John Kirby, coordinator of the National Security Council for Strategic Communications at the White House. / Credit: EWTN News NightlyWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 1, 2023 / 14:15 pm (CNA).The Biden administration on Wednesday condemned Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega s attempts to discredit the Catholic Church by accusing it of an illegal money laundering scheme. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby called the latest attacks on the Catholic Church "unacceptable" and said the administration is acting to "promote accountability."Kirby s condemnation of the Nicaraguan dictatorship s latest targeting of the Catholic Church came in response to a question raised by EWTN White House Correspondent Owen Jensen during the May 31 press conference.On May 27 the Nicaraguan National Police, controlled by the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, published a statement accusing the Cath
Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas. / Credit: CBS News Texas/YouTubeWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 31, 2023 / 17:00 pm (CNA).Amid an ongoing legal dispute between the Diocese of Fort Worth and a Carmelite monastery, the diocese announced that the Vatican formally recognized Bishop Michael Olson as having authority over the nuns.A diocesan statement said that the Vatican appointed the bishop as the pontifical commissary, which makes him "the pope s representative in this matter." The statement said the May 31 decree was issued through the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.The dispute began in late April when the diocese launched an investigation into whether the Reverend Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach had an affair with a priest. The reverend mother and the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas, filed a lawsuit against the bishop and the diocese, which accused the bishop of confiscating the r
Bishop Franco Mulakkal. / file photo.Rome Newsroom, Jun 1, 2023 / 05:36 am (CNA).Pope Francis on Thursday accepted the resignation of an Indian bishop cleared in early 2022 of charges of raping a religious sister in his diocese.The resignation of the 59-year-old Bishop Franco Mulakkal as head of the Diocese of Jalandhar comes more than 16 months after his acquittal by a court in India s Kerala state in January 2022.The judge in the case found that "the prosecution failed to prove all the charges against the accused."The Vatican did not indicate whether it carried out its own investigation into the accusations against Mulakkal, who has denied the claims and contends he was falsely accused after he questioned alleged financial irregularities at the accuser s convent.A religious sister with the Missionaries of Jesus accused the bishop of raping her during his May 2014 visit to her convent in Kuravilangad, in Kerala. In a 72-page complaint to police, filed in June 2018, she alleg
Father Andrew Small, OMI. / Photo courtesy of Father Small.Rome Newsroom, Jun 1, 2023 / 08:30 am (CNA).The Vatican is looking into the transfer of $17 million from the U.S. arm of a Church mission to an investment fund, according to the Associated Press.AP reported May 31 that Pope Francis has asked aides to "get to the bottom of how" the money was transferred.The transfers date mostly to 2021, when the board of directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies U.S.A. (TPMS-US) approved moving at least $17 million to a nonprofit organization and its private equity fund owned by the organization s then-national director, Father Andrew Small, OMI.TPMS-US is the U.S.-based branch of the Pontifical Mission Societies, a worldwide network of four societies that provide financial support to the Catholic Church in mission territories, especially in Africa. Most of its funds come from an annual donation taken up in Catholic churches in October.As a pontifical organization, it is an offici
Bishop Giovani Arana of El Alto, Bolivia. / Credit: CEBACI Prensa Staff, May 30, 2023 / 17:00 pm (CNA).Bishop Giovani Arana of El Alto, secretary general of the Bolivian Bishops Conference, pointed out in his homily for Pentecost Sunday on May 28 that although the Church in the country has asked forgiveness of the victims and relatives of clerical sex abuse, he said, "we know that it s not enough.""These weeks we have witnessed that abuse of minors has been committed within the Church. We have asked for forgiveness; we know that it s not enough, which is why we must all commit ourselves to do everything in our power to prevent such terrible acts from being repeated or from remaining unpunished," Arana said.According to the prelate, the bishops "must work together based on what we have to do, to create healthy and safe environments for children, adolescents, young people, and all vulnerable people.""And I say work together because the fight against