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Munich, Germany, Jul 18, 2016 / 09:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Georg Ganswein has criticized the German Church Tax process, calling its handling of people opting out of the controversial system “a serious problem.”In a wide-ranging interview published Monday in Schwäbische Zeitung, the Prefect of the Papal Household and secretary to both Pope Francis and Pope emeritus Benedict also spoke candidly about the papal propensity for “flippant” remarks and the media's handling of them.Figures released Friday show that Catholicism in Germany continues to be in decline, with almost 190,000 Catholics leaving the Church in 2015.With a view to the situation in his native country, Ganswein, who is the son of a blacksmith from the Black Forest region, criticized how the Church Tax System in the country handles Church membership.Echoing concerns voiced repeatedly by Pope Benedict, Archbishop Ganswein was particularly critical of how the system ties payment o...
IMAGE: CNS/Nancy WiechecBy Carol ZimmermannWASHINGTON (CNS) -- The threatof being pulled over by police and arrested for something that even "hintedof going beyond the status quo," was very real to retired Bishop John H.Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, when he was growing up in segregated BatonRouge, Louisiana.The African-American bishop, presidentof the National Black Catholic Congress, said he and his friends "lived underconstant threat of being arrested" during his teenage years.Now decades later, he said that "likeeveryone else, I was very dismayed" by the recent fatal shootings of AltonSterling in Baton Rouge July 5 and Philando Castile a day later in suburban St.Paul, Minnesota, by police officers, followed by the sniper shooting July 7 inDallas which killed five police officers.After this surge of shootings,he said, many people have been asking: "Where do we go from here and whatdoes all this mean?"And Catholics are no exception.He said black Catholic leaders in par...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Jonathan Bachman, ReutersBy BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) -- Baton RougeBishop Robert W. Muench renewed a call for a diocesan-wide week of prayer,fasting and reflection after the latest fatal shootings in the city, which thistime took the lives of three law enforcement officers.He urged all to "work toward alasting peace in our communities."Early July 17, a former Marinefatally shot three police officers, and wounded three more, one critically,less than a mile from the city's police headquarters. The gunman, lateridentified as Gavin Long of Missouri, was killed at the scene, officials said.Baton Rouge was still reelingfrom the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling, 37, by police during an altercationoutside a convenience store July 5. The first week of July also saw the fatalshooting of Philando Castile, 32, in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, by policeofficers July 6, followed by the sniper shooting in Dallas that killed fivepolice officers July 7."Words cannot express theemotion...
NEW YORK (AP) -- It's easy to see the appeal of "Pokemon Go."...
SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (AP) -- Tebie Gonzalez and Ramiro Ramirez still have their sleek apartment, a fridge covered with souvenir magnets from vacations aboard, and closets full of name brand clothes. But they feel hunger drawing close....
Russian government officials engineered the drug-fueled corruption of 28 Olympic sports, an investigator found, prompting the World Anti-Doping Agency to call for a ban of the country's entire team from the Rio de Janeiro Games....
VIENNA (AP) -- Key restrictions on Iran's nuclear program imposed under an internationally negotiated deal will start to ease years before the 15-year accord expires, advancing Tehran's ability to build a bomb even before the end the pact, according to a document obtained Monday by The Associated Press....
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Republicans cast Donald Trump as the right man for turbulent times as they opened their presidential convention Monday against a backdrop of unsettling summer violence and persistent discontent within their own party....
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) -- The Latest on the fatal shooting of three law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (all times local):...
(Vatican Radio) The Jesuit apostolic administrator of the Kyrgyzstan, Bishop Nikolaus Messmer died on Monday at the age of 61. He was the only Catholic bishop in the mountainous central Asian country.Born in 1954 to a family of German descent, Messmer entered the Jesuits in 1975. After his ordination he went to serve the tiny Catholic community in the only existing church of St Michael Archangel in the capital Bishkek. The church was built in 1969 by German Catholics who had emigrated to central Asia following Stalin’s orders to relocate them from the Volga region. The original one story building was expanded in 1981 to house the growing number of worshippers.Besides St Michael Archangel, there are two other parishes in Kyrgyzstan, Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta in Jalalabad and a third in the town of Talas. Jesuit missionaries and a few sisters have been working in the region for several years, travelling from these centres to visit other small groups of Catholics scatt...
