In a groundbreaking collaboration, the Vatican and Microsoft have partnered to create a digital replica of St Peter’s Basilica, offering an immersive online and in-person experience. Using advanced AI and photogrammetry, this project will provide millions of people throughout the world a virtual gateway to one of Catholicism’s holiest sites. The launch coincides with preparations Read more
For the first time in over a century, the historic Chair of St Peter, a wooden throne symbolising the pope’s magisterial authority, has been removed from its gilded bronze reliquary in St Peter’s Basilica to be displayed for public veneration. Pilgrims and visitors can now behold this storied relic directly in front of the basilica’s Read more
The Vatican has said that two women have been hired for the specialised maintenance crew of St Peter’s Basilica for the first time in its 500-year history. While women have worked for the Fabbrica di San Pietro — the department that oversees maintenance, restoration, and repairs of the Vatican’s papal basilica — before, it is Read more
A prayer service in the form of a purification rite was performed at St. Peter’s Basilica after a man desecrated the main altar. Startled witnesses, on Friday, New Zealand time, say the man stripped off his clothes, leapt onto the high altar in the centre of the church, and stood naked apart from his shoes Read more
A second Catholic cardinal has questioned the legitimacy of a recent decree by the Vatican to restrict the celebration of the old Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and forbid private Masses in its side chapels. The March 12 circular was written on the letterhead of the Vatican Secretariat of State and carried the initials Read more
Pope Francis has appointed a commissioner to investigate St Peter’s Basilica in Rome’s management body, the Fabbrica di San Pietro. Electronic devices and documents have been taken from the offices of the Fabbrica following a report by the Holy See’s auditor, in what could look like an investigation into financial irregularities. However, the Holy See Read more
Two acts of vandalism inside St. Peter’s Basilica last week have prompted questions about increasing protection and security. Guides who regularly take pilgrims and tourists to pray and to see the Basilica’s priceless art and artifacts are resisting tightening security, saying suggestions of glass barriers risk compromising the sacred nature of the space. It is 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
In many ways, the story of the church starts with Peter. With the words, “And I tell you, Peter, that on this rock I will build my church,” Jesus appoints Peter as head of his new church and charges him with the responsibility to build it from the ground (Matt. 16). Throughout the centuries, biblical Read more
A Lutheran bishop and some other Lutherans received Catholic communion at a Mass at St Peter’s Basilica last month. The National Catholic Register reported sources stating that Bishop Samuel Salmi of Oulu in Finland and other Finnish Lutherans indicated to the Catholic priests at the Mass that they wanted a blessing. They reportedly tried to Read more