Pope Francis has appointed Mr Bill Kilgallon to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Kilgallon is the Director of the National Office for Professional Standards of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. Dr. Krysten Winter-Green, another New Zealander now resident in the United States, has also been appointed to the Commission. Bill has Read more
The creation of a new Vatican Congregation for the Laity appears to be a likely first step in the reform of the Roman Curia. Many are welcoming this as a recognition that the laity have just as important a role in the church as bishops, clergy and religious, each of which has a congregation dedicated Read more
A choir of voices has begun lauding Cardinal George Pell for cleaning up the Vatican’s money management operations. And the strongest notes in this hymn of praise come from the basso profondo of the Australian cardinal himself. The 73-year-old Pell, who is officially the prefect of the Vatican’s recently created Secretariat for the Economy, gave Read more
In 2014, Pope Francis continued to exercise a fascination for members of his Catholic flock and for the rest of the world. There was no papal pronouncement in 2014 to match his electric answer last year to a question about gay priests: “Who am I to judge?” But the Jesuit pope from Argentina continued to press for Read more
Pope Francis faces a tough road ahead, a veteran Vatican watcher told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Wednesday. “It’s a very tough period that is beginning for him, because of course people [are] enthusiastic about him. “I mean the believers but also non-believers are very interested in what he’s saying. “But within Read more
The Vatican’s cricket team has honoured Australia’s Phillip Hughes with a memorial Mass in Rome on the eve of his funeral in Australia. Team captain, the Rev. Anthony Currer, presided over the Tuesday evening service at the Venerable English College, the main English seminary in Rome. He said the team wanted to show its closeness Read more
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Consecrated Life, I am writing to you as the Successor of Peter, to whom the Lord entrusted the task of confirming his brothers and sisters in faith (cf. Lk 22:32). But I am also writing to you as a brother who, like yourselves, is consecrated to God. Together let us Read more
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the former leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, helped to orchestrate a behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign which led to the election of Pope Francis, a new biography claims. The choice of the largely unknown Argentine cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as head of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics came as a Read more
Imagine if the pope were invited to address a summit of Protestant leaders, and used the platform to take a swipe at Italy’s tiny Waldensian Protestant church — complaining that it tries to convert Catholics, and demanding that it shut up about the separation of church and state. Protestants would rightly howl about how crude Read more
Pope Francis has ordered an inquiry into an Italian bishop after scandalous behaviour by some of the priests in his diocese. Albenga-Imperia diocese in northern Italy has been seen as hosting a number of so-called “playboy priests”, who frequently broke the law. An apostolic visitor will assess the capability of Bishop Mario Oliveri, 70, who Read more