in-four new priests in Europe

Irish Primate, on married priests - 'I am very much open to the idea, and I think Pope Francis is too'

Irish Primate, on married priests: “I am very much open to the idea, and I think Pope Francis is too”

Crisis in the Irish Church

“Something very wrong”, “clock is ticking”: “crisis point” in Irish Church reaches apocalyptic level

Optional celibacy for priests (stock)

Italian theologian accuses ultraconservative Pope blackmailers on optional celibacy of “indecency”, “serious distortion of truth”

New Bishop of Achonry (Ireland), Paul Dempsey (c)

Reform finally for Ireland? New bishop backed “national gathering” for “deep reflection” on Church’s future

Pope Francis speaks Saturday January 25 to judges of the Roman Rota

Francis looks to strengthen role of married couples to cover lack of priests

Bishop of Waterford and Lismore (Ireland), Alphonsus Cullinan

Irish bishop warns of “new culture trying to undo truths of Christianity from the ground up”

Empty pews in Ireland (stock)

Tensions boil over in Irish Church as priests, laypeople beg bishops for real reform

A priest holds a baby as clergy and indigenous people wait for the arrival of Pope Francis in Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios province, Peru

Optional celibacy in the Amazon: the “end” of the Church?

Bishop of Erfurt (Germany), Ulrich Neymeyr

German bishop fires back at Benedict-Sarah: priestly celibacy “not an unchangeable law”

A man and a woman sitting together in a church (stock)

Austrian Church faces mass exodus: 68,000 Catholics left in 2019

Consecration of the world's youngest Catholic bishop, Stepan Sus, in the Ukraine

For the future of the Catholic Church… look to the Ukraine

Baptism (stock)

Plunge in Catholic baptisms in Switzerland as tradition takes on water

A priest saying the Mass (stock)

Sicilian archbishop reminds Benedict, Sarah that Francis is pope: he makes the decisions on celibacy

A Mass in Warsaw, Poland

Polish Bishops say Mass attendance stable at just over one-in-three Catholics

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin

Dublin archbishop decries rise in Ireland of groups “clearly populist and racist”

Austrian theologian Paul Zulehner

Austrian theologian presses bishops to find more (married and women) priests instead of closing churches

A priest rests his hands on his stole (stock)

Vienna auxiliary bishop supports easing compulsory priestly celibacy

An elderly priest walks down a street (stock)

Demographic cliff forces French Church to tackle aged priests’ retirements, replacements

A priest at Mass (stock)

Key German Church figures continue to push for end to compulsory celibacy: “The old days are over”

A priest celebrating the Mass (illustrative)

German dioceses warn traditional priest-led parishes soon to be “exception”

Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet

Vatican cardinal reveals 30% of candidates reject appointment as bishops

Francis in an audience December 9 with the community of the Pontifical Benedict XV Flaminian Regional Seminary of Bologna

Francis warns seminarians against clericalism: “Where there is rigidity there are serious problems”

Laypeople in the pews (stock)

Irish faithful warn bishops lack of lay leadership of “serious concern”

A nun listens to a Mass (stock)

Italian convent forced to close… was Mother Superior ousted over affair?

Trier Cathedral in Germany

Vatican nixes controversial German parish reform plan