Pope Francis says the Church may add ecological sins to the Catechism – the Church’s official teaching. A request to do this came from bishops at the recent Synod for the Amazon. In its final document, the synod defined ecological sin as a sin against God and future generations. It “manifests itself in acts and Read more
In many ways Pope Francis is following in the footsteps of his great travelling predecessor St. John Paul II in his apostolic visits to Thailand and Japan. The first Asia trip of St. John Paul II in 1981 included Japan, and in 1984 he visited Thailand. But the comparison appears to end right there — Read more
November 13, at the Vatican, Pope Francis received His Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. During the cordial talks, the Holy Father and the Archbishop of Canterbury agreed that, if the political situation in the country should allow the establishment of a transitional government of national unity in the next 100 days, at the Read more
The example of St Paul and his mission to Greece is a reminder to Christians to approach those of other cultures as people who know the love of God not as non-believers worthy of hostility and contempt. He is encouraging Christians to create bridges of hope rather than hostility. The comments were made by Pope Read more
“Holiness transcends denominational boundaries”, said Pope Francis while meeting a delegation of the Salvation Army. The pope was quoting a comment made by former Salvationist leader General Andre Cox during a 2014 papal audience. During the audience, Francis also recalled the first lesson he ever received in ecumenism. He was four years old and met Read more
Jesus invites everyone to always go to him, which, Pope Francis said, also means no longer making life revolve around oneself. “What direction is my journey going? Do I only try to make a good impression, to protect my position, my time and my space or do I go to the Lord?” he asked during Read more
Among those who believe the Catholic Church must modernise to save itself from perpetual decline, some of the staunchest advocates are church leaders here in Germany. Some German bishops have spoken in favour of abandoning the celibacy requirement for priests and vaulting women into leadership roles now off-limits. Some have urged updating the religion’s stern Read more
Three issues coming out of the Amazon synod’s final document include ordaining married men to the priesthood, the female diaconate and creating an Amazonian Rite. Two-thirds of the 180 bishops at the synod approved all the 140-paragraph document’s findings, which they voted on paragraph by paragraph. One of the document’s main focuses further including laity Read more
Numerous representatives of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths met at the Vatican this week to signs a joint Declaration denouncing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. After signing the Declaration, they presented it to Pope Francis. All three Abrahamic monotheistic religions share common goals and are in complete agreement in their approach to end-of-life situations. The twelve-point Read more
Pope Francis is urging media to be cautious in their reports about the Amazon synod final report. They should not pay “undue attention to aspects of the assembly’s final report addressing Church discipline while ignoring the assembly’s “diagnoses” of four major aspects of life in the Pan-Amazonian region. These concern the region’s cultural, social, pastoral Read more