While everyone experiences faith-shaking trials, asking for God’s help is the key to survival says Pope Francis. “When we have strong feelings of doubt and fear and we seem to be sinking, (and) in life’s difficult moments when everything becomes dark, we must not be ashamed to cry out like Peter, ‘Lord, save me,’” he Read more
Pope Francis on Thursday baptized conjoined twins who had been separated at a Vatican-owned hospital in June. The announcement of the baptism came not from the Vatican but from Antoinette Montaigne, a politician from Central African Republic, where the girls were born with fused skulls on June 29, 2018, in the town of Mbaiki. When Read more
Pope Francis has attempted to right the gender balance in senior Vatican posts, appointing six women to traditionally all-male Vatican roles at the Vatican Council for the Economy. In addition to the women, the only layman named to the council was Alberto Minali, a former executive at Italian insurance companies. Statutes for the Council, which Read more
Thousands of Christian volunteers are clearing debris and delivering urgent aid to people in Beirut, following last week’s devastating explosion. Medicine, clothes, blankets and food are in huge demand. Monsignor Toufic Bou-Hadir, director of the Maronite Patriarchal Commission for Youth, is praising the efforts of the young Christian volunteers “amazing” response to what he calls Read more
President Donald Trump’s pro-life claims have been analysed and found wanting. An American church leader, Bishop John Stowe of Kentucky challenged Trump’s pro-life claims in a recent webinar. He told his audience that rather than being pro-life, Trump was actually anti-life. “For this president to call himself pro-life, and for anybody to back him because Read more
The next pope won’t be able to ignore “seeds” planted by Pope Francis, according to the editor of the semi-official Vatican journal La Civiltà Cattolica. Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ who is a confidant of Francis, told Herder Correspondenz magazine that whoever the next pope is, “He will continue to move forward.” Spadaro – both Jesuit Read more
Pope Francis called on politicians to create jobs so that economies can relaunch from the lockdowns imposed to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The pope, speaking after the traditional Sunday blessing, said that “without work, families and society cannot go forward. Let us pray for this, because this will be a problem in the post-pandemic period, Read more
A collection of Pope Francis’s lockdown sermons, prayers and other messages has been published by the Vatican. “Strong in the Face of Tribulation: The Church in Communion – A Sure Support in Time of Trial,” also includes resources for times when physical access to the sacraments is not possible, plus other Church blessings and prayers. Read more
The Vatican’s new document on “the pastoral conversion of the parish community at the service of the Church’s evangelizing mission” has not been well-received by all. The new document, an instruction rather than law, deals with the theme of the pastoral care of parish communities. It’s focus is on what parish communities mean to the Read more
A manual to protect minors from predatory clergy has been published by the Vatican. Targeted at bishops and religious superiors conducting in-house investigations into allegations of priests who rape and molest minors and vulnerable adults, the long-awaited publication offers advice about how to handle cases of clergy sex crimes. “These documents constitute an ‘instrument’ intended Read more