Reform is afoot in the Vatican. Pope Francis has tightened the reins on the Vatican bank, worked through a gruelling visit to Brazil, named a new secretary of state, and is now busy preparing for the October meeting of cardinals who will advise him on how to breathe new life into the Catholic Church. The Read more
What a great day in our world mission family as we continue to bring the mission message to Boston from the ends of the earth! writes Maureen Heil from the Office of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston USA. “Archbishop Adrian Smith, sm of the Solomon Islands joined us for a visit with Cardinal Sean Read more
Returning to the Marian shrine where he oversaw the drafting of a crucial document on re-evangelising Latin America, Pope Francis said he wanted to “knock on the door of the house of Mary” before beginning his heavy World Youth Day schedule. Recalling the call for evangelisation issued by the Latin American bishops when they met Read more
Pope Francis has made a significant change to the norms governing the personal ordinariates established to encourage Anglicans to enter into communion with the Catholic Church. A baptised Catholic who has not completed the sacraments of initiation, but returns to the faith and practice of the Church through being evangelised by an ordinariate may now Read more
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Clifton in Bristol, UK, says a new mural depicting Jesus break dancing should “get people talking about religion”. Clifton Youth Ministry coordinator Dave Wheat said the mural was “a very interesting piece of artwork that will obviously grab people’s attention”, adding: “It may especially have an appeal to the younger members Read more
For years I’ve been immersed in Catholic media and the ongoing conversation within the Church of how to carry on as the Church. And, of course, in the West, at the heart of this conversation is the fact that within the next generation half of the pews will empty. When I travel, I always get Read more
On Thursday the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (EFKS) launched radio and TV outlets in Apia. EFKS media opened with 80 percent coverage of the country. “We hope to have complete coverage in three months,” says Chairman of the General Assembly, Rev. Elder Tautiaga Senara. Both the radio and TV outlets will be under the Read more
A new Catholic “subculture” committed to evangelisation is needed to counter decades of Catholics becoming absorbed into secular culture, according to an American Catholic author. “We’re no longer evangelising the culture, we’ve been evangelised by it, and it’s not good for the secular culture, and it’s destroying us as a religious community,” said veteran journalist Read more
Within the first few weeks of his papacy, Pope Francis won widespread praise for his emphasis on “a poor church” that is “for the poor.” His warm and casual disposition, personal simplicity and tender outreach to “the poorest, the weakest, the least important,” as he expressed it in the homily at his inauguration Mass, may Read more
The greatest work of charity is evangelisation, Pope Benedict XVI declares in his Lenten message for 2013, in which he cautions against the tendency to reduce the term “charity” to solidarity or simply humanitarian aid. Preaching the Gospel, the Pope says, is actually the greatest act of charity, since it involves “the highest and the Read more