The Vatican’s communications chief, Monseigneur Dario Viganò has resigned. His resignation comes a week after his department twice omitted information it gave the media about a letter by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. Viganò wrote to Pope Francis on 19 March offering his resignation. “In recent days many controversies have arisen regarding my work which, beyond Read more
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has rejected ideas that there is no continuity between his pontificate and that of Pope Francis. There is an “inner continuity” between his pontificate and Francis’s, Benedict says in a letter published by Mgr Dario Edoardo Viganò, prefect of the Secretariat for Communication. The letter also says Francis is a “man Read more
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI’s health is currently under the spotlight. The question is whether he is ill or not. His brother, 94 year-old Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, says the Pope emeritus is suffering from a nerve disease, which is paralyzing him little by little. Georg says the illness forces Benedict to use a wheelchair more often. Read more
China’s President Xi Jinping says he wants to make the country’s many religions more Chinese-oriented by instilling socialist core values. Speaking at the country’s five-yearly Communist Party conference, Xi said religion poses threats to national security. He told the conference that separatism promoted under the guise of religion would not be tolerated. Although China officially Read more
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI says “obscuring” God in the liturgy is the root cause of the current crisis in the Church. In the preface to a new Russian edition of his book “Theology of the Liturgy”, Benedict writes that a widespread misunderstanding of the liturgical reform led to people placing their “own activity and creativity Read more
The latest scandal emerging from the Vatican’s Bambino de Jesu corruption trial has come from Italian contractor Gianantonio Bandera. He told the Vatican tribunal that arrangements for remodeling Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s Vatican apartment were made by Bertone himself. Bertone was the person who contacted his firm about the renovations, Bandera said. Both Bertone and Bandera have 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
The Vatican fraud trial involving Giuseppe Profiti, former president of the foundation governing Bambino Gesù children’s hospital and Massimo Spina, the foundation’s former treasurer is underway. The court is currently hearing conflicting reports about Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s role in the fraud investigation. Bertone is the former Secretary of State under Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Read Read more
“We are all responsible for the protection and care of the environment. This responsibility knows no boundaries.” “Preservation of the environment, promotion of sustainable development and particular attention to climate change are matters of grave concern for the entire human family.” “Too often, attention is diverted from the needs of populations, insufficient emphasis is placed Read more
It was feared he would become a sort of shadow pope. Instead he has opted to see out what remains of his life in the shadows. Two years after becoming the first leader of the Catholic Church to resign in seven centuries, Benedict XVI has melted away from public view, even if he remains a Read more