BLOG: Vatican Connections
French Biblical Scholar Anne-Marie Pelletier was asked by Pope Francis to compose the meditations for the Vatican’s Way of the Cross. ...read more
A statement released from the Holy See Press Office after the meeting said Pope Francis asked God's forgiveness for the failures of the Catholic Church during the 1994 Rwanda genocide and for the hatred and violence perpetrated by some priests and religious. ...read more
Last Monday, Pope Francis celebrated four years since his election as pontiff. During this week, the Holy Father received many messages and witnesses for this anniversary, words of profound admiration and encouragement to continue on this path, his ministry. Speaking to Vatican Radio, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said: “I believe that Amoris Laetitia has ...read more
Last Sunday, Pope Francis visited the parish of Santa Maria Josefa del Cuore di Gesù in Ponte di Nona, in the eastern outskirts of Rome, an area of ??town that suffers problems such as poverty and unemployment. It was his thirteenth visit to a parish in his diocese. John Paul II had also visited that ...read more
Last Saturday the Pope appointed Henryk Hoser, Archbishop of Warsaw, as the special envoy to Medjugorje. In the official statement by the Holy See, it reads that: The mission has the aim of acquiring a deeper knowledge of the pastoral situation there, and above all, of the needs of the faithful who go there on pilgrimage, ...read more
Dozens of poster posted by anonymous protestors opposing the Pope were plastered along streets in the center of Rome last Saturday morning. The posters depict a very stern looking Pope Francis and a clear message – criticizing some of his policies, and referring to specific events, such as the most recent events concerning the Order ...read more
On the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, the Church also marked the World Day of Consecrated Life with Mass in Saint Peter’s basilica. In his homily, Pope Francis encouraged those present to rekindle “what originally set their hearts afire” to answer God’s call, which he came back to when meeting with a ...read more
The Spanish daily newspaper El País published last Sunday a long interview with Pope Francis, who spoke to the journalist Pablo Ordaz on January 20th. For more than one hour, inside a normal room in Casa Santa Marta, the pontiff explained that “in the Church there are saints and sinners, decent men and corrupt men” ...read more
This week on Vatican Connections, the Church marks the Week of prayer for Christian Unity. In Rome, the Holy Father kicks it off with an ecumenical delegation from Finland and Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, shares with Vatican Radio what ecumenism looked like last year. The ...read more
The Vatican released a statement Tuesday morning, regarding the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, saying the Holy See “wishes to reiterate its support and encouragement for the commendable work that members and volunteers carry out in various parts of the world, in fulfilment of the aims of the Order.” The statement came during a recent ...read more