This week Vatican Connections takes a look at Vatican diplomacy once again after Pope Francis delivered a traditional New Year’s address to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See. The Church gears up for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. The Papal charities open their doors to the homeless as temperatures dropped in Rome and ...read more

This coming Sunday, the World Day of Migrants and Refugees will be celebrated at the Vatican. In recent days Pope Francis’ message, entitled “Migrants minors, vulnerable and voiceless,” was presented alongside all the other initiatives of the Italian Church. In 2015, 65.3 million people around the world were forced to migrate. Of those, 21.3 million were ...read more

Last Monday, the Holy See Press Office published the letter that Pope Francis wrote to the bishops for the Feast of the Holy Innocents, celebrated on December 28. Referring to the massacre of the Innocents, as it is told in the Gospel, the Pope dwelled on the sobbing of mothers bewailing the death of their children ...read more

On Sunday, December 4, 2016 Fidel Castro’s funeral will be held in Cuba. He died last week at the age of 90. The government announced, following his death, nine days of national mourning for one of the most popular and controversial figures of the last 60 years. The Catholic Church had a fundamental role to play ...read more

Away from the limelight, Pope Francis spent one Friday a month, over the course of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, putting into practice the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Locations were never announced beforehand and so in the past year, he surprised the sick and the elderly, retired priests, women who have been abused, ...read more

Emilie Callan reflects on the Pope's visit Jubilee of Prisoners in 2016, and how he has a special place in his heart for those who are incarcerated. ...read more

The Pope went to Sweden last week. He was there for two days, from October 31st to November 1st commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The history between both Churches is somewhat complex. And what do we really know about Protestant theology? Here is brief look at how it all started and what ...read more

On Monday evening Pope Francis received, in a private and unexpected audience, the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The meeting lasted 30 minutes and they talked about the aggravation of the political crisis in the South American country. It has turned into an increasingly serious situation since now the president himself is being harshly criticized by people ...read more

When he was elected, Fr. Arturo Sosa was surprised. He said, “I have the feeling I’ll need so much help. It is a big challenge”. But the challenges awaiting him do not weigh only on his shoulders. He will do his best, as he’s expressed “it is not the work of one person, but the work ...read more

After announcing 13 new cardinals two weeks ago, the Pope presided over the canonization mass of seven blessed on Sunday, October 16, 2016, in front of 80,000 people, who filled St. Peter’s Square for the occasion. Speaking of the new saints, during his homily, the pontiff said the saints are men and women who enter fully into the ...read more