Joseph Chang Yanfeng was ordained bishop of Chifeng in China’s northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Wednesday, highlighting the uneasy diplomatic engagement between Beijing and the Vatican on the sensitive issue of Catholic appointments. According to Vatican News, Pope Leo XIV approved Chang’s appointment on June 15, under the terms of the 2018 provisional agreement between the Holy See and Beijing. The ordination fills a vacancy for the Catholic diocese of Chifeng that had lasted nearly...
Willey is best known for covering the Vatican, and reported on five popes during his long career.
Pope Leo on Saturday visited Italy’s Lampedusa island, a major port of call for migrants risking the perilous crossing from Africa, in a stark message to US and EU leaders. The Catholic Church’s first US pope, who has clashed with the administration of President Donald Trump over its treatment of migrants, is marking July 4, the United States’ 250th anniversary of independence, on a migration frontline. Leo’s visit also comes just two weeks after the European Union’s approval of new migrant...
A rebel group of Roman Catholics has ordained its own bishops in direct defiance of Pope Leo XIV and the Vatican order.
The Vatican declares 'schism' in Catholic Church after bishops were ordained without Pope Leo XIV's approval.
Around 600,000 followers of the Society of Saint Pius X, a Catholic sect, are affected.
The Vatican on Thursday excommunicated six bishops from the ultraconservative Society of St Pius X and said any lay believers who “formally adhere” to the group would suffer the same fate. The Vatican decree comes a day after the traditionalist breakaway group consecrated four new bishops, defying a plea from Pope Leo not to do so. The decree called the ceremony “an act of schismatic nature”. For the Holy See, consecrating bishops without the approval of the pope is a direct act of...