I’m not telling you anything new when I say that one of the most toxic problems facing Catholicism is clericalism. By ‘clericalism’ I mean the tendency to place priests on a pedestal, to accept their pronouncements as gospel, encouraging them to feel, as Pope Francis says, ‘superior to lay people.’ It begins in seminary training Read more
Priests celebrating Mass should not be rigidly austere, mystical, overly slow, impassible and excessively finicky says Pope Francis in a new letter promoting the “rediscovery” of the Eucharistic liturgy. Neither should priests be exasperatingly creative, merely functional, rushed, sloppy, careless or superabundantly friendly. Francis letter is designed to protect the celebration of Mass from ideological Read more
Pope Francis said the goals he has achieved in more than nine years as pope were simply the fruit of the ideas discussed by the College of Cardinals prior to his election. In an interview with Argentine news agency Télam published on July 1, the pope said that objectives such as the reform of the Read more
Anti-abortion activists have been told being pro-life involves many issues that can threaten life. It’s not just about abortion. It’s about easy access to guns, poverty and rising maternity mortality. “Being for life always, for example, means being concerned if the mortality rates of women due to motherhood increase,” wrote Andrea Tornielli in his Vatican Read more
The Vatican has released a video of Pope Francis telling a group of bishops from Brazil this week that his mobility has improved. “I have been able to walk for three days,” the pope said with a wave on June 27 as he walked with the help of a cane across the library of the Read more
You need to live the Gospel before you can share it, not the other way around, says Pope Francis. The first thing communicators communicates is themselves, perhaps without meaning to. “A missionary is a disciple who is so united to his master and lord that his hands, his mind and his heart are channels of Read more
The theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches has reached a point where it seems appropriate to consider expanding the opportunities for the faithful of any of the churches to receive the sacraments from one another when they are not available in their own community, Pope Francis said. “Based on the Read more
“Over new plan to elect pope, 3 cardinals threaten to quit.” That headline appeared in the October 6, 1972 issue of the National Catholic Reporter. “If insiders’ reports are accurate, Pope Paul is faced with a threatened palace revolt over proposed changes in the procedures used to elect a pope,” wrote Desmond O’Grady, the now-deceased Read more
Pope Francis wants the Catholic Church to build bridges with remarried divorcees who are Catholic. In the preface of a new Vatican document on preparing couples for the Sacrament of Matrimony, he called for new “concrete” guidelines to be drafted. These would help those offering pastoral care to divorced and remarried Catholics, he said. The Read more
Interreligious cooperation and dialogue are needed more than ever while people and the planet are facing multiple threats, Pope Francis says. Speaking to a delegation of Buddhists from Thailand, he said “Sadly, on all sides, we hear the cry of a wounded humanity and a broken earth”. Inviting Buddhists to continue to work together with Read more