– Catholic Herald, Rome – Pope Francis visited Piazza di Spagna early Tuesday morning, to mark the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. It it a custom for popes to visit the square on December 8, for the crowning of the statue of Our Lady that stands atop a pillar by the square. That act of

"It gives us great hope," the Chaldean Patriarch said, "to hear [Pope Francis's] speeches and his encouragement to remain in our land."

Pope Francis has long desired to visit the sorely tried and suffering nation of Iraq.

The 62-year-old Bishop Fisher succeeds Bishop Richard J. Malone, who resigned late last year after more than 18 months of intense public scrutiny.

An offer of help to Catholics in need of legal problem-solving

The McCarrick Report talks mostly about how Uncle Ted got where he did and stayed for so long, but it doesn’t precisely answer even that question.

The Press Office of the Holy See confirmed the phone call for the Catholic Herald.

At 449 pages, the full Report will take time to unpack, but here are a few highlights from the executive summary and Vatican gloss.

Were this spectacle, rather than life imitating cruel farce, the anecdotes would be altogether worth the price of admission.

the McCarrick Report will be part window, part reflection of institutional leadership culture and decision-making.

News media have called the race for Biden after several days of watching and waiting for the counting of ballots to produce a clear result.

Pope Francis’s Vatican is in rough shape. The brighter view of the business – though not necessarily more clear-eyed – would have it that the scandals emerging and the action Francis has taken against the more highly publicised among the alleged malefactors are both signs that the walls are closing in on the Old Guard: