Pope Francis is setting up a commission to advise him about protecting children from sexually abusive priests and about helping victims who have already been harmed. Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, announced the creation of the commission Thursday at the conclusion of a meeting between the pope and his eight cardinal advisers. O’Malley Read more
Pope Francis on Wednesday called for prayers for 12 Orthodox nuns reportedly taken by Syrian rebels. Religious officials in the region have said the women were abducted, but a Syrian opposition activist said they were merely removed for their own safety. The 12 nuns join two bishops and a priest who are already believed to Read more
Pope Francis announced that the year 2015 will be specially dedicated to consecrated life, as he met on November 29 with leaders of the Union of Superiors General. The Pope surprised the religious leaders by meeting with them for a 3-hour discussion, rather than settling for the usual papal audience. He did not speak from Read more
Pope Francis: Successor to St. Peter … the people’s pontiff … Marxist? That’s what conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh suggests, calling the Pope’s latest document “pure Marxism.” Limbaugh blasted the pontiff on Wednesday, a day after Francis released “Evangelii Gaudium” (The Joy of the Gospel), a 50,000-word statement that calls for church reform Read more
Speaking during a prayer service for students at Rome’s universities, Pope Francis on Saturday urged the young people to not waste their youth and to pursue big projects beyond the scope of the ordinary. Francis urged the students not to look at life as if from the balcony of a building but to “mingle” at Read more
Pope Francis has ramped up the Vatican’s charity work, sending his chief alms-giver and a contingent of Swiss guards onto the streets of Rome at night to do what he usually can’t do: comfort the poor and the homeless. When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis was known to sneak out at night Read more
“every person is immensely holy and deserves our love. Consequently, if I can help at least one person to have a better life, that already justifies the offering of my life. It is a wonderful thing to be God’s faithful people. We achieve fulfilment when we break down walls and our heart is filled with faces Read more
Pope Francis on Tuesday criticized growing economic inequality and unfettered markets in a wide-ranging and decidedly populist teaching that revealed how he plans to reshape the Catholic Church. In an apostolic exhortation titled “Evangelii Gaudium,” or “The Joy of the Gospel,” Pope Francis has set an agenda to return the Catholic Church to the humility Read more
Pope Francis has outlined his vision for the future of the Catholic Church in an 84-page Apostolic Exhortation titled “The Joy of the Gospel,” calling for powers to be stripped from the Vatican, although he ruled out allowing women priests. Pope Francis said he was seeking advise on how his role should change – using Read more
A statue of a homeless Jesus done by a Canadian sculptor has Pope Francis as an admirer. The sculpture is of a life-sized Jesus sleeping on a park bench with his bare feet, wounded from his crucifixion, poking out from under a blanket. Sculptor Timothy Schmalz brought the original wooden model of his sculpture to Read more