In his homily at Mass Tuesday morning, Pope Francis wondered aloud why Christians waste so much time talking about useless things, instead of focusing more on the things that really matter, like God and eternity.
In his virtual town-hall event, the Pope spoke with from the Vatican with students from the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago, parishioners of the Sacred Heart Church in McAllen, Texas, as well as homeless men and women and the people who work with them, in Los Angeles. The event was hosted by ABC News in an effort to reach out to Americans from all parts of the country, since Francis will only be able to three East coast cities during his visit later in September.
In the lead-up to the anticipated U.S. visit of Pope Francis next month, Vice President Joe Biden is the latest in a line of Democrats jockeying for position to enlist the Pope for their platform in the hope of siphoning off some of his popularity for their languishing party.
In his Angelus address before several thousand people in Saint Peter’s Square on Sunday, Pope Francis warned that outward obedience to the law is insufficient if there is no change of heart and a real love for God and one’s neighbor.
After his traditional Angelus message on Sunday, Pope Francis launched a heartfelt appeal on behalf of persecuted Christians in the Middle East, saying that there are more Christians killed for their faith today than during the brutal persecutions by the Roman Empire.
Two of the most notorious advocates of population control and unrestricted abortion —Ted Turner and Timothy E. Wirth—are chairing a UN-sponsored event in honor of Argentinian Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, who chairs a critical advisory panel in the Vatican.
Though a known opponent of gay marriage and “gender theory,” Pope Francis has unintentionally given his endorsement to a children’s book proposing alternative family styles, including same-sex parents, with a letter from the Vatican Secretariat of State.
With the Pope’s U.S. visit looming on the horizon, pundits are voicing their predictions that President Barack Obama will attempt to seize the opportunity to cash in on the Pope’s popularity to galvanize support for the Democratic Party.
The German reformer Martin Luther, who once said that the Church of Rome was “the most lawless den of thieves, the most shameless of all brothels, the very kingdom of sin, death and hell,” will now have a square named after him in the Eternal City.
In his weekly Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis said that Jesus’ words are sometimes hard to accept, that they “rock our world” and challenge our secular mentality, because he doesn’t offer immediate success but a longer road to true happiness.
In preparation for Pope Francis’ U.S. visit next month, many Democrats are attempting to enlist the Pope as an advocate for their vision of immigration reform.
In his weekly Angelus message Wednesday, Pope Francis praised the value of hard work and a willingness to do one’s part for the common good rather than freeloading off society.
Like a Catholic Uncle Sam, Pope Francis is telling priests from around the world, “I want YOU to hear confessions!” The Vatican has begun wholesale recruitment of priests to devote themselves to preaching forgiveness and hearing the confessions of repentant faithful during the upcoming Jubilee Year of Mercy.
In some of his sharpest language to date, Pope Francis condemned global violence against Christians on Thursday in a letter to the vicar of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Maroun Lahham.
In his weekly audience Wednesday, Pope Francis continued his series of reflections on the family, focusing on the situation of the divorced and remarried and their participation in the life of the Church.
The pontificate of Pope Francis with his emphasis on poverty has resulted in a new tone of austerity in Vatican circles, with clerics avoiding any show of ostentation in favor of a new sobriety in dress, transportation and manners. Francis
Father Joseph Zhang Yinlin will be ordained Bishop of Anyang, Henan Province, on August 4, becoming the first Chinese bishop ordained publicly in three years and the first after the Vatican and China reopened dialogue in June 2014.
A two-day Vatican workshop on climate change and human trafficking came to a close Wednesday after a like-minded group of some 60 mayors from around the world met with Church officials and United Nations representatives to discuss a coordinated response to environmental challenges.
Gov. Jerry Brown, stoking climate change hysteria while speaking at a summit of mayors at the Vatican on Tuesday, pontificated that the world may have “gone over the edge” on global warming, adding that the threat of extinction faces the globe.
From his election in April 2013, Pope Francis had steadily gained approval among US citizens, starting at a modest 58 percent and slowly but inexorably climbing to 76 percent in February 2014 and culminating in a high of 78 percent at the end of that year. The moral capital Francis had built up seems to have fallen precipitously in recent months, and his approval rating now languishes at just 59 percent, barely more than what it was just after his election.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, late as usual, arrived in Rome Tuesday morning to pontificate at the Vatican about the dangers of climate change.
California Governor Jerry Brown mounted his bully pulpit at the Vatican Tuesday, citing the Bible and excoriating climate change skeptics as greedy swindlers more interested in profits from oil than the well-being of humanity.
In 2014, the Catholic Church in Germany lost a greater number of faithful than in any previous year in its history for which there are records: 218,000 people– 39,000 more than the previous year.
California Governor Jerry Brown will take his utopian foreign policy to the Vatican to participate this week in an environmental summit hosted by Pope Francis. Despite California’s majority Democrats’ intention to banish celebrations of Catholic missionary Father Junipero Serra’s accomplishments, Brown will carry a state resolution supporting Pope Francis’ recent draft “Encyclical on Climate Change.”
The president of the Centre for Strategy, Military and Security Studies in Syria told the Daily Mail the all-female Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) group, Al-Khansaa Brigade, is expected to attempt attacks on Christian sites in Europe.
The United States will be heavily represented at the workshop, with its eleven politicians making up nearly 20 percent of the total participants. There will be no one participating from some of the countries with the worst record of polluting the environment, including Russia, China and the former Soviet Republics.
The workshop, titled “Modern Slavery and Climate Change: The Commitment of the Cities,” will explore the connection between climate change and new forms of slavery. The official website of the workshop asserts that it is a “fact” that “global warming is one of the causes of poverty and forced migration, which are breeding grounds for human trafficking, forced labour, prostitution and organ trafficking.” Mayor de Blasio will deliver a speech describing his administration’s environmental plan for New York City.
In a statement Monday, the archbishop likened the decision to the principle of “truth in advertising,” saying that schools describing themselves as Catholic “take on the responsibility of teaching and witnessing the Catholic faith in a manner true to Catholic belief. There’s nothing complicated or controversial in this. It’s a simple matter of honesty.”
In a striking series of admissions, Pope Francis told journalists on the flight back to Rome from Paraguay that he has an aversion to the economy, which he does not understand very well, and that he has neglected the middle class.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has released an official statement reaffirming its commitment to fight for traditional marriage in the wake of the US Supreme Court ruling that imposed same-sex marriage in all 50 states.
In a bizarre sequence of events, the German edition of Vatican Radio published a cover photo of two lesbians kissing, with the caption: “Church’s sexual morality is in motion,” only to be removed, then reposted, then removed again.
The Pope has invited the socialist green activist Naomi Klein to the Vatican to co-chair a conference on climate change, alongside Cardinal Peter Turkson. Left wing activists are joining religious leaders today to march through the Vatican on their way
Yes, there’s an African invasion of Italy—it’s a mostly peaceful invasion, but still, as the Brits say, “invasion” is the right word for it—going on every day in the Mediterranean
Representatives of the Holy See and the State of Palestine signed a “Global Agreement” in the Vatican on Friday regarding “essential aspects of the life and activity of the Church in the State of Palestine” while reaffirming at the same time “support for a negotiated and peaceful solution of the situation in the region.”
The Vatican signed its first official treaty on Friday with the “State of Palestine,” while insisting upon Israeli and Palestinian leaders to make “courageous decisions” to end the conflict between the two sides.
In a story worthy of a Dostoevsky novel, the remains of a man who was tortured to death in Prague have proven to belong to Czech Catholic priest Josef Toufar, the “Miracle Priest” who died from torture at the hands of the Communist secret service (StB) in 1950.
Authentic Christians can be recognized by their ability to listen, above all to God, said Pope Francis Thursday, while warning that false prophets speak their own words rather than God’s.
On Wednesday, Pope Francis continued his reflections on the family, addressing the delicate question of divorce and separation, as well as its effects on family members. He invited his hearers to think more about the effects that adults’ actions have on the most vulnerable, especially little ones.
The Vatican’s new document that will serve as a guide for discussions in the upcoming synod on marriage and the family has caused consternation among liberals who see the text as a barrier to more progressive reforms in Catholic teaching on marriage.
On Sunday, Pope Francis denounced “the great powers” of the time for not stopping the Holocaust out of “self-interest,” by failing to bomb the railroads heading to concentration camps when they knew what was going on there.