In a momentous event at St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis inaugurated the Synod on Synodality with a powerful message, “the primary task of the synod is to focus on God and be a Church that shows mercy to humanity.” Pope Francis presided over the opening Mass attended by nearly 500 priests, bishops and cardinals, emphasising Read more
Women will be given more top-level positions in the Holy See and will be allowed to help select bishops, Pope Francis has announced. The role of women in the Vatican hierarchy was one of the many Church and international topics the 85-year-old pontiff discussed in an interview last Saturday. A new constitution for the Holy Read more
Back in 2018, award-winning Italian journalist Paolo Ruffini broke a glass ceiling in the Vatican by becoming the first lay person to be named head of a Vatican dicastery. Ruffini was tapped to run the newly created department for communications, which brought together nine previously independent operations. Originally established as the Secretariat for Communication in Read more
Deaf and hearing impaired Catholics will now be able to follow Pope Francis’ Masses, prayers and speeches as the Vatican launches two new Sign Language channels on YouTube. “I reiterate the need to make available suitable and accessible means for handing on the faith,” Pope Francis said in 2020 in his message on International Day Read more
The Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, in collaboration with the Dicastery for Communication, has launched a website dedicated to Pope Francis’ latest Encyclical: ‘Fratelli tutti’. The site is currently developed in three languages: English, Spanish and Italian. Further languages will be available soon. It contains numerous resources in other languages, including French, Portuguese, Read more
The appointment of Matteo Bruni, a British-born layman, marks a new era for the Vatican press office. Pope Francis on Thursday tapped a long-time logistics coordinator to serve as the Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, ending the interim appointment of Alessandro Gisotti, effective Monday, July 22. Gisotti will now be vice-Editorial Read more
Networks, not division will be the theme for the next Communications Day, Pope Francis says. Christians must do more to make sure the media, especially social networks, are places of dialogue and respect for others. Communicaitons should not provide a means of highlighting differences and increasing divisions, Francis’s new prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Read more