Cardinal Angelo Sodano spoke on behalf of the College of Cardinals at 11am this morning expressing deep gratitude for the service of Pope Benedict XVI.  Following the address, the Pope personally greeted all of the Cardinals present.  Here is the full text of Cardinal Sodano. Your Holiness, With great trepidation the Cardinal Fathers present in ...read more

Photo: Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, Vice-Chamberlain of the Apostolic Chamber, sits between Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ and Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB at this afternoon’s press briefing at the Vatican.  Archbishop Celata gave a summary of the Motu Proprio issued by Pope Benedict. Just before noon in Rome, Pope Benedict issued a Motu Proprio leaving the ...read more

The Vatican Secretariat of State has issued a statement on the upcoming conclave and the external influence of various news stories. Read the full text here: The freedom of the College of Cardinals, which is responsible for providing under the law for the election of the Roman Pontiff, has always been strongly defended by the ...read more

Near the end of last year I wrote about the attitude of openness and adaptation to the modern world which permeated the ecclesiology of John XXIII and Paul VI, and found concrete expression at Vatican II and in the creation of the permanent Synod of Bishops. (Read it here) From there we now jump forward ...read more

Sebastian Gomes attended the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization in Rome this past October as a correspondent for Salt + Light.  In this first of three articles, he discusses the change in mentality at Vatican II to one of openness and adaptation. During the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization for the ...read more

It was in the early afternoon on Friday, August 17 that The Church Alive crew (Cheridan Sanders, David LeRoss, Sam Sorich, and myself) drove from Midtown Manhattan over to Hoboken, NJ to meet Msgr Robert Meyer of Saints Peter and Paul Church.  I had met Fr. Bob a few months earlier at the Path to ...read more

Pope Benedict XVI has announced the making of six new Cardinals of the Catholic Church.  Among them is Luis Antonio Tagle, the Archbishop of Manila, Philippines.  Archbishop Tagle is currently in Rome for the Synod on the New Evangelization.  A Consistory has been called for November 24th, 2012, during which the ceremony of elevation will ...read more

At the beginning of week three of the Synod on the New Evangelization, the compiled “List of Propositions” was presented in the General Assembly.  The small language groups had worked tirelessly the week before, on a very tight timeline, to synthesize the interventions and the open discussions of the Synod Fathers.   The Relator General, Cardinal ...read more

Our CEO, Fr. Thomas Rosica introduces “In Her Footsteps” to over 2,000 pilgrims in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, Italy on the eve of the canonization of Kateri Tekakwitha and six other new saints. Cardinal Marc Ouellet presided over a prayer service following the movie, which also saw the Finkbonners present (Jake ...read more

After a full week of sessions in the General Assembly of the 13th Ordinary Synod of Bishops, most of the official interventions have been shared.  They are scheduled to wrap up by the end of the day on Tuesday.  It has been an exciting, though mentally exhausting period, as each of the Synod Fathers is ...read more