The Vatican has admitted it has a backlog of 2000 clerical sexual abuse cases. Despite this, Pope Francis said the Vatican is on “the right path” to resolving each of them. Francis has always made it clear that he has “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse. Speaking during an in-flight interview after leaving Fatima about the Vatican’s Read more
Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to Fátima on Saturday to canonise two of the three shepherd children Our Lady appeared to 100 years ago. Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who died in 1919 are now “Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco”. (The third “child”, their cousin Lucia, died in 2005.) Thousands of pilgrims lined Francis’s route and Read more
Pope Francis gave a special blessing to the sick who came to the Fatima shrine on Saturday. After canonising Saints Jacinta and Francisco, Francis spoke to the sick, reminding them “whenever we experience a cross,” Jesus “has already been there ahead of us.” Read more
Rubbish dump dining is becoming commonplace in Venezuela. The country’s economic and political problems are causing a lot of suffering, says a priest working in the Archdiocese of Caracas. Read more
Pope Francis says he hopes he will be able to “open doors” when he meets with US President Donald Trump at the Vatican on 24 May. Francis told reporters he will listen to the President’s views before making judgements about him. Read more
A conference themed around the big bang is being held at the Vatican Observatory this week in honour of Monsignor George Lemaitre SJ who came up with the theory in 1927. Pope Francis called for the conference. The agenda the world leading scientists, astrophysicists, cosmologists and other experts are discussing includes “black holes, gravitational waves Read more
Cardinal George Pell has crossed swords over an audit with those responsible for Vatican real estate. They overstepped the mark, he says. Pell is the Vatican Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy. He says the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (ASPA) “overstepped its authority” by instructing other Vatican offices to submit Read more
A society where morality and human rights matter; where corruption is expunged; where there is a “president for the people”; and where there’s hope for a reunited country. These are among the expectations South Koreans have for their new president, Moon Jae-in. In a congratulatory message from the Korean Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong Read more
Anglican priests’ holy orders – their ordinations – may not be invalid, says Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Text. Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) ruled Anglican orders are “null and void” – a ruling Coccopalmerio, who is said to have one of the Vatican’s top legal minds, is revisiting. “When someone Read more
The Gospel message of “mutual trust and peaceful co-operation” is behind the Vatican’s ongoing work towards a complete ban of nuclear weapons. Speaking to a committee reviewing the 1971 [nuclear weapons] Non-Proliferation Treaty, Archbishop Janusz Urbanczyk reiterated the Vatican’s position. The committee was meeting for the United Nations’ Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe Read more