A well-known pro-life priest in the United States has been stripped of his priesthood by the Vatican due to his alleged “blasphemous communications on social media” and “persistent disobedience.” Father Frank Pavone, who leads the pro-life advocacy organization Priests for Life and sits on the board of directors for the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL), was stripped of his priesthood…

HONG KONG—A Catholic priest launched a three-day protest on Thursday in sweltering heat outside a Hong Kong maximum security prison, demanding the release of activists and democratic politicians held under a sweeping national security law. Milan-born missionary Franco Mella, a longtime rights activist in the Chinese-ruled city, vowed to refuse food as he stood on…

KANO, Nigeria—A Nigerian Catholic priest was abducted from his rectory in the town of Zambina in the northern state of Kaduna in the early hours of Monday, the local Catholic diocese said on Monday. It said parishioners went to look for Father Emmanuel Silas after waiting in vain for him to conduct the morning mass….

Manitoba RCMP say a 92-year-old retired priest has been charged after a decade-long investigation into the Fort Alexander Residential School northeast of Winnipeg. Arthur Masse was charged with one count of indecent assault on a 10-year-old girl who was a student at the school, RCMP said Friday. The alleged offence took place between 1968 and…

A defrocked Oblate priest who has been convicted of dozens of horrendous sexual crimes against Inuit children is now out on parole. Eric Dejaeger had been sentenced to 19 years for crimes committed between 1978 and 1982 that included indecent assault, unlawful confinement, buggery, unlawful sexual intercourse and bestiality. He had been in custody for…

A former Catholic priest has been sentenced to five years of probation with two years of home confinement and location monitoring, for lying to investigators about not knowing a former parishioner and victim of sexual abuse. Robert Brennan, 84, of Perryville, Maryland, was a priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1993 to 2004. He…

Mounties have laid a new charge against a Roman Catholic priest who has previously avoided trial for multiple allegations of sexual abuse linked to his time in Nunavut. RCMP said a Canada-wide arrest warrant has been issued for Johannes Rivoire, who is in his 90s and lives in Lyon, France. Nunavut RCMP said officers received…

DEDHAM, Mass.—Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges he molested a 16-year-old boy in 1974, a case that makes him the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official to be prosecuted for sexually abusing a minor. McCarrick, 91, a former archbishop of Washington, wore a protective mask and hunched over a walker…

PARIS, France—A priest was killed Monday in a small town in western France, and the suspect is a man he had housed for months, a local religious leader said. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed the killing, adding that he was heading to the Vendee region after the “dramatic assassination.” Full details of the killing, reportedly…