The Vatican is saying little about a change in duties for Archbishop Gänswein. The Holy See Press Office says the long-time secretary of emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has had his duties as prefect of the papal household “reallocated to others”. It is downplaying 63-year-old Georg Gänswein’s absence from several papal audiences over the past few Read more
As Francis did last month when he appointed a fellow Jesuit, Fr. Juan Guerrero Alves, to take charge at the Secretariat for the Economy, the pope is filling a high-level Vatican post with a known friend and supporter of his reform agenda. And some observers wonder if this is the start of a trend that Read more
At about the same time as Pope Francis was defending migration during his visit to Morocco, Cardinal Robert Sarah was saying promoting migration is a misinterpretation of Gospels. Where Francis said politicians who build walls to keep migrants out would become prisoners of those barriers, Sarah said priests and bishops who defend migration are “bewitched” Read more
For Curia Cardinal Robert Sarah the Church has become a “den of darkness” and a “cave of thieves. Certain men of God have turned into “agents of the Evil one. “We have betrayed like Judas.” Sarah calls relativism “the mask of Judas, dressed as an intellectual.” “We tolerate everything” and “Catholic doctrine is put in Read more
Pope Francis has issued a public correction to an article by Cardinal Robert Sarah about the changes the Pope has made to the way liturgical texts are to be translated from the original Latin into local languages. Sarah, a 72-year-old Guinean is the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Read more
Although Pope Francis has handed control of translating the liturgy to bishops’ conferences, Cardinal Robert Sarah says the Vatican will still need to approve the translations. Sarah, who is the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, says the Vatican will continue to safeguard any changes and any new Read more
Fans of the Latin Mass are in Rome on their annual pilgrimage at present. At the conference last Thursday marking the 10th anniversary of Benedict’s decree liberalizing use of the Latin Mass, the meeting organizer, the Rev. Vincenzo Nuara, didn’t even mention Pope Francis in his opening remarks. Among those at the conference was Cardinal Read more
Bread used to celebrate the Eucharist during Catholic masses must not be gluten-free, although it may be made from genetically modified organisms, a letter sent to all diocesan bishops says. Furthermore, the bread “must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made so that there is no danger of decomposition”. Bread made from products other Read more
Cardinal Robert Sarah has strong words to say about the diabolical criticism the vulgar heap without any foundation onto Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. “The arrogance, the violence of language, the disrespect and the inhuman contempt for Benedict XVI are diabolical and cover the Church with a mantle of sadness and shame,” Sarah said. “These people Read more
The ability, or even tendency, to make stupid remarks is not, at least officially, a prerequisite for being made a curial cardinal. But neither does it seem to hurt the odds of one’s wearing a red biretta around Rome. In 2011, a Spanish bishop claimed that Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, then head of the Pontifical Council Read more