On the last day of their meeting at the Vatican this month, the seven-member Synod of Bishops’ preparatory commission had an audience with Pope Francis. Bishop Daniel Flores, who has been coordinating the synod process for the United States bishops, said the meeting was “very encouraging”. Francis speaks “very beautifully about the Church and about Read more
Hunting season doesn’t normally begin in most places in the United States until the autumn. But some self-appointed US Catholic intelligentsia members apparently agreed that, this year, it would start on March 13th. That was the day we marked the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ election to the papacy. And while writers generally used the Read more
Liturgical elements – aesthetic and artistic features surrounding the liturgy must foster prayer and a sense of communion, says Pope Francis. In a written message, he says: “The space, light, acoustics, colours, images, symbols (and) liturgical furnishings constitute fundamental elements of that reality, that event, human and divine at the same time, which is precisely Read more
Pope Francis marks the 10th anniversary of his election on March 13 having outlasted the conservative opposition that failed to bring him down and which is now at a crossroads, seeking new direction following the deaths of two of its figureheads. The conservative-progressive divide has been a recurrent theme of the past 10 years, since Read more
Pope Francis has been upbeat and future-focused during his tenth anniversary this week. Instead of cataloguing and discussing his past decade’s wins and losses, Francis has been speaking of his hopes for the future. “It’s not for me to decide what I’ve achieved”, he told media when questioned. “The Lord will do the appraisal when Read more
Pope Francis discussed the possibility of revising the Western discipline of priestly celibacy in a wide-ranging interview for his 10th anniversary as pope last week. Francis spoke with Argentine journalist Daniel Hadad. “There is no contradiction for a priest to marry. “Celibacy in the Western Church is a temporary prescription: I do not know if Read more
When Pope Francis was elected 10 years ago, I was sitting in front of a BBC camera preparing to be interviewed and uttered a word I cannot print in my column. Luckily, my mic had not been turned on. All I knew about Jorge Bergoglio was that my friends in Latin America, liberation theologians and Read more
When Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope Francis almost ten years ago, the world was immediately captivated by his vibrant personality, his simplicity, his love of the poor, and the fresh, and frankly, unusual papal vocabulary he has often adopted. From his first buona sera to his occasional mother-in-law jokes, to his use of symbolic Read more
“There is nothing new under the sun.” That Scripture verse from the Book of Ecclesiastes (1:19) comes to mind as I reflect on the agitation expressed by some in the church and the media over the Holy Father’s motu proprio “Traditionis Custodes” and the recent confirmation given in the “Rescriptum ex Audientia”released by Cardinal Arthur Read more
Catholic traditionalists attached to the Old Latin Mass have their rosaries beads in a knot again over Pope Francis’ latest move to strictly curtail use of the Tridentine Rite, the complex and heavily rubricised ritual that pre-dated the liturgical reform mandated by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The pope, on February 20, ordered the Dicastery Read more