A year has passed since Pope Francis trip to Cuba and the United States. In the 4 days spent on the island, the pontiff visited several cities: Havana, Holguin and Santiago, leaving a message of hope everywhere. The contribution the Holy Father made to the re-establishment of relations between Cuba and the United States after 50 ...read more

This week, the Council of Cardinals ended their 16th plenary meeting and the Commission for the Protection of Minors provide procedures to prevent abuse in the Church. ...read more

  There were significant resignations and several important nominations behind Vatican walls this week. The long expected retirement of Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi finally came to pass.  As well some high anticipated appointments were finally made and they speak volumes about the new Roman Curia. After ten years at the head of the Holy See ...read more

Pope Francis landed in Armenia this Friday for a weekend visit that includes a stop at the Armenian Genocide Memorial, his participation in a Divine Liturgy in the Armenian rite, and a visit to the Khor Virap monastery not far from the Turkish border. The first item on the papal itinerary was a visit to ...read more

A historic gathering of orthodox leaders is scheduled to take place on the Greek island of Crete later this week. The Great and Holy Council, as it called in the Orthodox church, would be the first such meeting in over a thousand years. With days to go before the start of that that meeting various ...read more

The Charlemagne Prize was created in 1949 by Dr. Kurt Pfeiffer in Aachen, Germany as a reminder and a call for European unity. The 2016 prize was awarded to Pope Francis this week. In post-war Europe several new organizations and pacts were in development. These organizations and agreements would unify Europe economically and politically. However, ...read more

While Pope Francis has been personally helping Syrian refugees relocate to Europe, a joint Catholic – Russian Orthodox delegation visited Lebanon and Syria. The delegation identified ways the two churches can work together to help Syrians. Officials from the Catholic aid agency Aid to the Church in Need and officials from the Moscow patriarchate of ...read more

For the first time ever, the pope will meet with the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. The announcement was made in a joint press release issued by the Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow. Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill will meet in Cuba on February 12. At the end of their two hour ...read more

The Holy See maintains diplomatic relations with 180 states. Among those are countries that do not have diplomatic relations with each other. Iran is one of those cases. Both Canada and the US do not currently have formal diplomatic relations with Iran. The Holy See, however, has maintained diplomatic relations with all three of these ...read more

This week the Pope’s message for the World Day for Social Communication was released with some fanfare at the Vatican. The real fanfare, however, was going on inside the Apostolic Palace. Pope Francis met with Apple CEO Tim Cook. The meeting comes one week after the pope met with Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Alphabet, ...read more