Vatican watchers and even cardinals have been anxious to see how effective Pope Francis will be in tackling much-needed Curia reforms, and on Saturday he made what might be the single most important appointment in his tenure – and one that gives every sign that the Argentinian pontiff means business when he talks about change. Read more
The former Franciscan Friar, Leonardo Boff, the leading representative of the Liberation Theology movement – or what remains of it – is simply the latest in the list of individuals who have asked for a Third Vatican Council to be held. He made this request in an article published in Brazilian daily, Jornal do Brasil, Read more
The Vatican’s official daily this week criticized global powers for preparing possible military action against Syria despite an ongoing UN investigation into an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus. “The tones are becoming ever more drastic and the action being taken by the United Nations appears subjected to a sort of crossfire,” the newspaper said. Read more
The Vatican has reportedly launched an inquiry into the hiring of Francesca Chaouqui, 30, who was appointed as PR officer for a new papal committee set up to overhaul the Vatican’s financial administration in July. Before securing the job, Chaouqui had extensively tweeted about Vatican affairs, often not mincing her words, giving rise to speculation Read more
An American man who claimed he was sexually abused by a priest nearly 50 years ago has withdrawn his appeal of a ruling that said the Vatican did not employ the priest and is not liable for damages. Lawyer Jeff Anderson named the Vatican as one of the defendants in the 2002 lawsuit he filed Read more
Characterizations of Pope Francis abound. In something that hasn’t happened since 1979, when John Paul II did it, Pope Francis this week made the Time magazine cover story everywhere in the world except the United States – which went with a story about the ‘not guilty’ verdict in a case against a white man who Read more
My Facebook newsfeed in recent days has been filled with exciting stories and photos about World Youth Day (WYD)—which ended today with a Mass in Rio. Yet again, we have had some amazing quotes from Pope Francis on his visit to Brazil reminding us about the church’s social and ethical obligations towards the poor. However, Read more
Michelangelo had been on his back for 20 months, resting sparingly, and sleeping in his clothes to save time. When it was all over, however, in the fall of 1512, the masterpiece that he left behind on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome would leave the world forever altered. Born in 1475 to Read more
One of the documentaries being screened in the New Zealand International Film Festival is billed as a “meticulously composed and damning story of a protest against and a cover-up of sexual abuse by a priest in Milwaukee in the 1960s. Its title, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, was made by the prolific Oscar-winning film-maker Alex Gibney.” Read more
It began when the Pope paid his bill. The day after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was named the leader of the world’s billion Catholics, he asked his driver to go back to the hotel in the Vatican where he’d been staying during the Congress of Cardinals, to pay his bill. The payment was completely symbolic Read more