Comments 0
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has a new undersecretary, with Pope Francis appointing Monsignor Giacomo Morandi to be its second highest-ranking official. Morandi, who is from Italy, is a Biblicist (i.e. a person who interprets the Bible literally). He had already been chosen by the pope in 2015 to be the Read more
Comments 0
A Vatican newspaper has accused Steve Bannon, chief strategist for US President Donald Trump, of supporting “apocalyptic geopolitics”. It also claims Trump’s team promotes an “evangelical fundamentalism” that twists scripture to promote conflict and war. The article in the Argentine issue of La Civiltà Cattolica by editor-in-chief Fr Antonio Spadaro and Argentine Presbyterian pastor Marcelo Read more
Comments 0
Vatican prosecutors have charged the former president and the ex-treasurer of Vatican-owned Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital with diverting money from the hospital’s fundraising foundation. This is the first time the Vatican has publically announced a prosecution using measures introduced in 2009 to fight money-laundering and financial crime. The two accused, Giuseppe Profiti and Massimo Spina, Read more
Comments 0
German media source, Die Zeit, reports an unnamed Vatican diplomat saying Cardinal Gerhard Müller overstepped the mark on Amoris Laetitia. “His task should have been to explain the reforms and translate them for the world at large; not to break with tradition, but to write a new chapter of tradition. Instead he acted as the pope’s inquisitor”, Read more
Comments 0
The Chinese government has ignored “grave concern” over the abduction of Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou. In response to the Vatican’s concerns for the bishop, Lu Kang, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said: “China opposes any country interfering in China’s internal affairs.” Shao Zhumin was forced from his diocese on 18 May Read more
Comments 0
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
Comments 0
South Korea can be sure of Vatican support in reconciling differences with North Korea. “You are always welcome,” South Korea’s Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-jong was told when he asked if President Moon Jae-in could visit. Last month Moon, who is a practising Catholic, sent Archbishop Kim to the Vatican on his behalf. Kim is South Read more
Comments 0
ROME – Unless there’s an unexpected change in schedule – and, with these two mavericks, one never knows – Pope Francis and President Donald Trump will meet each other for the first time on Wednesday. The encounter will take place in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, where the pontiff meets most heads of state who visit Read more
Comments 0
It’s not every day you find a group of young men, ranging from 15 to 18, who willingly make a three-year commitment to wake up at 6:30 a.m. every Sunday morning to pray and study in the house of the pope. “The boys’ willingness to come in the first place is a sign of a Read more
Comments 1
ROME – Mothers and women have always had a central role in the Catholic Church. The Virgin Mary is the ultimate example of its devotion to motherhood, to the point that one could say that every day is Mother’s Day in the Vatican. Pope Francis, following the legacy of the previous two pontiffs, has taken Read more
