Auxiliary bishop Pat Power of Canberra-Goulburn, Australia, said "the current crisis facing the Catholic Church arising out of sexual abuse is arguably the most serious challenge the Church has faced since the Reformation". He said that the Church needs "total systemic reform".
Mgr Power said "issues such as the authoritarian nature of the Church, compulsory celibacy for the clergy, the participation of women in the Church, and the teaching on sexuality in all aspects cannot be brushed aside.
"Listening must be a key component of reform and at times, that will involve listening to unpalatable truths. It needs to be recognised that all wisdom does not reside exclusively in the present all-male leadership of the Church and that the voices of the faithful must be heard."
Vatican backs adult stem-cell research
A consortium of researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, the University of Salerno, and the Bambin Gesú children's hospital in Rome have embarked on a new adult stem-cell research project.
Adult stem-cell research is an ethical alternative to embryonic stem-cell research, which involves the killing of human embryos.
Fr Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, said the project has the support of the Vatican but denied it would contribute financially to the effort.
Former editor criticises Kung
Fr Pier Giordano Cabra, former editor of Swiss theologian Fr Hans Kung's works in Italian, criticised a recent 'open letter' by Fr Kung as showing a lack of charity. Fr Cabra was quoted in an article in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
In a letter distributed by The New York Times syndicate on April 16, Fr Kung said Pope Benedict has worsened relations with Anglicans, Jews and Muslims and failed to give adequate responses to modern problems such as AIDS and the challenges of new scientific discoveries.
Regarding the sex abuse crisis, Fr Kung said many people expect a personal apology from Pope Benedict, who he said had helped engineer a "worldwide system of covering up cases of sexual crimes committed by clerics" when he headed the Vatican's doctrinal congregation.
Africa's Catholic population soars
Africa's Catholic population has soared by 22 per cent since the turn of the century, according to the latest edition of the Vatican's statistical yearbook.
Europe's Catholic population barely edged upward, by 1.2 per cent. As a result of overall population growth on the continent since 2000, the Catholic percentage of Europe's population dropped from 26.8 to 24.3 per cent.
Will Catholics return?
Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, Iraq, said most Christians who fled to escape death threats and violence during the run-up to the March 7 Iraqi elections have returned.
On the other hand, several Catholics interviewed by different Catholic news agencies said they would not return as their problem was not with the government but with the people who wanted to kill Christians.
Compiled by Fr Joe Borg