The Pope decrees that not only men may be chosen for the washing of the feet in the Liturgy of Holy Thursday. Please see below for the full text of the decree and for a commentary on the decree by Archbishop Arthur Roche, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments: ...read more

A rising star in Catholic journalism, Michael O’Loughlin reflects on the Pope’s shocking appointment of Chicago’s Archbishop Blase Cupich. Purchase your copy of Michael’s new book The Tweetable Pope on our online store today! How are you going to spend the next five minutes of your time?  You could browse social media or check your ...read more

Pope Francis on Sunday became the third pope to visit Rome’s synagogue in a sign of continuing Catholic-Jewish friendship. During the visit that featured welcome speeches by prominent members of Rome’s Jewish community and a speech by the Pope, Francis greeted a number of people including including several Holocaust survivors. Below you will find the ...read more

With the Christmas season officially over, this week the Vatican got back to business. Pope Francis had a full slate of meetings this week with a wide variety of guests: the priests from the Argentine College, the nuncios to Zimbabwe, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the papal delegate to Palestine and Jerusalem and a ...read more

Pope Francis has urged young people living in situations of “war, extreme poverty, daily troubles and loneliness” to not lose hope and not be taken in “by the messages of hatred or terror all around us.” His words came in his Message for the Jubilee of Mercy for Young Boys and Girls, which was released ...read more

“The Name of God is Mercy” is the title of a new book set to be released in 86 countries on Tuesday (12 Jan), in which Pope Francis reveals his vision of God’s mercy in a series of interviews with Vatican reporter Andrea Tornielli. Several extracts were made available by the publisher, Piemme, ahead of ...read more

Pope Francis delivered an address to the Corps of Diplomats Accredited to the Holy See on Monday morning, during the course of his traditional exchange of New Year’s greetings with the diplomats at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. Below, please find the full text of the official English translation of the Holy Father’s prepared ...read more

History On November 16, 1989 on the campus of the Central American University in San Salvador, six Jesuit priests were pulled from their beds in the middle of the night and executed. The military officers who carried out the killing went unpunished for decades. Five of six Jesuits were Spanish citizens. In 2008 the Spanish ...read more

Among the many topics discussed in our recent 2015 Year in Review program was the highly anticipated and much debated Synod of Bishops part two, on the vocation and mission of the family today. It was easily the biggest news story in the Catholic world last year, and could very well carry over into 2016. That’s ...read more

Join us in prayer for the intentions entrusted to us by Pope Francis. For January 2016, we join the Holy Father in praying for: Interreligious Dialogue – That sincere dialogue among men and women of different faiths may produce the fruits of peace and justice. Christian Unity –That by means of dialogue and fraternal charity and with the ...read more