Rocco Palmo at his blog, Whispers in the Loggia, notes: Home to 3 million Catholics in a country where four-fifths of its 88 million residents belong to the fold, one would have a hard time finding a larger or more influential Asian diocese than that of Manila.

Austria infelix. It is still causing conflict between Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and dissidents. This wekend, the Archbishop of Vienna spoke out about the risk of a schism in the Austrian Catholic Church.

Pallotine Father Benno Bausch who lives at Warburton, Victoria, was moved, after reading Michael Whelan’s article in the Winter Swag, to share this memory.

In July more than 250 priests in Austria issued a direct challenge to church authority by unilaterally announcing a list of reforms that include giving Communion to non-Catholics and supporting the ordination of women and married men.

Spanish Cardinal Antonio Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has called for a return to the practice of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling. This “sign of adoration needs to be recovered” he said. Understandably his statement made in late July during a visit to Peru has drawn many and different reactions. Importantly, it focuses attention [...]

Bishop Cullinane and Mgr Loftus (Letters, 30 July) have both given independent evidence of the way the Roman Curia has systematically and increasingly eroded and undermined the lawful rights and responsibilities of bishops’ conferences, particularly in the area of liturgical renewal.

I remember, as children, every day after Mass, we recited a prayer for the conversion of Russia. I think it is time we started praying for the conversion of the Vatican. Letter from The Tablet Aug 6 by Subhash Anand Bhupalpura, Udaipur, India  

If the Holy Spirit guides the Catholic Church how would the need for a change of direction be manifested? The question is raised by growing evidence that the institution of the male celibate priesthood is in crisis in many parts of the Catholic world. Until now, the only response of the Church’s hierarchy is to [...]

The enormity of the succession of earthquakes and tremors in and around Christchurch exceeds our Australian disasters, real as they have been, in the first months of this year. “It is like a war zone” is how more than one reporter has described the streets of Christchurch; others say they just cannot find the words [...]

Pope Benedict XVI has given a highly significant public show of support to the Neocatechumenal Way just weeks after he privately told the bishops of Japan they could not ban its communities from their dioceses. “The Church has recognised in the Neocatechumenal Way a particular gift that comes from the Holy Spirit,” the Pope told [...]