The Vatican has taken strides in announcing a new change in views towards homosexuals, which according to a Vatican document drafted after a week-long discussion of 200 bishops on family issues, states that homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer.
A daughter of a lesbian couple was baptized by the Catholic Church in Argentina on Saturday, April 5 with President Cristina Fernandez acting as the godmother. It was the first case in the country, a gesture of opening from the institution headed by Argentine Pope Francis.
Germany's Roman Catholics can only remain part of the Church if they pay a membership tax, a court has ruled. All Germans who are officially registered as Catholics, Protestants or Jews pay a religious tax, worth an extra 8-9% of their income tax bill.
Pope Francis said the Catholic Church should not allow its bans on gay marriage, abortion and contraception to dominate its teachings, but must be a more welcoming Church where priests are understanding-pastors and not cold, dogmatic bureaucrats.
The Vatican’s new secretary of state has surprised many in the Catholic Church, after saying in an interview with a Venezuelan newspaper that the issue of priests remaining celibate is up for discussion.
Brazil's Catholic population has declined since 2000 while its Protestant population has grown during the past two decades, a Pew survey fund.
In his first public Mass, Pope Francis urged the Catholic Church on Thursday to stick to its roots and shun modern temptations, warning that it would become just a compassionate NGO if it forgot its true mission.
Catholicism in Latin America is lively and dynamic, Brazilian Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis said on Sunday, suggesting that the church look to Latin America for leadership. Damasceno is one of the 117 cardinal electors that will participate in the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope, following Benedict XVI announcement he is stepping down at the end of the month.
The Brazilian Catholic Church continues to loose ground to the evangelists and those who declare to have no religion, according to the latest survey released by the Social policies centre from the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio.
President Raul Castro said that Cuba currently “needs more than ever the blessings from its evangelic churches” to keep advancing with the reforms to update the exhausted economic model of the last fifty years, according to reports in the official Havana media.