The apostolic exhortation on the Amazon has disappointed those hoping for an opening of clerical roles to married men and women. Many are saying that in Querida Amazonia (“Beloved Amazon”) Pope Francis has failed to extend his prophetic voice about environmental injustice to injustices to the church. They are also outraged over its language of Read more
Women have legitimate claims to seek more equality in the Catholic Church, Pope Francis says. The Church has to acknowledge a history of male domination and sexual abuse of women and children and it must repair its reputation among young people or risk becoming “a museum”, he says. Francis made these comments in the 50-page Read more
The full text of Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exultate – Rejoice and be Glad – has been published online by the Holy See. To access the exhortation, read more
Rejoice and be glad Jesus tells those persecuted or humiliated for his sake. The Lord asks everything of us, and in return he offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence. The call to holiness is Read more
A new apostolic exhortation has been released by the Vatican. An apostolic exhortation is considered one of the highest ranking papal documents after Encyclical Letters. The latest exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate (“Rejoice and be glad”), focuses on the call to holiness in the contemporary world. The exhortation’s title comes from the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:12). This Read more
On a spring day about five years ago, when I was rector of Mundelein Seminary, Francis Cardinal George spoke to the assembled student body. He congratulated those proudly orthodox seminarians for their devotion to the dogmatic and moral truths proposed by the Church, but he also offered some pointed pastoral advice. He said that it Read more
The Vatican’s Secretary of State expects an apostolic exhortation on the family from Pope Francis reasonably soon. Cardinal Pietro Parolin told Italian news agency ANSA that the Pope will promulgate a document based in the conclusions of the synod of bishops’ recent meeting. Regarding the timing of any apostolic exhortation, he said: “This I do Read more