Tag: Vatican

“In the face of the worsening Ebola epidemic,” Pope Francis said Wednesday, “I wish to express my deepest concern over this relentless disease that is spreading above all on the African continent, especially among the most disadvantaged groups.” At the

The new Vatican stamp for Christmas 2014 will be issued on November 21, and reproduces an oil-on-canvas painting by the Argentinean artist Raúl Soldi, located in the Santa Ana de Glew chapel outside Buenos Aires. This year’s Christmas stamp has

In the Church, “we often experience our fragileness and our limitations,” said Pope Francis. “We all have them. We are all sinners.” The Pope pronounced these words in Saint Peter’s Square during his weekly General Audience Wednesday morning, before a

After Pope Francis referenced the Big Bang and biological evolution this past Monday, a flurry of media reports appeared, contrasting Francis’ views with those of his predecessors and the Catholic tradition. “Pope Francis made a significant rhetorical break with Catholic

“There is no worse material poverty than that of not being able to earn one’s daily bread,” said Pope Francis Tuesday morning. Unemployment is not inevitable; it is, rather, “the result of a prior social option and an economic system

According to Pope Francis, priests devoted to the ministry of exorcism “manifest the Church’s love and acceptance of those who suffer because of the devil’s works.” Francis wrote these words in a message addressed to Father Francesco Bamonte, the president

Taiwanese Foreign Minister David Lin has just returned to Taipei after attending the beatification of Pope Paul VI on October 19. The Holy See is the last state in Europe to maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and one of

The Big Bang “doesn’t contradict the intervention of a divine Creator, but demands it,” Pope Francis said Monday morning, because the beginning of the world “is not the work of chaos.” The Pope was addressing the plenary assembly of the

What does God look like? According to Pope Francis, one discovers Him in the face of every brother and sister–especially the most helpless. “In the midst of the dense forest of rules and regulations,” Pope Francis said to a crowd of

Rome provides a “neutral brokerage” where religious leaders can work together for peace, says Jerry White, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. In an interview with Vatican Radio, White spoke of

Pope Francis’ provocative statements on criminal law have reopened a heated debate in Italy over the effectiveness and morality of life sentences. In an address to a delegation of the International Association of Penal Law last Thursday, Pope Francis first

Corruption is like “bad breath,” says Pope Francis, “it is hard for the one who has it to realize it; others realize it and have to tell him.” In an address to a delegation of the International Association of Penal

While hardly The DaVinci Code, a new book of recipes published by the elite Swiss Guard promises to reveal “some of the secrets of the Vatican.” The Papal Swiss Guard, the colorful sentries who have sworn to sacrifice their lives,

Pope Francis received the FC Bayern Munich sports club in a private meeting Wednesday, in which he congratulated them for having “played a wonderful game” against Roma the night before, handing the Italian team a 7-1 rout. The team gave

Pope Francis will travel to Turkey Nov. 28-30, the Vatican announced Tuesday, as friction grows between Cyprus and Turkey over Turkish incursions in areas of sea licensed to the Republic of Cyprus. On Monday morning, the Turkish vessel Barbados entered

Pope Francis “favors change on the disciplinary rules on access to sacraments for divorced people who remarried outside the Church,” declared an article in the Huffington Post Monday. The fact that Pope Francis has never said this does not seem

“Everything is fire, killing, bombarding, from Libya to Syria to Iraq to Yemen, to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain… it’s not a spring,” Archbishop Thomas Meram told Vatican Radio. It is hard to say whether there is hope for justice and equity

False hopes built up by an initial, unreviewed draft of a Vatican statement on marriage were dashed Saturday as the final document was released without earlier language on “valuing” the homosexual orientation. The final document, or “relatio,” considerably shortened the

Cardinal Raymond Burke, head of the Vatican’s highest court, has confirmed that Pope Francis is transferring him to a largely ceremonial post as patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. In a phone interview with BuzzFeed, Burke, 66 years old,

Getting lost in “sideshows” such as homosexual unions is one of the “big negatives” of the Vatican summit on marriage, according to South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier. “You can’t be distracted by sideshows,” the Cardinal said in an interview with

Cardinal Walter Kasper has suggested that the African bishops participating in the Vatican summit on marriage have their own problems, but “they should not tell us too much what we have to do.” In an interview with Zenit News Agency

In the face of widespread confusion following the release of a Vatican document on Monday, Pope Francis has reacted by enlarging the 3-man drafting committee, adding two members. Monday’s document purported to summarize the first week of discussions by the

After a hastily written Vatican text affirming the “positive aspects” of co-habitation and “valuing” the homosexual orientation stunned bishops with its release on Monday, a significant number have stepped forward to disassociate themselves from the document. The bishops meeting in

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi opened the October 7 press conference saying the conference organizers asked him to issue a declaration regarding the press reports about the new Vatican discussion document–which they said would liberalize the church’s standards–had “misrepresented” it. Lombardi