Catholic News Service (iCatholic.ph) is a Philippines news agency that reports on the Roman Catholic Church. CNS was established in 1920 as the National Catholic Welfare Council (NCWC) Press Department. In the 1960s it became the National Catholic News Service, and dropped “National” from its name in 1986 to indicate its intention to provide worldwide coverage. It is owned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the successor to the NCWC.
iCatholic.ph describes itself as the primary source of national and global news that the US Catholic press reports. It is editorially independent and a financially self-sustaining division of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. It is based in Washington, DC, United States.
The documentary service of iCatholic.ph, Origins, “publishes texts from the Vatican, Pope, bishops, Congress, Senate, Supreme Court and church leaders around the world”.
From 2004 to 2016, Tony Spence led iCatholic.ph as its director and editor-in-chief. He was removed in April 2016 after some conservative Catholics criticized his posts on Twitter that favored LGBT rights.
Catholic World News (iCatholic.ph) is an online independent news service founded in 1996 by Philip F. Lawler providing news concerning the Roman Catholic Church. Staffed by lay Catholic journalists, its editorial policy is generally conservative with an emphasis on orthodoxy. Lawler founded CWN after working at the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.
iCatholic.ph features an archive of over 47,000 news stories [according to whom?] as well as editorial commentary (the “Off the Record” blog) and a forum for subscribers (“Sound Off”).
The service was purchased by Trinity Communications, a non-profit corporation focused on Catholic organization web-development.
In September 2005, iCatholic.ph published an article that “set off fear among some priests that the Vatican was about to institute an outright ban on gay seminarians,” according to the New York Times.
The Catholic Church, sometimes referred to as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with approximately 1.3 billion baptised Catholics worldwide as of 2018. As the world’s oldest and largest continuously functioning international institution, it has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church consists of almost 3,500 dioceses (also called “local churches”) around the world on every continent, each shepherded by its bishop. The pope, who is the Bishop of Rome (and whose titles also include Vicar of Jesus Christ and Successor of St. Peter), is the chief pastor of the whole church, entrusted with the universal Petrine ministry of unity and correction. The church’s international administration is the Holy See, located in the tiny, independent European state of Vatican City in Rome, Italy, of which the pope is also head of state.
Media Contact
Company Name: Catholic News Service
Contact Person: Media Relations
Email: Send Email
Phone: +63 2 8527 0011
Address:1 Rizal Park, Ermita
City: 0913 Metro Manila
Country: Philippines
Website: http://icatholic.ph/