VM/CNA—Pope Francis kicked off the first Saturday jubilee audience of 2025 by urging pilgrims to embrace hope as a divine strength that enables new beginnings, drawing inspiration from St. John the Baptist. Speaking to pilgrims gathered in the Vatican’s audience hall on Jan. 11, the pontiff emphasized that hope is not merely a character trait…
VM and CNA—Pope Francis has proposed celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea together with Orthodox leaders, in a personal letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. The letter, published by the Vatican on Saturday, was delivered by Cardinal Kurt Koch — who heads the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity — during…
VN, CNA—For the first time in more than a century, the historic Chair of St. Peter, a wooden throne symbolizing 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…
CNA—The Catholic Church’s final session of the multi-year Synod on Synodality is finishing up its second week. Have you adopted a synod participant to pray for yet? Oct. 11: Pope Francis, synod pray where first Christian martyrs of Rome were killed Pope Francis and Synod on Synodality participants pray together at the site of the…
VN—At an event held at the Italian Embassy to the Holy See in Rome, the Vatican Secretary of State says Pope John XXIII’ Encyclical Letter ‘Pacem in Terris’ is a testament, and affirms that the concept of ‘just war’ needs to be reviewed. Even if sometimes diplomatic efforts seem to produce small results, “we must…
VN—Excavation work in front of Vatican Radio’s main entrance continues with the dismantling of imperial-era fullonicas (ancient laundries), recently discovered during redevelopment efforts for the upcoming Jubilee. As work proceeds more hidden wonders are revealed. Vatican News—Careful excavations on Vatican Radio’s doorstep are being conducted alongside stratigraphic excavations that have uncovered significant remains, some dating…
CNA/Vatican Media—On the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Francis invited the Catholic faithful — including the recently appointed metropolitan archbishops who received their blessed pallium today — to “open the doors” of the Church and follow the example of the two great apostles of Rome so that all people can know and experience…
CNA—Pope Francis has appointed a California-based astrophysicist to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Vatican announced Friday. The Holy Father nominated Andrea Mia Ghez as an ordinary member of the Vatican City-based academy. Black Holes Ghez’s website says she is “best known for her groundbreaking work on the center of our galaxy, which has led to…
Pope Francis on Friday had an audience with Cardinal Raymond Burke, the Vatican said, several weeks after a flurry of media-perceived controversy involving the pontiff and the 75-year-old U.S.-born prelate. A release from the Holy See Press Office briefly mentioned that the pope had met with Burke in an audience on Friday morning. No reason…
CNA—Retired Bishop Joseph Strickland has been advised to leave his former Diocese of Tyler, Texas, but has not been told he can’t say Mass publicly there, he told the National Catholic Register. “I have received no such instruction,” Strickland said by text Thursday night, responding to a report that he has been barred from saying…
“You cannot do anything with your hands if you do not do it with your knees,” Pope Francis CNA—The presence of Jesus in every tabernacle points us to how we can serve our suffering brothers and sisters who share in Christ’s passion today, Pope Francis told American priests this week. In an audience with the…
Vatican News, CNA—The Vatican has published the names of those participating in the upcoming Synod on Synodality assembly in October, including laypeople who will be full voting delegates at a Catholic Church synod for the first time. The delegates are made up of representatives selected by bishops’ conferences and Eastern Catholic Churches, leaders in the…
Pope Francis has named Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, his longtime personal theologian and ghostwriter, to lead the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Argentine prelate succeeds Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, SJ, 79, who has been prefect of the dicastery since 2017. Fernández, almost 61, will take up his new post in the middle…
CNA, CBJ—The Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops has completed a formal investigation of Bishop Joseph E. Strickland and the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, according to multiple media reports and confirmed by EWTN News. Apolstolic Visitation The inquiry, known as an apostolic visitation, marks a rare though not unprecedented intervention by Rome into a U.S. diocese and…
Vatican News — “I encourage you to continue your efforts to contribute to a revival of faith in, and love for, the Holy Eucharist, the “source and summit of the Christian life.” With these words, Pope Francis expressed his gratitude to the members of the Committee preparing for the forthcoming National Eucharistic Congress in the…
CNA—The head of the Coptic Church is scheduled to offer the Orthodox Divine Liturgy in the Catholic Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome on May 14. According to Father Martin Browne, an official at the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, this liturgy will take place in the context of an official visit of…
WSJ—Even as Xi Jinping was being crowned as China’s unchallenged dictator, the Vatican said Saturday it has renewed its agreement with the Chinese Communist Party. This is the second renewal since the deal was brokered in 2018, though there’s little progress on religious freedom to show for it. Its main contribution has been to mute…
Vatican News/CNA—Two Catholic priests killed by Nazis while ministering to the dying amid the Boves massacre were beatified as martyrs on Sunday in northern Italy. See two very short videos at the end of this article featuring actual footage of these inspiring priests. In the face of grave danger, Father Giuseppe Bernardi and Father Mario…
(CNA)—Queen Elizabeth II passed away today, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Royal Family already had gathered in Balmoral Castle Thursday amid concerns for Queen Elizabeth II’s health, Catholic bishops in England and Wales have offered their prayers for her and her family. Queen Elizabeth, who turned 96 in…
CNA—The Vatican’s “trial of the century”, scheduled to continue in September, has so far offered plenty of drama and raised numerous unanswered questions. One of the most sensitive, not just for Catholics who have donated money to the Vatican, is this: Was Peter’s Pence used to finance investments like the now infamous London property deal?…
