As I watched, read and heard untold stories about the birth of a new member of the British royal family, who becomes the third in line to the throne, it was somewhat disappointing that the news overshadowed so markedly the news of Pope Francis’s arrival in Brazil for the start of World Youth Day festivities Read more
Returning to the Marian shrine where he oversaw the drafting of a crucial document on re-evangelising Latin America, Pope Francis said he wanted to “knock on the door of the house of Mary” before beginning his heavy World Youth Day schedule. Recalling the call for evangelisation issued by the Latin American bishops when they met Read more
I’ve covered enough papal trips under Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI to be familiar with the routine. As the press centre fills, the first reports filter out of the Pope’s remarks to journalists accompanying him on the plane. The familiar Alitalia A330 touches down on the airport tarmac flying the Vatican and local Read more
Pope Francis has named an international commission of eight business and legal experts — mainly lay people, including one woman — to plan a reform of the Holy See’s economy and administrative structures. The commission’s president, Maltese economist Dr Joseph Zahra, is already an auditor of the Vatican’s budget management office. The other members come Read more
As Pope Francis prepared to fly to Brazil for World Youth Day, a new study showed that the proportion of Catholics in the country — which has the world’s largest Catholic population — has dropped steadily in recent decades. With Catholicism losing ground especially among the young and city-dwellers, only 46 per cent of the Read more
The Vatican has disputed a report that the prelate appointed by Pope Francis to supervise the reform of the Vatican Bank indulged in flagrant gay affairs while serving as a papal diplomat. The report by Vatican journalist Sandro Magister said Monsignor Battista Ricca, 57, had a live-in lover when he served as a papal diplomat Read more
No matter how well it has been planned, the July 22-28 visit of Pope Francis to Brazil for World Youth Day is sure to be “a bit of an adventure” because the Pope is “full of surprises”, according to the papal spokesman. Reflecting the simplicity and humility that has characterised his pontificate, the Pope’s WYD Read more
Pope Francis has said Catholics can earn a plenary indulgence by participating in World Youth Day activities — even through Twitter or other social media. Those who attend the July 23-28 WYD event in Brazil may obtain the indulgence, “once a day and under the usual conditions (sacramental Confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer in accordance Read more
Taking to heart Pope Francis’s call for austerity, a priest in Columbia has decided to sell the white Mercedes Benz E200 convertible his family gave him. Father Hernando Fajid Alvarez Yacub, chaplain of Saint Michael’s Cemetery in Santa Marta, was given the car a year ago as a gesture of gratitude for caring for his Read more
Pope Francis has give support and encouragement by letter to an Argentinean rock singer jailed for causing a fire that took the lives of 194 young people in a Buenos Aires nightclub in 2004. “You will have days when you feel down, but don’t be afraid. Be strong. Everything passes,” the Pope wrote to Patricio Read more