Pope Francis continued his meditations on the end of the world, preaching Tuesday morning on “how to behave in the face of persecution” and urging his hearers to defend their Christian identity at all costs.
Two days after the horrendous jihadist attacks in Paris, Pope Francis preached about the “end times,” encouraging his hearers to be vigilant and ready at any moment to meet God face to face. In his Angelus message Sunday, the Pope invited
In a rare recognition of the abuses of radical environmentalism, Pope Francis condemned the immanentism of a form of ecology that refuses to look beyond creation to discover the glory of its Creator.
In a video message to the participants in a meeting of alumni of Jesuit Institutions, Pope Francis asked his listeners whether they still had “Jesuit virus” or if they no longer bore the distinctive characteristics of a Jesuit education.
Where there is no family meal together, there is no family, Pope Francis told the thousands gathered in Saint Peter’s Square Wednesday, urging his hearers to put away their cell phones and protect family dinners as a precious way to bind the family together.
Zaqueo Báez, the Cuban dissident arrested for approaching Pope Francis during his visit to the island and shouting the word “freedom,” was just freed from prison and is awaiting trial in the communist dictatorship for “public disorder” and “disrespect.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is set to make official visits to France, Italy, and the Vatican next week. In doing so, he will be the first Iranian president to make state visits through Europe in a decade, according to reports.
While celebrating the ordination of a new bishop, Pope Francis encouraged priests to use simple words in their preaching and to shorten their sermons at Sunday Mass. “Preach the Word in season and out of season,” Francis said, but use “simple words that everyone can understand” and avoid “long sermons.”
For the first time, “Catholic leaders representing all regional and national bishops conferences” have come together in a “joint appeal.” According to reporting in the New York Times, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, India, called the October 26 meeting at the Vatican a “historic occasion.” What brought all these Catholic leaders together for the first time? Not the refugee crisis in Europe. Not the plight of Christians in the Middle East. Not a prayer meeting or a Bible study. It was climate change.
In his Sunday midday Angelus message, Pope Francis came down hard on those involved in leaking confidential Vatican documents to the press, saying that many people had been upset by the news.
The Pope’s health is always a question—especially when dealing with a 78-year-old pontiff with a history of serious health issues—and tripping on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica Saturday has added more grist to the rumor mill.
Pope Francis said that in our times, the shedding of blood for Christ has become a “shared experience” of Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Protestants, Evangelicals, and Pentecostals, which is “deeper and stronger” than the differences that still separate Christians.
Two former members of the economic commission entrusted with overseeing the reform of the Vatican Bank are charged with handing over confidential documents in what is being called Act 2 of the Vatileaks scandal.
A Catholic Church official announced Sunday that Pope Francis will arrive in Mexico on February 12 to begin his much-anticipated eight-day visit.
On Sunday afternoon, Pope Francis traveled to Rome’s largest cemetery to celebrate Mass and pray for the “faithful departed,” an ancient Christian custom associated principally with All Saints Day (Nov 1) and All Souls Day (Nov 2).
In his Angelus message on the Christian feast of All Saints, the Pope said to the large crowd assembled in the sunny Saint Peter’s Square: “we experience in a particularly vivid way the reality of the communion of saints, our extended family, made up of all members of the Church, both those who are still pilgrims on earth, and those—immensely more—who have already departed for heaven.”
In his homily Friday morning, Pope Francis said that when God forgives us, He knows full well that we are guilty, not like a judge who acquits a criminal for lack of evidence; yet He pardons us anyway.
Pope Francis says direct attacks on Jews are not the only form of anti-Semitism, but that attacks on the State of Israel and its right to exist are also anti-Semitism.
On September 29, Catholics celebrate the feast of the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Saint Michael, whose name in Hebrew means “Who is like God?”, is depicted in the Bible as the commander of the heavenly host and the victor over Satan, who appears as a dragon. He is often shown in sacred art as standing over the devil, sword in hand, with one foot on the devil’s head.
A 67-year-old Roman Catholic nun was excommunicated and ousted from her religious order last week after revealing that she had been secretly ordained a priest earlier this year and has since been presiding over Catholic rituals.
In an address to an interreligious audience Wednesday, Pope Francis paid tribute to the Jewish people, noting that in Jewish-Christian relations, “indifference and opposition have turned into cooperation and goodwill.”
The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics is out with a response to the recently concluded Vatican synod on marriage and the family, noting its optimism that “a new era for inclusive pastoral care of LGBT people is going to start after the synod.”
In the lead-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris next month, a group of cardinals, patriarchs and bishops have called for a radical, legally binding international climate agreement that mandates, among other things, complete global decarbonization by 2050 and “an end to the fossil fuel era.”
In a meeting with Chaldean bishops from Iraq and Syria Monday, Pope Francis used some of his strongest language to date to condemn what he called the “fanatical hatred” of Islamic terrorists that has provoked a “hemorrhage” of Christian faithful out of the Middle East.
Pope Francis said that on hearing the news of the passing of Cardinal Korec, he was moved with “deep emotion” and sorrow, calling him “a generous and zealous shepherd who in his long ministry in the Church offered a fearless witness of the Gospel” and was a “staunch defender of the faith and human rights.” The pontiff sent a telegram of condolences to the President of Slovakia’s bishops’ conference.
