Pope Francis has told the Italian mafia that they are excommunicated and an example of the adoration of evil. It is believed to be the first time a pope has used the word excommunication in direct reference to organised crime groups. “Those who in their lives follow this path of evil, as mafiosi do, are not Read more
Pope Francis has refused to meet with a group of migrants who have been sheltering in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. About 120 migrants were evicted from a squat outside Rome about two weeks ago. The group, mostly from Eastern Europe and North Africa, have asked the Pope to grant them asylum Read more
A photograph taken in Argentina in 2007 shows two cardinals, Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Tarcisio Bertone, sitting side by side, although their chairs are on two different levels. At the time, Bertone was the Vatican’s Secretary of State, having traveled to a village in northern Patagonia “in the name of His Holiness Benedict XVI” to Read more
Pope Francis has said divisions between Christian churches are a scandal caused by disagreement and human ambition. In an audience with the Church of England’s Archbishop Justin Welby in Rome on June 16, the Pope said: “The goal of full unity may seem distant indeed, yet it remains the aim which should direct our every Read more
The Association of US Catholic Priests has written to Pope Francis protesting comments by the Vatican’s doctrine chief against some American nuns. On April 30, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prefect Cardinal Gerhard Muller made blunt criticisms of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Among his charges were that the LCWR was promoting Read more
Pope Francis has hinted that if he eventually retires from the papacy, he might return to live in his native Argentina. In an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia last week, the Pope was asked if he still had a room reserved in a retirement home in Buenos Aires. Pope Francis said “yes”, explaining that Read more
Pope Francis has delivered a message to organisers, players and fans of the soccer World Cup, promoting the sport’s values. The Pontiff, who is a soccer fan himself, delivered the video message in Portuguese before the tournament started last week. He promoted the sport’s values of bringing people together, teamwork and opposing racism. The Pope Read more
Pope Francis is a Charismatic. Though I made the case for this in a HuffPost blog almost a year ago, the Argentine pontiff’s penchant for Spirit-centred Catholicism has been one of the most underreported aspects of his dynamic papacy. Francis’s spirited participation in the 37th Annual Convocation of the Charismatic movements along with some 50,000 Catholics at Read more
Hours before he convened an unprecedented Vatican prayer service for peace in the Middle East, Pope Francis told a crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square that “a church that doesn’t have the capacity to surprise… is a dying church.” By that standard, Francis showed that Catholicism on his watch is alive and kicking by delivering Read more
Pope Francis’s advisors have asked him to take a holiday this year, as he sometimes gets very fatigued. In the first year of his pontificate, amid a hectic schedule, Pope Francis did not have a break and did not even spend time at the traditional papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo. Church officials have said Read more