Pope Francis has appointed two women as under-secretaries for the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. Professor Gabriella Gambino is the undersecretary for the section for life, while Dr Linda Ghisoni has been appointed to to the section for the laity. Gambino has a doctorate in bioethics from the Institute of Bioethics at the Read more
Pope Francis has sharp words for Catholics who “proudly boast they are very Catholic” yet fail to pay their workers a fair wage. “How many times have we heard — all of us, around the neighbourhood and elsewhere — ‘to be a Catholic like that, it’s better to be an atheist?’” he asked a morning Read more
Pope Francis founded the World day of Poor a year ago on the “notion of reciprocity, of sharing with each other of what each other has,” Msgr. Geno Sylva says. Sylva is an English-language official of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation. He went on to explain the World day of Read more
Hundreds of Catholics and politicians gathered to discuss the problems and the future of Europe at the end of last month. They called the event “(Re)Thinking Europe.” Pope Francis was one of the many speakers. A theme emerged from what they had to say: Religion is still essential to Europe. Read more
Pope Francis is said to be considering including debate about married men’s ordination to the priesthood in next year’s Synod of Bishops. The context of the discussion will focus on the Church in the Amazon basin. His comments came in response to a question on the matter from Cardinal Claudio Hummes. Hummes is the president Read more
The way bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are being used in the modern-day slave trade is a hot topic at the Vatican. Bank of Montreal senior manager Joseph Mari yesterday presented the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS) with an overview of the role crypto-currencies play in money laundering. He also explained blockchain‘s potential in the money-laundering Read more
Migration is a complex issue that has generated xenophobia, even in traditionally Catholic countries, Pope Francis says. Speaking to an International Federation of Universities conference, Francis reflected on the conference theme “Refugees and Migrants in a Globalized World: Responsibilities and Responses of Universities”. He said there is an urgent need “to do further studies into Read more
Typically, the usual way we talk about the internal differences among Catholics is in terms of left v. right, liberals against conservatives. Although those terms are inexact and often misleading when applied to religious groups, there’s no denying they do capture something. However, they’re hardly the only way of slicing the Catholic pie, and a Read more
An Italian journalist known as the “Vatileaks’ author is about to publish a new book revealing fresh secrets about sex, crimes and money in the Holy See. Gianluigi Nuzzi faced court over his last book (Vatican SpA) for leaking confidential Vatican documents. His new book is called Original Sin: Secret Accounts, Hidden Truths, Blackmail and Read more
A bishop who is the former chief of staff for the U.S. Bishops’ committee on doctrine has written to Pope Francis. He says the current pontificate is marked by “chronic confusion”. He warns Francis his teaching with a “seemingly intentional lack of clarity risks sinning against the Holy Spirit.” Read more