An estimated 150,000 – 200,000 people crammed into St Peter’s Square, Sunday, to listen to Pope Francis’ first Angelus message. The Angelus message traditionally focuses on international issues, however Francis used the occasion to focus attention on the need for mercy. “A bit of mercy can make the world less cold and fairer,” he told Read more
Perhaps the worst of all the unthinkable candidates, is how the international traditional Catholic blog Rorate Caeli describes the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis. The traditional blog, claims to have friends all around the world, including Argentina, where Marcelo Gonzalez of Panorama Catolico International, claims to give local in sight into the local archbishop. Republishing Gonzalez Read more
Minutes after his election, Pope Francis began giving the world a foretaste of his pontificate, signalling that some change is likely. As he appeared for the first time, Francis’ choice of a simple white cassock made a very clear and immediate statement. BBC reports that soon after the election result was declared in the Sistine Read more
Pope Francis is being painted as a humble and simple man, but CNN reports, his past is tinged with controversy. Questions linger about Bergoglio’s actions during the nation’s dark days: the so-called Dirty War, when Argentina was ruled by dictators. Possibly the darkest period during Bergoglio’s rise to power took place when he served as Read more
The Vatican, Friday rejected accusations Pope Francis had failed to stand up for Orland Yorio and Francisco Jalics, two Jesuit priests who served under him when they were kidnapped by the military in 1976, during the so-called Dirty War in his home country of Argentina. Margaret Hebblethwaite has been watching Cardinal Bergoglio for the last 10 Read more
Leaders of Muslim, Jewish and other non-Catholic faiths are welcoming the election of Pope Francis, many expect improved interfaith relation. In an unprecedented event, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, will also attend Pope Francis’ installation Mass in Rome March 19. The appearance by the Ecumenical Patriarch, the “first among equals” of all the world’s Read more
Pope Francis has decided that all top administrators in the Vatican bureaucracy will keep their posts while he reflects on any necessary changes, the Vatican said on Saturday. There had been speculation that the new pope could make swift changes to the Curia, the Vatican bureaucracy that has been at the center of allegations of Read more
In less than 24 hours after he became the first non-European pope in some 1,300 years, Pope Francis seemed to break more rules than his predecessor did in eight years. “We are going to have to get used to a new way of doing things,” said Father Tom Rosica, a Vatican Spokesman said. On the Read more
While everyone agrees that the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis is unprecedented in many ways, it is not entirely a surprise. He was runner up to Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 Conclave that saw him elected as Pope Benedict XVI. Bergoglio is the first Jesuit, first Latin American and first Pope from Read more
In his first public Mass, Pope Francis urged the Catholic Church on Thursday to stick to its Gospel roots and shun modern temptations, warning that it would become just another charitable group if it forgot its true mission. In a heartfelt, simple homily, the Argentinian pope laid out a clear moral path for the 1.2-billion-member Read more