Pope Francis has appointed Malta’s Archbishop Charles Jude Scicluna as adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Congregation is the Vatican office that processes sex abuse cases globally and examines appeals (in matters of grave offence). The announcement came as the Vatican prepares for a summit meeting of the presidents Read more
While Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò makes a number of accusations against former and current Vatican officials in his 11-page letter, there is only one he aims at Pope Francis. Vigano alleges Pope Francis knew former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had “corrupted generations of seminarians and priests” but nonetheless decided to lift sanctions. Sanctions that included “a Read more
Sainthood causes Pope Francis advanced this week included that of Sister Leonella Sgorbati. Sgorbati was an Italian missionary nun shot to death in Somalia in 2006 along with her Muslim driver and bodyguard, Mohamed Osman Mahamud after Pope benedict XVI’s Regensburg lecture. Read more
Only some of the Medjugorje apparitions are likely to be authentic, Pope Francis said during an in-flight interview after canonising Saints Jacinta and Francisco last weekend. He was referring to alleged apparitions of Our Lady who is said to have appeared 35 years ago to six children in Medjugorje. Since then, three of the “children” Read more
Pope Francis has appointed two new officials to oversee the Vatican office responsible for looking after clerical sexual abuse cases. A backlog of unresolved abuse cases has prompted the new appointments. Attention has focused on the Vatican’s response to the clerical sexual abuse crisis since the beginning of last month. That was when abuse survivor Read more
Emeritus Pope Benedict wasn’t pressured to step down, says Father Federico Lombardi. Lombardi, who was Benedict’s spokesman, denied Italian Archbishop Luigi Negri’s claim that Benedict was forced to resign. However according to Negri, Benedict’s resignation was as a result of “tremendous pressure” being put upon him. The Obama administration has been implicated in the pressures Read more
The Vatican’s first female-only association has been formally approved as a Vatican association. Donne in Vaticano (“Women in the Vatican”) is open to all 750 women working for the Holy See and its attached institutions. So far about 50 women have joined. Women make up about a fifth of the Vatican workforce. Most of them Read more
Global warming and the Catholic church do not seem to have any connection, on the face of it. However, priests are going to be learning about environmental concerns during their formation period at seminaries. Later, they’ll be expected to preach about the environment at Mass. How did this topic come to be included in the Read more
The relationship Fidel Castro had with the Church has often often speculated about Pope Francis’s condolence message to Raul Castro expressed his “sentiments of grief”. He promised to pray for Fidel. Jesuit-educated, Fidel Castro followed a Marxist-Leninist ideology. Believing the Church was a state enemy, he declared Cuba an atheist state. He seized all Cuba’s Read more
Pope Benedict is often forgotten when the call for Catholics to be better stewards of God’s creation is made. Even though Pope Francis usually gets the credit, Benedict was behind the changes the Vatican has made to becoming a “green” carbon-neutral state. Read more