Vatican

ROME — Jesus Christ is “the bread of life” and “he alone nourishes the soul,” Pope Francis declared Sunday during his weekly Angelus address.

The Caritas office of the Argentinian diocese of Venado Tuerto apologized this week for posting a prayer to Pachamama, an Andean deity, on its social media.

Pope Francis made his first public appearance Wednesday since being hospitalized for colon surgery on July 4, telling crowds that the gospel of Jesus Christ must be accepted exactly as it is.

The former papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, has issued a scathing indictment of Pope Francis, calling him “the head of the most extremist faction of progressivism.”

ROME — Pope Francis said Tuesday that the Catholic Church will always be “in crisis” because crisis is a sign of life.

South Korean Archbishop Lazarus You Heung-sik arrived in the Vatican this weekend to assume his new post as prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy and said that times have never been better for a papal visit to North Korea.

Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been criminally charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery, for allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy in 1974.

Location-based homosexual and heterosexual hookup apps are widely used within Vatican walls, an investigative report revealed late Tuesday, which can lend itself to blackmail and other security risks.

ROME — The Vatican opened a criminal trial Tuesday against a high-level cardinal and nine other defendants accused of criminal mismanagement of the Holy See’s portfolio of assets.

Pope Francis urged a United Nations meeting on food security to prioritize the agricultural sector in the post-pandemic global “reset.”

The Vatican announced Saturday a deficit of €66.3 million in its consolidated balance sheet for the year 2020, nearly sextupling its 2019 deficit of €11.3 million.

Pope Francis launched an appeal Sunday for a “new covenant between young and old” in an address commemorating the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.

Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro blasted Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin this week for a letter sent to local businesspeople calling for a “more just and democratic Venezuela.”

The Vatican revealed a change in Pope Francis’s calendar Friday, saying the pontiff will not celebrate Mass on Grandparents’ Day this Sunday as originally planned.

U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke has expressed his “profound sorrow” over Pope Francis’s recent letter drastically restricting the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.

ROME — The redoubtable Cardinal Joseph Zen has joined the growing ranks of those criticizing Pope Francis for his harsh crackdown on the traditional Latin Mass.

Pope Francis’ decision to radically restrict the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass was “theologically incoherent, pastorally divisive, unnecessary” and “cruel” writes George Weigel, an American Catholic intellectual and biographer of Pope John Paul II.

Pope Francis sent a telegram to the citizens of Iraq expressing his sorrow over the Islamic State’s deadly suicide bombing in Baghdad Tuesday that took the lives of dozens of people.

Pope Francis asserted his closeness to the people of Cuba Sunday, but steered clear of condemning the beatings and mass arrests perpetrated by communist officials to stifle protests.

The former head of the Vatican’s powerful doctrinal office (CDF) has criticized Pope Francis for imposing harsh restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass while allowing progressives to deny basic tenets of the faith with impunity.

The German bishops’ conference reported this week that 221,390 people left the Catholic Church in Germany during 2020, continuing a mass exodus of disgruntled believers that shows no signs of abating.

Pope Francis cracked down on conservative Catholics on Friday, repealing inclusive measures by his predecessors Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI and imposing restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass.

Pope Francis was discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital Wednesday after a 10-day stay following colon surgery.

Jesuit Father Thomas Reese wrote Tuesday that “the hospitalization of Pope Francis marks the beginning of the end of his papacy,” adding that time “is running out” for the 84-year-old pope.

The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Francis will stay in the hospital “a few more days” to continue his recovery from intestinal surgery.

ROME — Pope Francis remembered the people of Haiti in prayer Sunday, urging that all “lay down weapons” following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

ROME — Pope Francis made an appeal for free universal health care Sunday, urging nations to follow the example of those that provide it.

The Vatican announced Friday that Pope Francis will not be back in the Vatican on Sunday as planned but will deliver his weekly Angelus message from the Gemelli Hospital, where he is recovering from intestinal surgery.

Pope Francis has denounced Wednesday’s murder of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, while offering his condolences to Moïse’s widow and the people of Haiti.

Luis Badilla, editor of the semi-official Vatican news aggregator Il Sismografo, said Wednesday that Pope Francis’ health situation is “severe” and when he returns from hospital he “will never be the same again.”