It’s like a dream or a movie. In less than a year, Pope Francis has transformed the dominant discourse around Catholicism from scandal and despair to joy and the evangelical demands in light of poverty and economic exclusion. “Each individual Christian and every community,” he wrote in Evangelii Gaudium last week, “is called to be an instrument Read more
“As of 1 January all Vatican staff will have to clock in upon arrival at work. This includes monsignors but excludes cardinals and archbishops,” Italian news magazine Panorama reports in an issue out tomorrow. “This is how Pope Francis is starting to clamp down on slackers. Up until now, Vatican staff did not have to Read more
Pope Francis has outlined his vision for the future of the Catholic Church in an 84-page Apostolic Exhortation titled “The Joy of the Gospel,” calling for powers to be stripped from the Vatican, although he ruled out allowing women priests. Pope Francis said he was seeking advise on how his role should change – using Read more
A Vatican spokesman said the decision of the US State Department to move the Vatican embassy to a compound shared with the US Embassy in Italy was well within the Holy See’s requirements for embassies, adding that relations with the United States are far from strained. Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Canadian priest who works with Read more
The Vatican on Sunday unveiled a handful of bone fragments purportedly belonging to St. Peter. Pope Francis prayed before the bones, which were revealed in a bronze case near the alter at a mass celebrating the end of the Year of Faith in St. Peter’s Square, the Associated Press reports. The remains were discovered in Read more
Pope Francis walked the walk last weekend, when he followed through on his promise to make the Vatican more gay-friendly – or at least less gay-nasty – by honoring a sixteen-year-old gay American. Jack Ankara is an all “A” student at a public high school in Crownsville, Maryland, where half the student body drops out Read more
The Vatican this week announced it had hired an international accounting firm to audit its finances. The Vatican said that EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young, will “verify and consult” on the economic activity of the Vatican City State administration, which controls the money-making Vatican Museums, post office and tax-free department store. A Reuters Read more
Archbishop Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s new Secretary of State, arrived in the Vatican on Saturday and will be in his office at the Apostolic Palace as of Monday. Archbishop Parolin was installed as Secretary of State in absentia on 15 October, due to an unexpected surgical procedure he had to undergo that day. Fr Federico Read more
The Vatican dismissed concerns today that Pope Francis could be a target of Italian organized crime because his reforms threaten what one mafia expert said were long-time ties between the church and criminal syndicates. “There is no concrete reason that would lead us to worry. There is no reason to feed alarmism,” the Rev. Federico Read more
Most remarkable about the consultation regarding sex, marriage and family life, in which the Catholic Church has asked Catholics throughout the world to take part, is its brave implication that things have to change. One sentence in the official document accompanying the Vatican’s questionnaire is an example of this. As a result of the current Read more