Botanist and environmentalist Peter Raven says Pope Francis and his three most recent predecessors “have always argued that you should not have more children than you can bring up properly.” Raven said the pontiffs all realised, as he does, that “We need at some point to have a limited number of people,”. Raven was speaking Read more
Consult your Bible as often as your cellphone. The Pope urged crowds at St Peter’s Square to give the Bible the same place in their daily life as cellphones. He asked them: “What would happen if we turned back when we forget it, if we opened it more times a day, if we read the Read more
Sacred music and liturgical chant needs renewing and improving, Pope Francis said at a major international conference on sacred music on Saturday. “Sometimes a certain mediocrity, superficiality and banality have prevailed, to the detriment of the beauty and intensity of liturgical celebrations,” he said at the conference organized by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Read more
You may not have heard about it, but it was a big deal – big enough to inspire Pope Francis to get involved. The big deal was the under-reported U.S. Regional World Meeting of Popular Movements (WMPM) that recently gathered (Feb. 16-19) in Modesto, Calif. Drawing together hundreds of faith-based and social justice organizers from Read more
Pope Francis told the Pontifical Academy of Sciences last Friday that water scarcity could lead to a third world war. He drew attention to to the latest figures on water published by the United Nations. The world should not remain indifferent to the issue, he said. “Every day, a thousand children die of illness linked Read more
Christian unity took another step closer last Sunday when Pope Francis became the first pope to visit an Anglican church in Rome. “True, solid communion grows and is built up when people work together for those in need,” Francis said. “Through a united witness to charity, the merciful face of Jesus is made visible in our Read more
Parish priests are called to support married couples, Pope Francis said on the weekend. This includes supporting young people who are living together and people whose marriages are failing as well as those with strong marriages. In general, he said parish priests are the ones a couple comes to when they decide to marry, when Read more
The Pope’s homily at a morning Mass last week took a closer look Catholics who live a “hypocritical double life.” They should not put off conversion, he said. He suggested for hypocrites include people who go to Mass and belong to associated church organisations and then fail to pay their employees properly, or launder money. Read more
Lent is a new beginning, a path leading to the certain goal of Easter, Christ’s victory over death. This season urgently calls us to conversion. Christians are asked to return to God “with all their hearts” (Joel 2:12), to refuse to settle for mediocrity and to grow in friendship with the Lord. Jesus is the Read more
Protecting the Pope’s image and official coat of arms “against cases of illicit use and exploitation for unauthorized profit” tops a Vatican to do list. The Vatican said the new focus is not related to the illegal posters and newspapers criticising Pope Francis that have appeared in Rome over the past weeks. The Vatican Secretariat Read more