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Global
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican officially signed the papers transferring to the Orthodox Church of Greece three marble fragments from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece; the fragments had been in the Vatican Museums’ collection for about 200 years. As he prepared to sign the papers, Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, president of the commission governing Vatican […]
Pope Francis
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis named five new members to his international Council of Cardinals and renewed the mandate of four current members, the Vatican announced March 7. Those whose mandates have been renewed are: Cardinals Seán P. O’Malley of Boston, 78, who was appointed to the council in 2013; Pietro Parolin, 68, Vatican secretary […]
Global
By Walter Sánchez Silva
Father Jacques Mourad, a Syrian Catholic monk who was kidnapped in Syria by Islamic State terrorists in 2015 and managed to escape after five months in captivity, was consecrated as the new archbishop of Homs, Syria. At the March 3 Mass for the episcopal consecration, Bishop Flavien Rami Al-Kabalan, procurator of the Syrian Patriarchate of […]
Pope Francis
By Justin McLellan
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will open a Lenten prayer and penance initiative at a Rome parish March 17 rather than in St. Peter’s Basilica as in past years. The initiative, “24 Hours for the Lord,” was begun by the pope in 2014, and invites Catholic parishes worldwide to remain open for adoration and confession […]
Global
By Joe Bukuras
Who would win a rap battle between a Dominican and a Jesuit? Let’s see: “We’re the ones who educated the world’s best, From Georgetown to Harvard, we’re the top notch, blessed, Our scholars and theologians, they’re second to none, Our mission, to serve others, with a passion that can’t be undone,” the Jesuit says. The […]
Pope Francis
By Justin McLellan
VATICAN CITY — The light and beauty of Christ is an invitation to recognize God’s love in life’s ordinary moments, Pope Francis said. Speaking to some 25,000 visitors gathered to pray the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square March 5, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Matthew of Jesus’ Transfiguration, in which […]
Global
By Justin McLellan
VATICAN CITY — Women play an increasingly “decisive” role in Vatican diplomacy and promoting peace worldwide, said the undersecretary in the Vatican’s foreign ministry office. In an interview published March 3 by L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, Francesca Di Giovanni reflected on her tenure as the first woman named to a managerial position in the […]
Global
By Justin McLellan
VATICAN CITY — The Second Vatican Council was a “prophetic initiative” to compensate for the church’s refusal to engage with society, said the preacher of the papal household. In the first Lenten reflection for the Roman Curia delivered by Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa March 3, the Capuchin friar said that Vatican II showed the church how […]
Pope Francis
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY — It is not enough to ask people who have suffered abuse for their forgiveness, Pope Francis said. They also must be offered “concrete actions to repair the horrors they have suffered and to prevent them from happening again” as well as the truth, transparency, safe spaces, psychological support and protection, the pope […]
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