Pope Francis has given Russia’s President Vladimir Putin the edge of his tongue for launching a “savage” war. Rather than use the Russian president’s name, Francis instead referred to Putin as “some potentate” who had unleashed the threat of nuclear war on the world in an “infantile and destructive aggression” under the guise of “anachronist Read more
On the second and final day of his visit to Malta, Pope Francis spoke of migrants and of mercy to others. Everyone is deserving of mercy, whether they’re foreigners or simply people in need of compassion, he said at the Grotto of St Paul in Rabat. He went on to speak of Malta’s tradition of Read more
Like walking through the snow and seeing fresh moose tracks. This is National Chief, Gerald Antoine’s description of Pope Francis’ apology for the part the Catholic Church played in Canada’s residential school system. “That is the feeling that I have, because there is a possibility,” he said moments after the apology. “Today is a day Read more
People in the Vatican often use biblical allusions to express their expectations. Such was the case of a top Roman Curia official on March 19, just a few hours after Pope Francis had published his new apostolic constitution to fully reorganize the Church’s central bureaucracy. He was more than willing to give his views on Read more
Ukrainian refugees, especially women and children, need to be protected from human traffickers say Catholic Church leaders. “Let us think of these women and children who in time, without work, separated from their husbands, will be sought out by the ‘vultures’ of society. Please, let us protect them,” tweeted Pope Francis. Catholic aid workers’ concerns Read more
A report has been released about a rural roadshow embarked on by the Dunedin Catholic diocese last July. The authors say they found communities hopeful and willing to work to keep the faith alive but also discovered a Church saddened by amalgamations and the pandemic. Visiting several small towns in the diocese’s Otago-Southland catchment, the Read more
On Friday, in a move that raised the eyebrows of some, Pope Francis consecrated Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A good Jesuit, Francis is applying the maxim “Pray as if everything depended on God, work as if everything depended on you,” a Vatican official told La Croix’s Loup Besmond de Senneville. Read more
People’s real battles should be spent on fighting poverty, hunger, disease, thirst and slavery, Pope Francis says. They should be spending money on those battles, not on fighting each other, nation against nation. Yet vast sums are spent on armaments for waging war. This is “a scandal” that just drags civilisation backward, Francis told a Read more
New Zealand’s Catholic bishops are inviting all Catholics in New Zealand to join with them and others across the globe to pray with Pope Francis as he consecrates Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. New Zealand’s bishops are asking Catholics to offer special prayers for everyone caught in the Ukraine war by Read more
Russia’s brutal military attack on Ukraine continues. And with each passing day Pope Francis appears more and more frustrated that he and his Vatican aides can do nothing to stop it. No doubt, they are even more irritated that their continuous offers to mediate or facilitate discussions between the two countries, which the Cardinal Secretary Read more