Prayers for world peace from the Vatican followed President-elect Donald Trump’s win at the polls. “May we make God’s merciful love ever more evident in our world through dialogue, mutual acceptance and fraternal cooperation,” Pope Francis tweeted from his Pontifex site. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is the Pope’s Secretary of State, echoed Francis’s prayerful response Read more
Pope Francis told Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh and other religious leaders meeting at the Vatican “we all thirst for mercy”. Authentic religions help people understand that they are, in fact, loved and can be forgiven and are called to love and forgive others, he said. He also told them religions are called to bear Read more
New Beatitudes from Pope Francis have been added to those described by Jesus. The Beatitudes are the saints’ “identity cards” said Pope Francis. They were the subject of his homily in the Mass he celebrated in Sweden on All Saints Day. He went on to say the best description of the saints is found in Read more
En route to Rome, after his visit to Sweden, a journalist asked Pope Francis “Is it realistic to think of women priests also in the Catholic Church in the coming decades?” The world is finding it hard to adjust to a Pope who speaks off the cuff. He has been dubbed “the Pope of the Read more
(RNS) Pope Francis leaves on Monday (Oct. 31) for an overnight trip to Sweden, a historically Protestant country that today is one of the most secular in the world. The visit is to mark the start of observances of next year’s 500th anniversary of the Reformation, which traditionally dates from Oct. 31, 1517, when Martin Read more
Lutheran-Catholic unity is high on the Pope’s agenda during his official trip to Sweden this week. “My hope and expectation is that of coming closer to my brothers and sisters,” he said. Being close “does all of us good. Distance, on the other hand, makes us bitter.” Francis says distance makes us “close within ourselves Read more
A children’s book on the family has just been released. It is the latest book for children written by Pope Francis. “The Caress of God”, is aimed at children ages six to 10 years old. It summarizes 27 catecheses (religious education topics). Pope Francis delivered these between his two Synods on the family, in October Read more
By now it should be clear. Pope Francis really believes there is a serious lack of quality among priests and bishops in the Catholic church. Otherwise, he would not talk so often about the negative traits of certain men in ordained ministry, as he’s done again several times in recent days. “The world is tired Read more
Pope Francis and Sunni Muslim imam of Al-Azhar will begin talks again next year. The talks stopped five years ago. It is expected they will begin again in Rome next April. Officials from the Vatican’s office of inter-religious affairs are going to Cairo this weekend for a preparatory meeting. Their aim is to lay the Read more
Vladimir Putin is linked to opposition to Pope Francis, says Andrea Tornielli. Tornielli has been described as the Pope’s favourite journalist. He made the the suggestion in an article co-written with Giacomo Galeazzi for the Italian newspaper La Stampa. It is headlined “Catholics who are anti-Francis but love Putin”. They quote sociologist Massimo Introvigne as Read more