In his first canonisation ceremony, Pope Francis will raise to the altars an estimated 800 Italian laymen martyrs killed by Ottoman soldiers in the 15th century. Many of the martyrs’ skulls adorn the walls of the sanctuary in the cathedral at Otranto, a small port town at the eastern tip of southern Italy, where the Read more
On Maundy Thursday I was struck by these words from a hymn (133, Common Praise). We strain to glimpse your mercy-seat, and find you kneeling at our feet. In the action of having our feet washed or in washing the feet of another, we acted out concretely the love and very presence of Christ. Christ, then, the Read more
In Rome, one of Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s first acts as Pope Francis was to call his newsdealer back home in Buenos Aires and cancel his daily delivery. In New York, the Rev. Matt Malone seemed reasonably confident that a similar papal ax would not fall on America, the venerable Jesuit weekly that he edits. “I know for a Read more
Though there aren’t yet hard numbers to back it up, it’s a good bet that the single most interviewed human being on the planet since March 13, 2013, has been a simple 64-year-old housewife in the Argentine city of Ituzaingó, about an hour outside Buenos Aires. The woman is Maria Elena Bergoglio, and her older Read more
Much has been made of the impressions Pope Francis has created by his ordinary, every day activities: catching buses, using a telephone to make his own calls, not dressing in all the fine drapery usually worn by popes, treating people respectfully as he did the journalists, celebrating the Holy Thursday Mass in a Roman prison. Read more
He’s convinced the cardinals, wowed the crowds and on Saturday he attempted perhaps the trickiest task of all – to woo the hardbitten media. And Pope Francis pulled it off spectacularly, speaking warmly to several thousand journalists crowded into the Vatican’s Paul VI hall about their hard work covering his election and passionately of “a poor church for Read more
The Prime Ministers of Samoa and Fiji have expressed pleasure at the election of Pope Francis. Speaking to Radio Australia last Thursday, The Prime Minister of Samoa, Tuilepe Sailele, who is a Catholic, said he was delighted at the election of a Pope from a developing country. The Prime Minster of Fiji, Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama,in Read more
Born in Argentina, Pope Francis is the first Latin American to lead the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the first Jesuit. “It seems my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the world [to choose a pope],” he told the crowd in St Peter’s Square in his first address, a joke which belied Read more
In less than 24 hours after he became the first non-European pope in some 1,300 years, Pope Francis seemed to break more rules than his predecessor did in eight years. “We are going to have to get used to a new way of doing things,” said Father Tom Rosica, a Vatican Spokesman said. On the Read more
Italian bishops were quick to congratulate the new pope. Too quick: They got the wrong man. The Italian Bishops’ Conference Wednesday sent a congratulatory email to one of their own, Milan Cardinal Scola — tipped as a hot conclave favorite. They quickly corrected themselves and issued a new message to the real winner, Argentine Jorge Read more