Just as Jesus preached while commuting to and from Emmaus, a Scottish bishop and priest have been preaching while commuting in Scotland. Last week Paisley’s Bishop John Keenan toured Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire on a double-decker bus, aiming to “bring faith issues to the high street.” The Mercy Bus – also known as “the church Read more
A senior priest in the Palmerston North Diocese has been honoured by the Pope for his outstanding services to the Church and society. Brian Walsh, of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit on Palmerston North’s Broadway Ave and chaplain to the local Marist Sports Club, has recently been named a Monsignor by Pope Francis. When Read more
On the heels of one controversial Vatican article alleging an “ecumenism of hate” between conservative Evangelicals and Catholics in America, another potential eyebrow-raiser emerged Saturday claiming that the “main obstacle” to implementing Pope Francis’s vision is “closure, if not hostility” from “a good part of the clergy, at levels both high and low.” The term Read more
The Vatican has released a limited edition medallion marking the fifth year of Pope Francis’s pontificate. There are 50 copies in gold, 1,000 in silver and 1,500 in bronze, as well as 50 “triptychs” (in gold, silver and bronze). Read more
A woman who says she has carried out 10,000 abortions was a key speaker last week at an Italian parish forum sponsored by local officials of Caritas Italiana. Parishioners protesting at her inclusion in the forum were removed from the audience. Emma Bonino’s advocacy for immigrants and refugees has prompted Pope Francis to praise her Read more
Although Crux’s John Allen likes to pretend otherwise, Roman Catholicism is now clearly divided between the Party of Francis and the Party of Benedict. Not since the days of the Jesuits and the Jansenists has the Catholic elite — clerical and lay intellectual — been at daggers drawn as it is now. Yesterday, the New York Times nicely encapsulated the partisan Read more
The Vatican fountains are unusually quiet at present. That’s because Pope Francis has had them turned off to show solidarity and conserve water during the drought affecting much of Italy. Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si denounces wasteful practices and highlights the importance of clean drinking water. The prolonged drought has hit two-thirds of farmland and has Read more
A rubbish man from from Buenos Aires who was severely hurt in an accident early this year received a surprise phone call from Pope Francis last week. Maximiliano Acuña was at work when he was left without legs after a speeding car ran over him. Acuña, who is 33 years old and has five young Read more
Pope Francis is urging people to pray for peace and reconciliation and has called for “moderation and dialogue” during an upsurge in violence between Israel and the Palestinians over Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Francis says it is with “trepidation” he is following the “grave tensions and violence” that erupted at the holy site on 14 July. Read more
Pope Francis’s use of social networking tools has seen him attract 35 million Twitter followers. Launched by Benedict XVI in December 2012, the account is available in nine languages. Since taking over the @Pontifex account, Francis’s followers have grown steadily, especially in English, which has 11 million followers. There are a further 13 million Spanish language Read more