During his first Angelus address, Pope Francis recommended a work of theology that “has done me so much good” because it “says that mercy changes everything; it changes the world by making it less cold and more fair.” That book is Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life by Cardinal Read more
Retired German Cardinal Walter Kasper, a theologian who has been searching for a new pastoral approach to divorced and remarried Catholics for more than 20 years, is scheduled to address the Feb. 20-21 meeting of the College of Cardinals in preparation for the Synod of Bishops on the family. Pope Francis has said that the Read more
This weekend marks the Holy Father’s two-month anniversary (!). Vatican Insider sums it up so far: What has Bergoglio done in the two months since he was elected Pope and what kind of a Pope has he been? Fondness and confessions The wave of affection for the new Pope is undeniable, with requests to attend papal audiences Read more
An estimated 150,000 – 200,000 people crammed into St Peter’s Square, Sunday, to listen to Pope Francis’ first Angelus message. The Angelus message traditionally focuses on international issues, however Francis used the occasion to focus attention on the need for mercy. “A bit of mercy can make the world less cold and fairer,” he told Read more
Sydney, Christians will have their core beliefs challenged by provocative advertisements which will appear on billboards and busses in June. The ads, paid for by an Islamic group called MyPeace, will carry slogans such as ”Jesus: a prophet of Islam”, ”Holy Quran: the final testament” and ”Muhammad: mercy to mankind”. The organiser of MyPeace, Diaa Read more
Divorced Catholics should look elsewhere for God’s mercy, somewhere other than the Eucharist, the Head of the Vatican’s council for family, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli told a conference for Latin American bishops. The Catholic Church welcomes those who are divorced and remarried, but, “mercy is inseparable from the truth,” he said. “Those who are divorced and Read more
The Church in crisis-torn Libya is offering shelter to stranded Bangladeshi migrant workers following an appeal by concerned bishops in their homeland. “The government is struggling to repatriate thousands of migrant workers and we can’t help them directly. With the assistance of the Vatican embassy in Dhaka, we asked the Libyan Church via the Italian Read more