Women deacons could be permitted says top theologian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn. Although Shonborn says there is a chance for this to happen, he cautions waiting until the group Pope Francis commissioned last year to study the mater of female deacons. Shonborn says there is a precedent for women undertaking deacons’ roles in the Church. He Read more
Disgraced “O’Reilly Factor” Fox News host, Bill O’Reilly, met Pope Francis during his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square this week. O’Reilly, whose long-running show draws audiences of around four million, has been asked to leave the Fox network following numerous claims of sexual harassment. He is presently holidaying in Italy. Although he lined up Read more
Pope Francis and President Donald Trump will not be meeting when Trump is in Italy next month. Diplomatic sources say although there won’t be a Trump-Francis encounter next month, it ” is not a snub or a wish to avoid any possible awkwardness, but due to logistical and time constraints”. Read more
Catholic youth must be ready to lead the Church, Pope Francis said at a service on Saturday. The service aimed to rally enthusiasm for the Church’s World Youth Day. It will be held in Panama in 2019. “At my age, we (old people) are about to pass away,” he said. “The future is in your Read more
The traditional Latin Mass may be celebrated on Our Lady of Fatima’s feast day this year. The Mass will mark the 100 years since Our Lady is said to have appeared in a series of visions at Fatima, Portugal. The Vatican office which governs the use of the traditional Latin Mass gave permission for “a Read more
Pope Francis will wash the feet of inmates at a prison known for housing mafia turncoats on Holy Thursday. He has often denounced the mafia. He has declared them “excommunicated” and urged them to change their ways. Many mafia turncoats have done just that. Read more
The media need to get their terminology right and stop perpetuating negative stereotypes about immigrants says Pope Francis. Negative names for immigrants, like calling them “illegal” are not on, Francis says. The media is guilty of this. They should stop perpetuating negative stereotypes and find out why people migrate, he says. Francis offered a number 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
An English Cardinal and four Muslim leaders from the UK met with Pope Francis this week. They discussed interfaith relations between the religious communities in Britain. Cardinal Vincent Nichols and other Catholic leaders have been working for the past 30 years to develop strong ties with the UK’s local Muslim communities. Francis greeted the group Read more
An ISIS-inspired plot for 15 year-old Santos Colon to kill Pope Francis was quietly stopped by the FBI. Colon planned to kill Francis at his final papal Mass at Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It would have been the last day of Francis’s 2015 visit to the US. Had he been successful, the hundreds of thousands Read more