American layman Curtis Martin, founder of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), was named by Pope Francis to serve along with 13 other consultors as advisors to the members of the Dicastry of Evangelization. Since FOCUS was founded in 1998, it has grown to have hundreds of full-time student missionaries who serve tens of…
In an interview with Vatican News, Dr. Michael Hesemann, a close friend of the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and his brother Georg Ratzinger, says: “instead of mourning, it is time to thank God that he was among us”, and reflects on how “we all had the opportunity to rediscover Christianity by his constant inspiration,…
CNA—Modern society is formulating an “anti-Christian creed” and punishing those who resist it with “social excommunication,” Benedict XVI has said in a new biography, published in Germany May 4. In a wide-ranging interview at the end of the 1,184-page book, written by German author Peter Seewald, the pope emeritus said the greatest threat facing the…
December 8, 2009 Vatican City, Dec 7, 2009 / 11:42 am (CNA).- In a meeting with a group of Brazilian bishops on Saturday, the Holy Father warned of the dangers of Marxist liberation theology and noted its grave consequences for ecclesial communities. During the ad limina visit, the Pope recalled that “last August marked 25 years since the…
July 8, 2009 Vatican City (CNA)—This morning in Rome, the Pope interrupted his series of teachings on the saints to explain the essential thoughts contained in his new social encyclical, published yesterday. In the face of the world’s “vast and profound” problems, Benedict XVI stated that the world economy must recover ethical principles. The encyclical, explained the Holy…
June 19, 2009 The ongoing demonstrations in Iran, touched off by public outrage at what is believed to be fraudulent vote counting in the recent Presidential election, has completed its sixth day. Not since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has there been this much sustained, grass roots political protest in what is one of the world’s most closed…
April 3, 2009 VATICAN CITY (Zenit.org)— Below is a translation of the homily delivered by Pope Benedict XVI on April 2, at the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, to mark the fourth anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s death. * * * [Translation from Italian:] Dear Brothers and Sisters! Four years ago, exactly today [April 2], my beloved…
March 25, 2009 On March 23, Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, 52, who has served as auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of San Diego since 2002, as the fourth bishop for the Diocese of Oakland, Calif.. The installation will take place on May 5, in Oakland’s new Cathedral of Christ the Light. “I am grateful…
October 1, 2008 By Mirko Testa ROME, SEPT. 30, 2008 (Zenit.org)—Politics needs Christianity and it is therefore totally legitimate for believers to participate in the public square, says Benedict XVI’s secretary of state. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (pictured above) affirmed this today in Rome when he spoke at a conference titled “The Century of Beliefs,” on the occasion of…
