By Simon Caldwell MANCHESTER (CNS) - The British government has opened an independent inquiry into allegations an end-of-life protocol is operating as a euthanasia pathway. The inquiry will investigate complaints of families who say relatives have died after being placed, without their knowledge, on the Liverpool Care Pathway. The framework, intended for people in final hours of li...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Warning that Catholic charitable activity must not become “just another form of organised social assistance”, Pope Benedict XVI issued new rules to strengthen the religious identity of Catholic charities and ensure their activities conform to Church teaching. The Pope’s apostolic letter on the “service of charity,” issued motu proprio (on his own initiative), directs...

By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Traditionalist and progressive camps that see the Second Vatican Council as breaking with the truth both espouse a “heretical interpretation” of the council and its aims, said the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. What Pope Benedict XVI has termed “the hermeneutic of reform, of renewal in continuity” is the “only possible in...

By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The Vatican praised a United Nations vote making Palestine a non-member observer state but called for full recognition of sovereignty as necessary for peace in the region. One 138 member states voted on November 29 to boost Palestine’s status from “entity” to “non-member state” - the same status held by the Holy See - in an implicit recognition of P...

Expressing anguish and sorrow over the death of a pregnant woman in an Irish hospital, the country’s Catholic bishops said that pregnant women must receive all treatment to save their lives, even if it results in the unintended death of an unborn child. The statement on November 19 came three weeks after the deaths of Savita Halappanavar, 31, who died after a miscarriage, and her unborn ...

The Islamabad High Court ordered police to dismiss blasphemy charges against a Christian Pakistani girl whose arrest and detention drew international condemnation. The ruling from Chief Justice Iqbal Hammeed ur Rehman on November 19 said there was no evidence that Rimsha Masih burned papers from the Quran, reported Pakistan’s Dawn news agency. “The court has quashed the case, declarin...

Austria’s Vienna Archdiocese will press ahead with a major reorganisation that will including liquidating most of its parishes over 10 years, despite objections from some local Catholics. The archdiocese’s 660 parishes will be merged over the next decade into around 150 larger parishes, each served by three-five priests and offering regular Masses. “Our emphasis isn’t just on reorgani...

The universal, natural human reaction to the death of a loved one should show believers and non-believers alike that human life has value, Pope Benedict XVI said. “The awareness of the sacredness of the life entrusted to us – not as something we can dispose of freely, but as a gift to safeguard faithfully – belongs to the moral heredity of humanity,” the pope wrote in a message to a dial...

The November 21 publication of Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, which completes Pope Benedict XVI’s popular three-volume series on the life and teachings of Christ, is the latest reminder of the author’s prolific output, now amounting to more than 60 books. One of the most prominent theologians of his generation, Pope Benedict has produced studies in a wide range of specialised...

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments is establishing an office to promote the development and use of appropriate liturgical art, architecture and music. The new office was approved in early September by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state; final arrangements and the designation of personnel are being made, said Marist Father Anthony Ward, undersecretar...