Is the Pope a conservative? After the papal zingers which landed in Strasbourg last week, some — Nigel Farage, writing in the Catholic Herald, for instance — seem to think so. Europe was ‘now a grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant’, Pope Francis told a startled European Parliament, before saying that, to reconnect with ordinary Read more
In 2014, Pope Francis continued to exercise a fascination for members of his Catholic flock and for the rest of the world. There was no papal pronouncement in 2014 to match his electric answer last year to a question about gay priests: “Who am I to judge?” But the Jesuit pope from Argentina continued to press for Read more
Head of the Swiss Guards, Colonel Daniel Rudolf Anrig will leave his position on January 31. The man whose colleagues considered him a dictator is being removed at the request of Pope Francis. “The Holy Father has ordered that Colonel Daniel Rudolf Anrig end his term on 31 January, at the conclusion of the extension Read more
Immediately after his election on 13 March 2013, Pope Francis told himself, “Jorge, do not change, continue being yourself, because to change at your age would be ridiculous.” He revealed this interesting personal detail in a wide-ranging 50 minute, exclusive interview with Elisabetta Piquè, for La Nacion, the main Argentine newspaper, published today, December 7 Read more
According to Pope francis, the Church needs more women theologians. The Pontiff made the comments on Friday during a meeting with the International Theological Commission; it is the beginning of the Commission’s new five-year mandate. Noting the contribution women bring to the “intelligence of faith”, Francis described the five women now serving on the Commission as “the strawberries on Read more
Pope Francis faces a tough road ahead, a veteran Vatican watcher told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Wednesday. “It’s a very tough period that is beginning for him, because of course people [are] enthusiastic about him. “I mean the believers but also non-believers are very interested in what he’s saying. “But within Read more
There are many hidden saints: men, women, fathers and mothers of families, sick people, priests who every day put into practice the love of Jesus; and this gives us hope, Pope Francis said Friday morning during Mass at Casa Santa Marta. It is not enough to say that you have faith. The true Christian puts the Read more
The 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis is news again now that four cardinals have denied a new book’s claim that they campaigned for Pope Francis to be elected — though the book’s author has clarified the Pope himself was not a part of their supposed campaign. The London-based Catholic journalist Austen Ivereigh, in Read more
The union of Orthodox and Catholic Churches is all but a formality. This is the view of the Vatican Correspondent for NCR after a momentous meeting between Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. The pair met on the Feast of St Andrew, at the Church of St Read more
The plight of Christians in the Middle East and Muslims in the West dominated Pope Francis’ first day in Turkey. Both the Pope and Turkish leaders spoke frankly about their respective concerns. “It is essential that all citizens – Muslim, Jewish and Christian – both in the provision and practice of the law, enjoy the Read more