“So much is at stake this week (in Rome) …I hope something important comes from it.” This is what Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of BishopAccountability.org, said to reporters at the Foreign Press Association in Rome two days before the Vatican summit on the protection of minors in the church is scheduled to begin. But Read more
The Vatican owes Rome some 5 billion euros. The Court of Justice of the European €Union (CJEU) ordered Italy to recover the ICI property tax that the catholic Church never paid to the Italian government. The European judges have decided to rule out a 2012 decision of the European Commission and a 2016 judgment of Read more
The seagull population in Rome has grown in recent years to the tens of thousands, according to some experts. Their physical dimension has grown, too, as they gorge on the smorgasbord of trash, snack on handouts from complicit tourists and snatch sandwiches from unsuspecting pedestrians. A species with a taste for pigeons, bats, starlings and Read more
Pope Pius XI’s will stated he wanted to be buried as close as possible to what tradition has considered to be the tomb of St. Peter. Pius XII then began the excavations under St. Peter’s Basilica, in order to fulfill the last will of his predecessor. With that single gesture, he also showed confidence in Read more
The board administering Belgian hospitals sponsored by the Brothers of Charity has been summoned to Rome. The board – made up mainly of lay members – recently decided to allow euthanasia in the Catholic hospitals it oversees. After appeals from the religious order, board members have been asked to explain their decision to Church authorities Read more
Rome authorities are looking into whether refugees, migrants and other homeless people can be accommodated in houses confiscated from the mafia. City officials are mapping the confiscated real estate to see if any of it is suitable for temporary housing. The first census of 200,000 potentially available apartments is due by the end of October, Read more
ROME – When most people think of Rome they picture the majestic Colosseum or the countless churches and basilicas sprawled across the city, but deep underground there is another Eternal City that tells the tale of the first pioneers of the Christian faith. The Catacombs of Domitilla, a vast web of tunnels and tombs used Read more
Although a minority religion in 90-percent Catholic Italy, Morman worshippers are comfortable about practising their faith and report no hostility or prejudice to their form of worship. The Mormans are presently planning to build a new visitor centre within a stone’s throw of the Vatican. They aim to attract converts to their faith. The visitor Read more
When it comes to theology, the Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches are very close. We accept the same Nicene Creed, we recognize each other’s priestly and episcopal ordinations, as well as the sacraments of baptism, confession and Eucharist. Catholic and Orthodox teaching on morals are also quite compatible, with both being more conservative than Read more
A set of 1,600-year-old frescoes in Rome’s catacombs have been exposed using modern technology. Experts used the latest laser technology to uncover the centuries of grime smudging multi-coloured frescoes that adorn the ceilings of two crypts built for Roman grain merchants. Read more