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

With the upcoming Extraordinary Synod on the Pastoral Challenges to the Family there has been much talk by Cardinals, Bishops, and priests about the family. Pope Francis wrote a letter directly to families which was released Tuesday, February 25 by the Holy See about that Synod and the importance of the family. Below is the ...read more

“Merciful Father, by your help, may we be ever attentive to the voice of the Spirit”  (Opening Prayer). This prayer, the opening prayer of today’s Mass, reminds us of something fundamental: we are called to listen to the Holy Spirit who enlivens and guides the Church. By his creative and renewing power, the Spirit always sustains the ...read more

By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When the freshly named patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, chose 37-year-old Father Loris Capovilla as his private secretary in 1953, a skeptical adviser told the cardinal that the priest looked too sickly to bear the strain of his new job. “Then he’ll die ...read more

By Raymond Syms Catholic News Service PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (CNS) — Even as he prepares to receive a red biretta from the hands of Pope Francis, Cardinal-designate Kelvin Felix hopes he can continue his ministry as a “country parish priest.” But he admitted he may have a few new assignments from Pope ...read more

  By Ezra Fieser Catholic News Service SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (CNS) — In naming Spanish Archbishop Fernando Sebastian Aguilar a cardinal, Pope Francis chose an outspoken leader who played an important role in developing the positions of the Spanish church over a career that has spanned six decades. At 84, Cardinal-designate Sebastian, retired archbishop ...read more

SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) — When a cardinal dons his red robes for the first time and is given his red hat, he usually is reminded that the color of the vestments is a call to devote himself completely to Christ and his church, even to the point of shedding his blood if necessary. For ...read more

It’s been a year since Pope Benedict shocked the world by announcing his resignation, and so much has happened since: At not even a year of Pope Francis’ papacy it’s almost as if he’s been Pope forever. Join Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB as he looks back at the historic events of the last year in ...read more

“Power, Personalities and Politics at the Vatican” John Thavis is a journalist, author and speaker specializing in Vatican and religious affairs.  For more than twenty-five years John Thavis held one of the most fascinating journalistic jobs in the world: reporting on the inner workings of the Vatican as the head of the Rome Bureau of ...read more

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (CNS) — Ivory’s Coast’s new cardinal is confident his nomination will advance peace after a decade of conflict and instability in the French-speaking West African country. “I ask God to give me the grace of strength, so I can work on the different personal encounters we’ve already begun and continue them until ...read more