The Jesuit flagship publication La Civiltà Cattolica has released a prefatory essay on the theology of the environment to prepare Catholics—and the world—for the Pope’s upcoming encyclical on human ecology. Rather than seriously entertain the objections of climate change skeptics and others who have expressed concerns about the Pope’s letter, however, the article cavalierly dismisses them as unworthy of consideration.
In a powerfully worded address Thursday, Pope Francis urged the world not to wait for governments and international organizations to end hunger but to take the matter into their own hands.
In a 50-minute visit Wednesday evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Pope Francis in Vatican City, “devoted mainly to the conflict in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East,” according to a Vatican communiqué.
In his continuing talks addressing marriage and family life, Pope Francis turned his thoughts to those families who have sick or handicapped members, praising their “hidden heroism” in the face of difficulties.
Pope Francis insisted again on Monday that the “complementarity of man and woman” is essential to marriage, but is under attack from “so-called gender ideology, in the name of a freer and fairer society.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, facing a tidal wave of international criticism over human rights violations and hunger strikes by his nation’s most famous prisoners of conscience, canceled a visit to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis. Both dissidents and Vatican sources have told multiple Spanish newspapers that the cancelation, ostensibly due to a “cold,” actually occurred out of fear of being embarrassed on a public stage.
En route from Sarajevo to Rome on Saturday, Pope Francis told reporters on his plane that parents should not allow their children to have computers in their bedrooms in order to protect them from both the “filth” of pornography and dependence on their electronic gadgets.
In his one-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina Saturday, Pope Francis held up Sarajevo as an example for the whole world of peaceful coexistence among Jews, Christians, and Moslems, who for centuries maintained their distinct cultures and beliefs yet lived together in harmony.
A group of Chilean pro-life activists held a protest in the middle of St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Friday, shortly after Pope Francis received Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet, whose government seeks to introduce abortion legislation in Chile, where the practice is illegal.
The island of Cuba has been rightly seen as the last major stronghold of real Marxism in the world, but as Communism loses its grip, the long atheistic winter seems to be giving way to a springtime of spirituality. When Cuban
Never one to retreat from controversy, San Francisco archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has weighed in on the trans-Jenner debate, arguing that men don’t suddenly become women just through a physical operation, cross-dressing or being addressed with new names.
In a rare display of diplomatic indecorum, Margaret Archer, the president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, has lashed out at the author of a recent essay, accusing him of hate speech and moral depravity for questioning the Academy’s position on climate change.
In a recent meeting with sick children and their parents, Pope Francis once more thundered against abortion, this time comparing the abortion mentality to the code of the Mafia, who “take out” a person when he gets in their way.
During a recent Vatican conference centered on the challenges women face throughout the world, Pope Francis used the words of Pope Benedict to affirm the link between the Church’s teachings on the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death and those regarding social ethics.
For the second time in a week, Pope Francis blasted abortion on Saturday, referring to it as a “scourge” and insisting that “a just society recognizes the primacy of the right to life from conception to natural death.”
In a recent one-on-one interview, Pope Francis underscored the contradictions of modern societies that have tight regulations regarding child welfare and yet allow babies to be killed in the womb, a comment that drew plaudits from pro-life activists.
In an address to Bishops of the Dominican Republic this week, Pope Francis returned to a theme he has been hammering home all year: marriage as the union of one man and one woman, an institution that he said is undergoing a “serious crisis.”
In his weekly audience Wednesday, Pope Francis gave dating couples some radically countercultural advice, encouraging them to hold off on sex until they are properly married.
July 15, 1990 marks an important date in the life of Pope Francis. That’s when he told himself television is “not for me” and promised to the Virgin of Carmen that he would not watch it again. He has kept
In a one-on-one interview this week with Argentinian journalist Juan Berretta, Pope Francis talked about his life prior to his election as pope, as well as what it has been like to fill the shoes of the “prince of the apostles.”
Francis is issuing the encyclical by the end of June with an eye toward the end-of-year U.N. climate change conference in Paris. While previous popes have made strong moral and theological arguments in favor of environmental protection, Francis will be the first to address global warming in such a high-level teaching document
A crisis is a time of intense difficulty or danger. Medically, it is the turning point of a disease when an important change takes place, indicating either recovery or death.
In his weekly audience Wednesday, Pope Francis continued his reflections on the family, urging separated parents not to make their children bear the brunt of their difficulties.
Pope Francis addressed parents during his weekly audience Wednesday, strongly emphasizing that it is their role to educate their children, not that of “intellectual critics” who may try to take the place of parents, ousting them from their proper role.
In his morning Mass Tuesday, Pope Francis pondered the many “goodbyes” in our lives and drew attention to persecuted Christians throughout the world, reminding his hearers that each “farewell” could be our last.
Over the weekend, the Associated Press, along with virtually every other major media outlet in America, reported that Pope Francis declared Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to be an “angel of peace.” The remark prompted outrage because Abbas’ past conduct, and political corruption, did not in any way qualify him for such a lofty description.
A recent misquote of Pope Francis’ words to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shows that the devil—or the angel—is often in the details. In this case, a subtle difference between the indicative and the subjunctive tenses changed the Pope’s words from an invitation to be an angel of peace into high praise—as if the Palestinian leader already were that angel.
Judging by this Associated Press report, Pope Francis and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas appear to be getting along quite well.
This past March, Pope Francis issued a surprise proclamation of a special Jubilee year of mercy to begin in December 2015, which may be dampened—planners fear—by a steady rise in predatory crimes on the streets of the Eternal City.
A Vatican insider asserts that Pope Francis has scrapped the draft of his encyclical letter on the environment and sent it back for major revision. The letter was slated for publication in early summer, but now may not be ready until much later, he suggests.
ROME, Italy– The Vatican’s recognition of the state of Palestine in a new treaty finalized Wednesday, while sparking strong reactions, proved no surprise to Vatican watchers, since it merely formalizes a position that the Holy See has had for years.
From Politico: After Pope Francis moved to recognize a Palestinian state, some gung-ho defenders of Israel suggested the pontiff should stick to preaching and stay out of politics. “It’s interesting how the Vatican has gotten so political when ultimately the
During his weekly audience Wednesday, Pope Francis returned to one of his favorite themes: the devil. Reflecting on the importance of good manners and etiquette, Francis insisted that they aren’t enough, because even Satan knows how to put on good manners to get what he wants.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty finalized Wednesday, immediately sparking Israeli ire and accusations that the move hurt peace prospects. The treaty, which concerns the activities of the Catholic Church in Palestinian territory, makes clear that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic recognition from the Palestine Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine.
Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga lambasted “movements in the United States” that have expressed criticism of the Pope’s upcoming encyclical letter on the environment, calling it “absurd” to disparage a document that has not yet been released.
President Obama argues that churches should spend more time pursuing “powerful” ideas such as helping those in poverty in order to attract more followers.
ROME, Italy– Throngs of marchers took to the streets of Rome on Mother’s Day to commemorate Italy’s fifth annual March for Life, a pro-life event affirming the universal right to life in opposition to state-sanctioned abortion.
ROME, Italy– During his morning Mass Monday, Pope Francis once again threw down the gauntlet to the jihadists of ISIS and Boko Haram, applying to them the words of Jesus that those who persecute Christians have never known God.
Visiting Pope Francis in Vatican City Sunday, Cuban President Raúl Castro thanked him publicly for the role he played in mediating relations between Cuba and the United States this past year.
In a meeting Friday with a large group of representatives of the Italian Tennis Federation, Pope Francis interjected strong words against doping in his otherwise positive message.
