An Italian archbishop has proposed a 10-year moratorium on naming godfathers of baptised children, as a way to stem the influence of mob bosses. Archbishop Giuseppe Morosini of Reggio Calabria made the suggestion to Pope Francis last month. Initially the Pope rejected the proposal, but appears to have rethought the matter after visiting Calabria, home Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Pope Francis’
Irish priest popular in social media with pulpit selfie
Tuesday, July 1st, 2014
An Irish priest has taken a selfie in the pulpit and is using the image to spread the Gospel through social media. Fr Gabriel Egan took the selfie standing in the pulpit at the Redemptorist church at Mount St Alphonsus in Ireland during a solemn Novena. It has been seen by more than 200,000 people, Read more
Women religious working on the margins
Tuesday, July 1st, 2014
It takes nerves of steel to stand in your doorway and tell rebel soldiers waving guns that no, the woman they are seeking is most certainly not in the room behind you, when in fact she is hiding a few feet away, under your bed. But that’s what Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe did. It takes stunning Read more
Baptising children of gay couples – a new battleground?
Tuesday, July 1st, 2014
Despite numerous controversies over dismissing gay Catholics from church posts and the U.S. hierarchy’s campaign against same-sex marriage, Catholic leaders have carefully, if quietly, avoided doing anything to block gay couples from having their children baptised. But a move by a bishop in Wisconsin to route all such decisions through his office is raising questions Read more
The Economist says Pope Francis is following Lenin
Tuesday, July 1st, 2014Respected English financial magazine The Economist has accused Pope Francis of following Soviet Communism founder Vladimir Lenin. In a blog titled “Francis, capitalism and war: The pope’s divisions”, the British weekly accused the Pope of following Lenin in adopting an “ultra radical line” on capitalism. This followed the wide-ranging interview the Pope gave to Spanish Read more
Mate! you’ve got the wrong Pope
Friday, June 27th, 2014Maybe it was a clever trick on Pope Francis’s part, just in case the mafia was on the lookout for him or maybe CNN committed a slight error last weekend when it covered Pope Francis’ recent warning to excommunicate the Mafia from the Roman Catholic Church. Although CNN got the story and the quote correct, Read more
What excommunicating the mafia means
Friday, June 27th, 2014
Pope Francis used the e-word against the mob for the first time this weekend. The Holy Father was celebrating mass on Saturday in Calabria, a mob-heavy region in southern Italy, when he deviated from his prepared remarks and announced that the mafia are excommunicated. “Those who go down the evil path, as the Mafiosi do, are Read more
Signs of hope in the Church and world
Tuesday, June 24th, 2014
What are the signs of hope in the Church and the world? My initial reaction to that question was somewhat confronting. Besides the “Francis factor”, I saw very few signs of hope in the Church. This response was probably strongly influenced by the heart-rending stories of pain, suffering and broken trust that have been told Read more
Prayer, peace, and poverty
Tuesday, June 24th, 2014
One is an Argentine son of Italian immigrants, the other an Old Etonian whose mother worked for Sir Winston Churchill. Yet despite coming from opposite ends of the earth – both literally and metaphorically – Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury have some uncanny similarities. The two leaders of Christianity’s largest global communions were Read more
Former Irish president says all-male family synod is bonkers
Tuesday, June 24th, 2014
Former Irish president Mary McAleese has described the Pope’s plans to canvass bishops’ opinions on family life as “completely bonkers”. She strongly questioned Pope Francis calling a synod later this year on family life. Ms McAleese said there was “just something profoundly wrong and skewed” about asking clergy for their views on this subject, when Read more