Sprinters took over the main avenue leading to St Peter’s Square on October 20 in a relay race hailed by Pope Francis as a reminder of the spiritual values of sport. The race came at the end of a week in which the Vatican announced the formation of its own cricket club and an Argentinian Read more
Pope Francis spoke English in public for the first time on October 18, when he sent a video message to a conference on evangelisation in the Philippines. On the same day he met representatives of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy and praised their translation of liturgical texts. In the video message to Read more
“Christianity, the world’s most persecuted religion, now risks being wiped out in countries where until recently it has been well established,” declares a new report from Aid to the Church in Need. “Oppression and exodus now threaten Christianity’s status as a worldwide religion.” The Catholic charity, which operates directly under the Holy See, said over Read more
A group of Syrian Christians — claimed to number 50,000 — have asked for dual Russian citizenship, saying they are “scared of the conspiracy of the West and hateful fanatics who are waging a brutal war against our country”. Their action was reported by the Russian news agency Interfax, which also carried a Russian Orthodox Read more
The new Vatican Secretary of State, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, has officially assumed his new role, but he could not attend the hand-over ceremony because of emergency surgery. The reason for the surgery was not made known at the time, but a Vatican source later said the 58-year-old archbishop — seen as the key person to Read more
The high-spending behaviour of the Bishop of Limburg has promoted other German bishops to reveal the value of their private endowments — and encouraged a growing number of Catholics to leave the Church. After being accused of lavish spending, Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg has travelled to Rome to meet officials at the Vatican, Read more
Pope Francis has condemned the waste of food as a symptom of a “throwaway culture” and said hunger and malnutrition should never be considered “an inescapable fact of life”. He called for greater efforts to build a worldwide “culture of encounter and solidarity”. The Pope’s words came in his annual message for World Food Day, Read more
Catholics in Malaysia will continue to use the word Allah to refer to God in the liturgy, despite a court ruling that only Muslims may use the word. The Court of Appeal decision was specifically against a Catholic newspaper, the Malaysia Herald, which intends to lodge an appeal. Malaysia’s leading Catholic bishop, Archbishop Murphy Pakiam Read more
After the diocese of Rome refused a public funeral for Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke, the breakaway Society of St Pius X arranged a funeral that was suspended after a clash between ultra-right-wing sympathisers and enraged citizens. The controversy over the proposed funeral overshadowed ceremonies commemorating the 70th anniversary of the deportation of more than Read more
Pope Francis has said he suffers when he sees women in a role of servitude in Church organisations, instead of the servanthood to which all Christians are called. “I suffer — speaking truthfully! — when I see in the Church or in some ecclesial organisations that the role of service that we all have, and Read more