For most North American Vatican-watchers, this week was supposed to be about the first meeting between Pope Francis and President Barack Obama. Once again, Pope Francis diverted people’s attention and forced a substitution of headlines. The Diocese of Rome hosted a Penitential Service on Friday evening, during which Pope Francis was scheduled to hear confessions ...read more

One year after (perhaps) the most watched interregnum and conclave in recent history, the church finds herself changed. Most would say changed for the better. This change has also established new bridges between the church and the wider world. The catalyst for that change was a 76 year old man who had already picked out ...read more

This week was big in many ways: Pope Francis made some significant appointments, including naming his personal secretary to the number two position at the newly created Secretariat for the Economy. Wednesday was the beginning of Lent and Pope Francis’ first Ash Wednesday liturgy as pontiff. It was also the day one the Italian newspaper ...read more

On This week’s Vatican Connections we look at the long-awaited beatification decree for Archbishop Oscar Romero. We talk to Father Frank Desiderio, a Paulist priest who worked with the producer of the 1989 film about the martyr, and we look at the reaction of Salvadoreans who have long referred to their slain archbishop as “el ...read more

When Fr. Han Lim Moon is ordained to the episcopate on May 4 he will make history. Bishop Elect Moon will become Auxiliary Bishop for San Martin, Argentina.. He will be the first South Korean-born prelate to be appointed to the episcopate outside his native country. It will also be the first time an Asian-born ...read more

The week started off with a shocking theft, the recovery of the stolen item (in multiple installments) the announcement of a new book that is already getting a mixed reception, an audience with an American University, the announcement that several people are moving closer to sainthood….and it closed with the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of ...read more

  If the war in Syria continues another year there will be no Christians left in the country, according to one bishop in the region. Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo made the comment during a meeting of the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches, which is known by its Italian acronym ROACO. ...read more

This week we take a look at the Christmas celebrations at the Vatican: which traditions did Pope Francis keep and what new traditions did he forge? We also look ahead to the changes that will be coming down the pipe very soon at the heart of the Church. ...read more

  Watch Vatican Connections LIVE on Salt and Light at 8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT If  the year-in-review articles, videos and talk show segments are anything to go by, 2013 will be remembered not as the year Pope Benedict XVI resigned from the papacy, but the year Pope Francis was elected as his successor. From the moment ...read more

This week we look at why TIME named Pope Francis “Person of the Year”, we get the details on the story of one Franciscan community currently undergoing an Apostolic Visitation, and we speak to a representative from Development and Peace, the Canadian member of Caritas Internationalis about the Pope-promoted campaign to end hunger: “One Human ...read more