The head of the Vatican’s bishop office rejected an ambassador’s claim that Pope Francis covered up the misconduct of an American cardinal.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet issued a letter Sunday six weeks after Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano claimed that the pope protected ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

Ouellet’s letter also came just a day after the pope approved a “thorough” study of all Vatican archives to investigate how McCarrick managed to be promoted in the Catholic Church despite allegations that he was sexually involved with seminarians and young priests.

Ouellet said there was no evidence of a cover up.

“In response to your unjust and unjustified attack, dear Vigano, I conclude that your accusation is a political setup without any real foundation that could incriminate the pope, and I repeat that it has profoundly wounded the communion of the church,” Ouellet wrote.

Vigano had issued an 11-page letter where he accused more than 20 Vatican and American church officials of covering up for Carrick. He also demanded that Pope Francis resign.

In the letter, Vigano accused Francis of making McCarrick a “trusted counselor.”

Ouellet said the claims were “monstrous” and “blasphemous,” telling Vigano in his letter, ““Come out of hiding, repent for your revolt and return to better feelings towards the Holy Father instead of worsening hostility against…

On Friday, Christian artist Lauren Daigle visited the Statesville Correctional Prison in Crest Hill, Illinois and had an unexpected experience. 

The award-winning recording artist took to Facebook this weekend to share her experience which she said was beyond what she could articulate.

Daigle wrote, “Yesterday was one so unexpected. It was a day that was more than I can articulate. It was a day my eyes had never seen and will never be able to unsee.”

She continued, “We sang songs with inmates whose voices carried deeper into our hearts than the echo of a microphone will ever release. I saw hope in the face of the hopeless, joy in the wake of sorrow, wealth in the gap of depravity, and life in the midst of death.”

“These people have stories, and they also have souls. I watched heaven befriend those who are often forgotten. With each day that passes, may I never take for granted what it is to walk around as a free man. I held a bottle of cold coffee upon pulling out of Statesville Correctional Prison. My hand had never remembered that bottle being so cold,” the singer added.

Daigle had the opportunity to minister to and worship with the inmates at the Illinois prison and she documented the experience in a moving video which she also posted on Facebook. 

One Facebook user named David Gomez responded to the video which was attached to the above message saying,…

On Saturday night, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti near Port-de-Paix. 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey the quake was centered 12 miles northwest of Port-de-Paix, which is about 136 miles from the capital of Port-au-Prince.

After the quake struck, the nation was hit by a powerful 5.2 aftershock on Sunday. 

The U.S.G.S. said the epicenter of the aftershock was located 9.8 miles at a depth of 10 kilometers.

CBN reports that the earthquake toppled cinderblock buildings and homes, claiming the lives of 12 people and injuring 188.  

The civil protection agency in Haiti has reported that at least seven people died in the city of Port-de-Paix and three people have died in the community of Gros-Morne in Artibonite province. 

The quake and aftershock caused panic and fear across many cities causing some citizens to not feel safe. 

“I feel like my life is not safe here,” said the director of the San Gabriel National School in Gros-Morne nun Maryse Alsaint. Several classrooms at her school were severely damaged.

The quake also caused major damage to a prison and police station in Port-de-Paix. The prison sustained enough damaged that prisoners tried to escape, CBN reported. Police officers had to use tear gas to contain prisoners inside of the facility. So far, there is no word if any inmates escaped during the frenzy.

The quake was also reported…

After months of silence, the Vatican has issued an official response to the accusations from a former top official that Pope Francis covered-up sex abuse in the church.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, published on Sunday an open letter on behalf of the Holy See, where he refuted Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s allegations in August that Francis knew of abuse but covered it up.

“First of all, allow me to say to you with complete sincerity, by virtue of the good collaborative relationship that existed between us when you were the Nuncio in Washington, that your current position appears incomprehensible and extremely deplorable to me, not only because of the confusion that it sows in the People of God, but also because your public accusations seriously damage the reputation of the Successors of the Apostles,” Ouellet declared at the outset.

Later on, he accused Viganò of “mocking and casting doubt” on Francis’ faith, which he said seems to him to be “blasphemous.”

“Such a thing cannot come from God’s Spirit,” he insisted.

In August, Viganò, who previously served as…