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
A new analysis of pooled Pew Research surveys conducted between Pope Francis’ election in March and the end of October this year finds that the percentage of Americans who identify as Catholics has remained the same – 22% — as it was during the corresponding seven-month period in 2012. “In fact, our polls going back Read more
A Vatican official has told a gathering of Philippine Church leaders and Catholic social media practitioners in Manila to speak in a language understandable to the digital world to be effective evangelizers. “If we are to share the Good News with our brothers and sisters in the digital continent, we must speak a language they Read more
Malaysia should reverse a ban on a Christian newspaper using the word “Allah” to refer to God, Reuters quoted a UN official as saying on Monday about a decision that fanned religious tension in the mainly Muslim country. Malaysia’s second highest court ruled in October that the Catholic newspaper, the Herald, could not use the Read more
The Vatican this week unveiled a series of catacombs used by early Christians in Rome after a major restoration. The Priscilla catacombs where Christians worshipped and buried their own are re-opening to the public after five years of work in which restorers used lasers to clean up the religious frescoes on the walls. The Vatican’s Read more
At his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said he goes to confession every two weeks. “My confessor hears what I say, offers me advice and forgives me. We all need this,” the pope said. Francis said priests and bishops need to also go to confession regularly. “God, in his sovereign mercy, forgives 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
The Church of England’s governing body this week voted in favor of female bishops, ending a 20-year impasse that could see women ordained as senior clergy by the end of 2014. A vote on a package of measures to endorse women bishops was supported by 378 members of the General Synod while eight voted against Read more
Pope Francis this week comforted a man with a severely disfigured face – just two weeks after he embraced an Italian man with neurofibromatosis, a condition that causes painful tumors all over the body. The pontiff embraced the unnamed man after the weekly audience in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday. Reports said it is not Read more
“Spiritual abuse,” inflicted by the lay founders, or religious superiors, using their aura and spiritual power, often on young and fragile personalities, has distressed and surprised the Catholic bishops’ in France. Responding to the ‘human damage’ caused by the leaders of fourteen new ecclesial (church) communities, President of the France Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georges Pointer, says Read more