Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI sent a commentary to Pope Francis on the major interview the new pontiff gave last year to La Civilta Catholica. The prefect of the Pontifical Household for both popes, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, said this to a German television station. Archbishop Ganswein, who is also Benedict’s secretary, said the retired Pope wrote Read more
St Patrick is one of a handful of Christian saints, along with Mary, Valentine and Francis, that is celebrated in popular culture. His feast day is commemorated with supermarket meat sales, green rivers, green beer, and (my favourite) parades. But who was the real St Patrick? Most people know that the missionary Patrick (Patricius or Pádraig) Read more
An apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis is the best-selling papal document in Britain since the Second Vatican Council. More than 25,000 copies of Evangelii Gaudium have been sold since December. This is the highest figure for any Vatican document since Unitatis Redintegratio, the Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism sold 85,000 copies in Britain. Sales are Read more
A US survey of donors to Catholic activities shows Pope Francis is prompting increased giving. Hispanic donors are the group most likely to have increased their giving. Continue reading
Pope Francis has been announced as one of the 278 nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. Here are a few reasons why he deserves to win over the other nominees, which include Vladimir Putin and Edward Snowden. Pope Francis for Nobel Peace Prize 1. He’s practically a rockstar What does Pope Francis have in common Read more
As Pope Francis completes his first year in office, David Willey reports from Rome on the changes that have taken place in the Vatican and the Catholic Church. Back in 1978 – which went down in history as the “year of the three Popes” – I remember meeting a gregarious American priest and journalist who Read more
March is a wet month in Rome. It was raining when Pope Francis was elected on 13 March 2013, and it was pouring raining again when I was back there last week in preparation for his first anniversary. But nothing seems to dampen media enthusiasm for Francis and his approach to what he calls his Read more
In a first for a Roman Pontiff, Pope Francis is to have an exclusive audience with people who are blind and deaf. The audience is scheduled for March 29 in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall. Participants can hardly wait for the encounter. “I am pleased that the Pope is making the whole world aware of Read more
When Jorge Mario Bergoglio appeared in the white papal cassock on the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on 13 March 2013, few people – if anyone – could have predicted how the then 76-year-old Jesuit would dramatically re-energise the Catholic Church over the next 12 months. He had been profiled as a moderately conservative Read more
Remarks by Pope Francis defending the Church’s response to clergy sex abuse have prompted a torrent of criticism from victims’ groups. Critics charge that, in a recent interview in an Italian newspaper, Pope Francis did not apologise for the abuse. The Pope did acknowledge that “the cases of abuse are terrible because they leave very profound wounds”. Read more