Pope Francis has announced a Jubilee Year of Mercy in order to celebrate God’s forgiveness. The “extraordinary Holy Year” will take place from December 8, 2015, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, to November 20, 2016, the Feast of Christ the King. Announcing the closing date, the Pope added a new term to the title Read more
Pope Francis’ road map for the future of the Church will far outlive his pontificate, a German theologian has predicted. Speaking in Austria during the second week of the recent synod on the family, Cardinal Walter Kasper said Francis is a “gift of God”. The Pope’s theology and his vision for the Church are centred Read more
The way Vatican II looked at ecumenism shows a possible path forward for interpreting doctrines about marriage, Cardinal Walter Kasper says. Speaking to Vatican Radio, Cardinal Kasper said the responses to recent Vatican questions about the family show there is an “abyss” between Church teaching and people’s situations. “The Church has to bridge this abyss,” Read more
It’s like a dream or a movie. In less than a year, Pope Francis has transformed the dominant discourse around Catholicism from scandal and despair to joy and the evangelical demands in light of poverty and economic exclusion. “Each individual Christian and every community,” he wrote in Evangelii Gaudium last week, “is called to be an instrument Read more
Being one of the first human beings to orbit the planet most certainly brings a unique perspective to all aspects of human life, including faith and ethics. Many of the first astronauts and cosmonauts who returned to our little blue dot in the universe brought back messages of peace and human unity. Coming from members Read more
The head of the traditionalist Society of St Pius X has denounced Vatican II, described the post-conciliar Mass as “evil”, and said he is grateful the group never reached an accommodation with the Holy See. Bishop Bernard Fellay also said: “The situation of the Church is a real disaster, and the present Pope is making Read more
Who could have imagined what has happened in the last weeks? When I decided, months ago, to resign all of my official duties on the occasion of my 85th birthday, I assumed I would never see fulfilled my dream that — after all the setbacks following the Second Vatican Council — the Catholic church would Read more
In one of the last acts of his pontificate, Benedict XVI gave an address to the clergy of the Diocese of Rome on the Second Vatican Council. In the address he drew a distinction between what he termed the Virtual Council, or Council of the Media, and the Real Council or Council of those who actually produced Read more
Pope Francis I’s weekend announcement of a new council, the Group of Eight (G8), to advise him on Catholic Church governance and reforming the Church’s central administration (the Roman Curia) has been called the “most important step in the history of the church for the past 10 centuries” by Church historian Alberto Melloni. The group includes Australian Read more
Pope Francis has described the Second Vatican Council as “a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit” and said “stubborn” Catholics should not resist the Spirit as it pushes the Church forward. “We want to put the Holy Spirit to sleep,” the Pontiff said. “We want to ‘tame’ the Holy Spirit. And that doesn’t work, because Read more