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Pope’s ‘foreign policy’ Easter message: What got included, what got left out

March 31, 2024

ROME – A pope’s Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi blessing, meaning “to the city and the world,” is generally understood to be one of his premier foreign policy statements of the year, a sort of 365-degree review of the global situation. Which issues and hotspots a pontiff chooses to highlight, therefore – and, equally, which he chooses

Easter Vigil: We must roll away the stones in our hearts, preaches Pope Francis

March 30, 2024

ROME – Presiding over the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday night Pope Francis drew particular attention to the concerns of the women who went to Jesus’s tomb after his crucifixion to anoint his body. He focused on how they were worried about the stone that would be blocking them from getting to the tomb. And

In first Holy Week homily Pope urges Catholics not to be afraid of guilt

March 28, 2024

ROME – In his first major liturgy for Holy Week, Pope Francis offered an extended reflection on the spiritual underpinnings of so-called “Catholic guilt”, a by now almost notorious concept associated by many (especially critics of Catholicism) with an almost compulsive need to feel overly guilty for any perceived offense. He addressed the ancient tradition

Loss of traditional-rite Triduum in Westminster as Cardinal Nichols says ‘No’

March 27, 2024

This year the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, has refused permission for the celebration of the services of the pre-Vatican II Easter Triduum in his diocese. These services have taken place in the Archdiocese of Westminster since the 1990s, and have attracted up to 200 people, including many of those served by the various

Study parses what US Catholics think about Pope’s views on climate change

March 27, 2024

A new study from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) looks at the differing views of US Catholics on the environmental issues raised by Pope Francis, and specially addresses their views on what has come to be known as “climate justice”. Climate justice is an approach to environmental action that focuses on

Cardinal Bo laments ‘wounded world’ and a Holy Week scarred by ‘devastating toll of conflict’

March 25, 2024

Cardinal Charles Bo has said that this year Christians mark Holy Week reflecting on the “devastating toll of conflict even in the birthplace of Jesus, Ukraine, and our own soil”. The Myanmar cardinal, and president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Myanmar and of the Federations of Asia Bishops Conferences, said in a statement: “As

The new ‘Mass of the Ages’ film is an emotionally charged must-watch for Catholics

March 21, 2024

The new “Mass of the Ages” film released on YouTube on 19 March – and the third in a trilogy about the Latin Mass – is the most moving yet. “We want to bring back the human, the true, the real,” says the mother of a French priest. “For everything in life…when we deal with

Pope calls for truth about ‘Vatican Girl’ as Italian Parliament launches probe

March 16, 2024

ROME – Pope Francis has repeated his own desire that the truth surrounding the 1983 disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi finally emerge, just as the Italian Parliament is gearing up to launch a large-scale investigation of the infamous “Vatican Girl” case. “In the Vatican, we are still suffering greatly from the disappearance, more than forty years