The gay priest ban will continue. The Vatican has updated and reaffirmed its 2005 policy that “persons with homosexual tendencies” cannot be admitted to Catholic seminaries. Spiritual directors “must ‘dissuade’ gay candidates from pursuing ordination”. Pope Francis approved the current policy. It is included in a newly updated document The Gift of the Priestly Vocation Read more
Global warming and the Catholic church do not seem to have any connection, on the face of it. However, priests are going to be learning about environmental concerns during their formation period at seminaries. Later, they’ll be expected to preach about the environment at Mass. How did this topic come to be included in the Read more
A quake-damaged church spire is part of this year’s Christmas Crib at the Vatican. The spire comes from one of the many churches damaged in this year’s earthquakes. Its presence reminds us that the Holy Family were refugees at this time of the year, Pope Francis says. Read more
ROME-On the night of October 11, 1962, thousands of people made their way to St. Peter’s Square to celebrate the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, called for by St. Pope John XXIII. Unable to ignore the crowd, and before “off-the-cuff” remarks were simply what popes did, he improvised the most famous speech of his Read more
I haven’t written in this space for some time, but now that the election is over some additional interventions seem necessary to capture what’s happening in Roman Catholicism’s remarkable period of controversy. My Sunday column talked a bit about the way in which varying interpretations of “Amoris Laetitia,” Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation on the family, have Read more
A Vatican website showing the efforts being made to protect people from clerical sexual abuse was launched this week. Children, teens and vulnerable adults are those the Vatican particularly aims to protect. Set up following recommendations from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the website offers a suite of resources. Among these are Read more
Child soldiers are what Pope Francis calls a “scandal”. “We must do everything possible so that the dignity of children may be respected, and end this form of slavery,” he says. “Whoever you are, if you are moved as I am, I ask you to join me in this prayer intention: that the scandal of Read more
The first US martyr, Father Stanley Rother from the Oklahoma City diocese, has been recognised by Pope Francis. He was murdered in 1981 in a Guatemalan village where he ministered to the poor. Read more
Stephen Hawking, a renowned British physicist and self-declared atheist, was among those the Pope addressed this week. Hawking and other scientists were attending the Pontifical Academy of Sciences symposium. The symposium focused on scientific knowledge and technology’s impact on people and the planet. Although Pope Francis and Hawking have opposing religious beliefs, they connect with Read more
Ireland 2018 is likely to be the latest addition to the international visits on Pope Francis’s agenda, says the Irish Head of Government (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny. Kenny says Francis has timed his visit to coincide with the 22-26 August World Meeting of Families in Dublin. The World Meeting of Families will focus on Pope Francis’s Read more