CNA—Efforts by the Catholic Church to evangelize the Japanese population have frequently collided with roadblocks, according to Archbishop of Tokyo Isao Kikuchi, but the Church is still finding some ways to proclaim the Gospel. The archbishop answered question from Catholic News Agency on Japan, evangelization, and why breaking through into mainstream Japanese society is so…
Dick Lyles, CEO of Origin Entertainment, today confirmed with Catholic Business Journal that the company’s long-anticipated, FATIMA film directed by Italian director Marco Pontecorvo (son of famed director Gillo Pontecorvo), and produced by Origin Entertainment along with Elysia Productions and Rose Pictures, has wrapped up filming. Andrea Bocelli has just finished recording for the film…
CNA—Esmeralda Solís Gonzáles is a young Mexican woman who was crowned last year as a beauty queen in her native town – and now she’s joined the Poor Clare Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament. Twenty-year old Gonzáles has watched her story go viral over the last week on social media over a post on the…
Reigning from 1198 to 1216, Pope Innocent III was one of the most influential and important popes of his era. He granted Francis of Assisi and his small band of followers permission to found the Order of Friars Minor; he convened the Fourth Lateran Council which, among other things, dogmatically defined the doctrine of transubstantiation;…
What is Purgatory? Culling directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other documents, Wikipedia authors explain as follows: The Catholic Church holds that “all who die in God’s grace and friendship but still imperfectly purified” undergo the process of purification which the Church calls purgatory, “so as to achieve the holiness necessary to…
Do you want to make a real difference in the world, in your life, and be a super-hero “force for good” this week? You can do it, in spades. And it’s not difficult! As a practicing Catholic, you can gain special indulgences for the faithful departed any time, but especially during the first eight days of…
Vatican City, Oct 29, 2019-CNA– An Italian dermatology hospital and two senior cardinals are at the center of a burgeoning financial scandal involving a Vatican bank, the U.S.-based Papal Foundation, and millions of euros from misallocated government grants. The events concern the financial collapse of the Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata (IDI), an Italian hospital. According to…
Almost 130 years ago, Pope Leo XIII published the encyclical Rerum Novarum. In this text, he defended the well-being of workers and made the Catholic Church’s position on work clear: Work and working people have a fundamental dignity that all societies are bound to respect and serve. “No man,” the pope wrote, “may with impunity…
In a recent First Things article titled “What is Economics For,” Senator Marco Rubio explains how the teachings of the Catholic Church on the dignity of work and workers can rebuild the American economy. Rubio begins his article by quoting Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum: “Work and working people have a fundamental dignity that all societies are bound to respect and…
CNA—Cardinal Angelo Becciu has denied any impropriety in a real estate investment made with Vatican funds and insisted that he only acted in the best interests of the Holy See. In an interview with Italian media published Tuesday, the former deputy at the Holy See’s Secretariat of State rejected any wrongdoing in the authorization of…
(Catholic Business Journal may or may not agree fully with the opinions expressed in this article and those referenced at the end, however we do believe these articles make very important points worth considering, especially by Catholic business leaders—See first article below and others at the end —ed.) Catholic doctrine teaches that both poverty and…
The true story of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic woman who helped smuggle thousands of Jewish children out of the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw during World War II, will feature in a new historical thriller film produced by and starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot. Gadot, an Israeli actress well-known for her 2017 role as Wonder…
The Polish Bishops’ Conference has asked Pope Francis to name St. John Paul II a patron of Europe and doctor of the Church. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan, president of the Polish Bishops Conference, sent the request to the pope on Oct. 22 – the feast day of John Paul II. “The pontificate of the…
A confidential report from the Vatican’s anti-corruption authority shows that the Secretariat of State has used about $725 million, most of which came from the pope’s charity fund, in off-books operations. Italian weekly L’Espresso published a report Oct. 20, revealing information from three confidential Vatican documents, one of which is a report from the pope’s…
CNA—Oct 21, 2019—Northern Ireland’s devolved legislature failed Monday to block a change to the region’s law imposed by the British parliament. As a result, both abortion and same-sex marriage will now be legal in the region. Same-sex marriages are expected to begin taking place in Northern Ireland by February 2020, while the new abortion law…
A professional baseball clubhouse might not be considered a particularly religious place today, but one chaplain says the Catholic priesthood is needed—and desired—as much as ever there. “When I walk in the [clubhouse], they kind of light up a little bit,” Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, a chaplain to the Washington Nationals professional baseball team, told CNA.…
CNA—The writings of newly-canonized St. John Henry Newman offer important reflections for contemporary society on freedom of conscience and the duty to search for truth, said a leading figure in international religious freedom. “Newman prefigured the Church’s 1965 Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae,” said Thomas Farr, president of the Religious Freedom Institute. Farr, who…
Abortion is an ugly business—and big business it is indeed— yet California governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Friday a measure mandating that public universities to provide free access to medical abortions for students. CNA, CBJ—The law will take effect in 2023, and applies to the 34 campuses of the University of California and California…
CNA—A federal judge struck down the so-called “transgender mandate” on Tuesday, vacating an Obama-era requirement that doctors perform gender-transition surgeries upon request. Judge Reed O’Connor of the North District of Texas—who had issued a preliminary injunction on the transgender mandate at the end of 2016—struck down the mandate Oct. 15 in the case of Franciscan Alliance…
CNA—The recent raid of Vatican offices is connected to an investigation into charges that Vatican money financed the development of luxury properties in London, and led to a windfall for the Vatican’s investment managers, according to an Oct. 14 report from Financial Times. According to Financial Times, Vatican police and prosecutors are investigating the possibility…
