Posts Tagged ‘Vatican’

Global warming now part of seminary teaching

Tuesday, December 13th, 2016

Global warming and the Catholic church do not seem to have any connection, on the face of it. However, priests are going to be learning about environmental concerns during their formation period at seminaries. Later, they’ll be expected to preach about the environment at Mass. How did this topic come to be included in the Read more

Quake-damaged church spire included in Vatican Christmas Crib

Tuesday, December 13th, 2016

A quake-damaged church spire is part of this year’s Christmas Crib at the Vatican. The spire comes from one of the many churches damaged in this year’s earthquakes. Its presence reminds us that the Holy Family were refugees at this time of the year, Pope Francis says. Read more

Vatican website launched to help protect from clerical sexual abuse

Friday, December 9th, 2016

A  Vatican website showing the efforts being made to protect people from clerical sexual abuse was launched this week. Children, teens and vulnerable adults are those the Vatican particularly aims to protect. Set up following recommendations from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the  website offers a suite of resources. Among these are Read more

Rembrandt at the Vatican

Friday, December 9th, 2016

Rembrandt at the Vatican: Images from Heaven and Earth. This is the title of the first Vatican exhibition of works by 17th century Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijne. Fifty-three of Rembrandt’s etchings from the Zorn Museum in Sweden are on show. The display represents a desire for Christian unity, Arnold Nesselrath, who is the Read more

Bishop helps with ordination, concelebrates mass despite being excommunicated

Tuesday, December 6th, 2016

A Bishop who has been excommunicated gave “illegitimate help” and concelebrated the Eucharist at a new bishop’s ordination last week. Lei Shiyin, the Chinese- government-backed bishop of Leshan in Sichuan province, was ordained in China in June 2011 without Rome’s blessing. He was excommunicated for this. The Vatican is concerned Lei’s role in last week’s Read more

Artificial intelligence – Vatican conference discusses progress, benefits and limits

Tuesday, December 6th, 2016

Artificial intelligence was the subject of a conference held at the Vatican last week. One of the attendees described artificial intelligence as being “a very powerful technology”. “So I think as a society we need to think very carefully about the ethical use of technologies, and as one of the developers of this kind of Read more

Catholic culture and the Nativity scene at the Vatican

Friday, December 2nd, 2016

ROME – Just as with department store windows in the United States, reminders in Rome that Christmas is coming seem to start popping up earlier and earlier ever year. Of course Italians don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but it’s worth pointing out that Turkey Day just happened and it feels like Christmas season is here. This week, Read more

Vatican bans doco filming Henry VIII’s cheeky letter

Tuesday, November 29th, 2016

The Vatican has banned a BBC historian from filming love letter. The letter is kept in the Vatican archives. In the letter from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn,  Henry writes passionately about Anne’s breasts. Read more

Environmentally-friendly more than just words at the Vatican

Friday, November 18th, 2016

Environmentally-friendly. These words are more often than not aspirational. Not so in Vatican City, however. The 44.5 hectare state hopes it “can in some way become a good example of a ‘green’ and non-polluting state.” Recycling initiatives were established in 2008. Today there are over 200 household rubbish and recycling containers dotted around the state for Read more

Vatican rules on ash spreading based on values similar to Māori ones

Friday, October 28th, 2016
ash spreading

The Vatican’s recently announced a set of guidelines for cremation, ash spreading, and burial. Spokeswoman Simone Olsen says the Catholic Church in New Zealand will follow guidelines from the Vatican. The practice of ash spreading is particularly pertinent in the New Zealand  at this time because a number of iwi have been expressing their concern about Read more