By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Archbishop Gerhard L. Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was the first Vatican official formally confirmed in his post by Pope Francis and will be among the first 19 men the pope inducts into the College of Cardinals. Pope ...read more

This week the Vatican was involved in two high level, international meetings: the meeting of the World Economic Forum and the Geneva II peace conference for Syria. The Vatican also caught international attention because of one guest coming to visit: French President Francois Hollande. While many speculated that perhaps Pope Francis would have words of ...read more

Pope Francis’ message to the World Economic Forum gathered at Davos, Switzerland was not the first time a pope has spoken about economic issues. It was, however the first time such a message was read out loud directly to participants at a high level economic forum. Media coverage has been equally unprecedented. One unique feature ...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

Pope Francis announced the names of the 19 new cardinals he will create in the upcoming February 22 consistory. One of the prelates who will receive a red hat is Archbishop Gerald Lacroix of Quebec City. The pope announced the names after leading the Angelus prayer on January 12. Out of the 19 prelates who ...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

For the past ten years my Christmas begins and ends with the noise and frenzy of an airport, the fuss associated with air travel, and the grogginess of jet lag. It is filled with the excitement of counting down to the days “till I fly home” and then the bittersweet countdown to the day I ...read more

  CCCB – (Ottawa)… His Holiness Pope Francis today appointed the Reverend Christian Riesbeck, C.C., as Auxiliary Bishop of Ottawa. At the time of his appointment, he was the Chancellor of the Archdiocese and Assistant General Superior of the Companions of the Cross – a priestly Society of Apostolic Life founded in Ottawa. Bishop-elect Riesbeck was born in ...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