Pope Francis has been bombarded with insults after urging Catholics to pray for migrants. “Migrants are first of all human persons, and they are the symbol of all those rejected by today’s globalised society,” he tweeted on Monday. However, Italian Twitter users were unimpressed with his views. Some responded asking Francis to think instead of Read more
President Vladimir Putin and Pope Francis met at the Vatican last Thursday to discuss environmental issues, the Catholic Church in Russia and current affairs in Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela. It was Putin’s third meeting with Pope Francis and fifth visit to the Vatican. At the end of the 55-minute private meeting, Alessandro Gisotti from the Read more
A reliquary containing bone fragments believed to belong to St Peter passed from the Vatican’s safekeeping to Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople last week. “For us, this was an extraordinary and unexpected event that we could not have hoped for,” said Archbishop Job of Telmessos who received the relics on Bartholomew’s behalf. Job had Read more
In an example of ecumenism in unity, Pope Francis and Orthodox Archbishop Job of Telmessos left mass together down the stairs under the main altar in St Peter’s Basilica and prayed together at St Peter’s tomb. Job was representing Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople at the pope’s celebration of the feast of Sts Peter Read more
Over 250 priests say they do not want Cardinal George Alencherry to be reinstated as their archbishop. Alencherry was removed from his administrative responsibilities last year after priests made public allegations that he sold off land and incurred a loss of US$10 million for the archdiocese. Now a spokesperson for the priests says the Oriental Read more
Pope Francis has written a letter applauding the German Church’s synodal journey and urging it to emphasise the centrality of the Holy Spirit in ecclesial renewal. The Church needs spiritual renewal, not just structural, he wrote as the Germany’s Catholics prepare to embark on a synodal process. “We are all aware that we are living Read more
Cardinal John Henry Newman, one of the most influential and controversial Christian figures of the 19th century and a leading Anglican before converting to Catholicism, will be made a saint, the Vatican said on Monday. Canonisation will take place at the Vatican on October 13, it said in a statement, after Pope Francis decreed recognition Read more
There is only one pope leading the Church, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI emphasises. “The Pope is one, it is Francis,” Benedict said in an interview with an Italian magazine last week. “The unity of the Church has always been in danger, for centuries,” he continued. “It has been for all its history. Wars, internal conflicts, Read more
Pope Francis has restored full administrative powers of the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, in Kerala to Cardinal George Alencherry. The Cardinal was temporarily suspended following the start of a judicial proceeding that saw him involved in an alleged illegal sale of land belonging to the local Church. The Cardinal has been definitively acquitted of all charges. Read more
In what is being dubbed a “surprising development,” U.S. President Donald Trump Sunday became the first American commander-in-chief to set foot in North Korea, at the invitation of Kim Jong Un. According to Pope Francis, speaking shortly after the meeting, it was an example of the “culture of encounter.” “In the last few hours we Read more