The Extraordinary Jubilee promulgated by Francis will be the 65th in history. The first was announced by Sixtus V in 1585. The “special” Holy Year does not alter the recurrence of Ordinary Jubilees. The last Pope to open the (cemented shut) Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica for an universal Extraordinary Jubilee was the future Read more
Pope Francis has called on theologians not to settle for the “theology of the desk”, but to “smell of the people and of the road”. In a letter to the theological faculty of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, the Pope used language he had previously applied to pastors. According to an article in the National Read more
The Catholic Church must find ways of welcoming divorced and remarried, and gay Catholics, Pope Francis said. The Pontiff made the comments in a wide-ranging interview by Argentine daily, La Nacion. Addressing the turmoil his papacy is causing with conservative-minded groups, Francis says he’s pleased the issues are in the open. It’s a “good sign” that Read more
Pope Francis does not fit into the worn out categories of conservative or liberal, says the cardinal who has been dubbed “the Pope’s theologian”. In a lecture in Washington, D.C. last week, Cardinal Walter Kasper said Francis “cannot be categorised, much less appropriated, by any specific [theological] school”. “He’s not an academic theologian in the Read more
A Vatican document released at the halfway point of the synod on the family shows a dramatic shift in the Church’s language about homosexual people. The relatio post disceptationem is a summary of the discussions held at the synod so far. It was read out in the presence of Pope Francis and the synod delegates Read more
Cardinal Walter Kasper says some prelates who have taken a hard line ideological position prior to the synod on the family have got the Gospel all wrong. In an interview with America Magazine and Argentina’s La Nacion, Cardinal Kasper said some cardinals and bishops fear a domino-like collapse in the Church’s moral structure. “That’s their Read more
The Catholic Church has to turn the image of a punitive, judgemental God head over heels, the Archbishop of Dublin says. Speaking at a Mass in Dublin on the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said many in his generation grew up in a religion where this punitive image prevailed. “Mercy was Read more
Cardinal George Pell says allowing Communion for Catholics who are divorced and remarried outside the Church is impossible. The cardinal said doing so would make pastoral practice incompatible with doctrine. The former Archbishop of Sydney wrote this in a foreword to a book titled “The Gospel of the Family” by Professor Stephan Kampowski and Fr Read more
The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has again strongly defended the Church’s teaching on Communion for the divorced and remarried. In a book length interview published on July 29, Cardinal Gerhard Müller discussed “mercy” and its connection with justice. He also dwelt on the image of the Church as a Read more
To hear Cardinal Walter Kasper tell it, he became the pope’s point man for reform in the Catholic Church thanks to a bit of serendipity, or, if you will, Providence, before anyone knew that Francis was going to be the next Roman pontiff. The genesis of their partnership, Kasper recalled during a recent trip to Read more