Pope Francis Archives - Page 18 of 465

Pope Francis

Roche implements further Vatican crackdown on the Traditional Latin Mass: but why?

February 23, 2023

The dust is beginning to settle on the rescript of the motu proprio Traditiones Custodes which was issued in Rome on the afternoon of Shrove Tuesday, after Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, was received in audience by the Holy Father. Diocesan bishops will no longer be given the agency and final authority over whether new parishes within their dioceses should be permitted to host celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM).

Pope Francis prays for Nicaraguan bishop imprisoned for 26 years for trumped-up treason charges

February 13, 2023

Pope Francis has expressed his grief at the jailing of a Nicaraguan Catholic bishop for 26 years on trumped-up charges of treason. The Pontiff prayed for Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa during the Sunday Angelus in Rome. The bishop was summarily imprisoned for 26 years last week after he refused to follow 222 other Nicaraguan

Pope prays for earthquake victims as Catholic aid agencies mobilise

February 08, 2023

(Photo: Damage in Aleppo | Aid to the Church in Need) Pope Francis has today offered prayers for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria that has killed at least 9,600 people, as Catholic aid agencies around the world mobilise to join the relief efforts. The Pontiff concluded his general audience with an

What does Pope Francis really think about homosexuality and sin?

January 30, 2023

There was a flurry of correspondence between the tireless LGBTQ+ activist Fr James Martin and Pope Francis on Saturday 27 January. Fr Martin’s whole ministry is bound up by his desire to have the Catholic understanding of homosexuality changed. The correspondence followed an interview Pope Francis gave to Associated Press in which the Pope emphasised that

Pope Francis condemns ‘ideological’ and ‘elitist’ German Synodal Way

January 26, 2023

In an interview published yesterday, Pope Francis condemned the German Synodal Way as elitist, unhelpful and running the risk of bringing ideological harm to Church processes. “The German experience does not help,” Pope Francis told Associated Press during the interview, explaining that dialogue should involve “all the people of God”. The pope said the German

Vatican issues final ‘stop sign’ on German Synodal Path

January 25, 2023

Two of Germany’s top canon lawyers have explained that the German Synodal Path must now end following a letter from Pope Francis to German bishops expressly stopping them from establishing a “permanent synodal council”. Running to four pages, the letter states that German bishops do not have the authority to establish a permament synodal council

Christian unity, Catholic incoherence and Pell’s remedy

January 18, 2023

The week of prayer for Christian unity can be, for many, one of the most depressing weeks of the year; so much aspiration deflated by so little achieved. Yet the Christian journey and the life of the Church are made up of such paradoxes, some of which verge on outright contradiction. How is it that

Pope curses ‘delinquent’ priests who withhold absolution

January 17, 2023

Priests should grant absolution in the confessional even when the penitent has no intention to repent, the Pope has said in a speech which has shocked seminarians.