“Magnum Principium” is one of the major documents of Francis’ pontificate. For this reason it deserves an analysis that is not only one of historical-theological context—and not just from the point of view of its possible consequences for the liturgical texts in English—but also an analysis of the institutional context in which it was decided and published. Read more
A Catholic priest who was kidnapped by militants 18 months ago in Yemen has been rescued. Fr Tom Uzhunnalil was freed on Tuesday. He is staying with a Salesian community in Rome for a few days before going home to India. He met Pope Francis on Thursday morning. At the meeting Francis embraced and encouraged Read more
Major Vatican reform is almost finished says Secretary of the Pope’s international Council of Cardinals, Bishop Marcello Semeraro. Adding, the work is “nearly complete at the level of proposals made to the Pope. “I think that within a few months this revision will be more or less complete. “Then the Pope will have at his disposition Read more
Balancing homosexual demands for legal recognition, marital status and church law has led Pope Francis to argue privately that the Church should come out for civil unions as the “lesser of two evils,”. Sergio Rubin, who is Francis’s authorised biographer, says Francis has suggested this would mean rather than homosexual “marriage”, the term “civil unions” Read more
Pope Francis condemned “verbal and physical violence towards women” and called for “respect” for them at a Mass he was celebrating during his visit to Columbia last week. Colombia’s mainly Catholic population is known for its macho culture and high levels of gender violence. During his homily that was repeatedly interrupted by applause, Francis asked Read more
Crashing his head into the Popemobile left Pope Francis with an opportunity to tell reporters he got “bashed” today. The accident left Francis, who is 80, with a black eye and blood-spattered clothes. Read more
Narcissism is like looking into a deceitful mirror, Pope Francis told a group during an audience at the Vatican. Challenging what he calls the ‘the sickness of the mirror,’ he said it sees many people drawn into a prolonged self-reflection. This “produces sadness, because you live worried about putting makeup on your soul everyday to Read more
Carlo Caffarra is the second of the four so-called dubia cardinals to die. He was 79. Caffarra was an Italian moral theologian. He, along with the Cardinals Raymond Burke, Walter Brandmüller and Joachim Meisner (who died in early July) publicly questioned Pope Francis’s teaching in his encyclical, Amoris Laetitia. The four cardinals’ questions, called “dubia”, Read more
Pope Francis has brought a message of unity to Colombia and the hope he can build bridges between its people during his five-day visit. After a five-decade war between the nation’s government and rebel guerilla forces, the country has been divided by a peace deal with Marxist FARC rebels. (The FARC are the Revlutionary Armed Read more
The pope’s runners will debut the Vatican colours on 17 September in an interreligious marathon. About 30 Vatican employees, both men and women, have created a track-team, the Athletica Vaticana or (as they call themselves) the pope’s runners. Read more