Tag Archives: Pope Francis

The Associated Press reports: The Vatican says someone who lives in the same Vatican hotel as Pope Francis has tested positive for coronavirus, adding to the 11 cases of COVID-19 among the Swiss Guards who protect him. The Vatican said Saturday that the resident of the Domus Sanctae Marthae has moved out temporarily and is in isolation, as are all …

ABC News reports: For the first time, a clergy sex abuse trial opened Wednesday in the Vatican’s criminal tribunal, with one priest accused of molesting an altar boy in the Vatican’s youth seminary and another priest accused of covering it up. The case concerns the closed world of the St. Pius X youth seminary, a palazzo inside the Vatican walls …

Reuters reports: The Vatican said on Wednesday it had denied a request from Mike Pompeo for an audience with Pope Francis, and accused the Secretary of State of trying to drag the Catholic Church into the U.S. presidential election by denouncing its relations with China. The extraordinary remarks from the two top diplomatic officials at the Vatican came after Pompeo …

The Jesuit magazine America reports: Pope Francis told a group of parents of L.G.B.T. children yesterday that “God loves your children as they are” and “the church loves your children as they are because they are children of God.” He did so in a brief encounter with some 40 Italian parents (both mothers and fathers) of L.G.B.T. children after the …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis is giving his blessing to a new Vatican think tank that is seeking to prevent the Mafia and organized crime groups from exploiting the image of the Virgin Mary for their own illicit ends. The Vatican’s Pontifical Marian Academy launched the think tank Friday at a conference titled “Liberating Mary from the Mafia.” It …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis said Sunday that gossiping is a “plague worse than COVID” that is seeking to divide the Catholic Church. Francis strayed from his prepared text to double down on his frequent complaint about gossiping within church communities and even within the Vatican bureaucracy. Francis went on at some length to say the devil is the …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis on Wednesday warned against any prospect that rich people would get priority for a coronavirus vaccine. “The pandemic is a crisis. You don’t come out of it the same — either better or worse,″ Francis said, adding improvised remarks to his planned speech for his weekly public audience. “We must come out better” from …

Reuters reports: The Vatican urged Catholics on Thursday to disinvest from the armaments and fossil fuel industries and to closely monitor companies in sectors such as mining to check if they are damaging the environment. The calls were contained in a 225-page manual for church leaders and workers to mark the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical “Laudato Si” …

Reuters reports: In his first public remarks on the U.S. protests, Pope Francis urged people not to “tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form” and called for “national reconciliation and peace.” “Dear brothers and sisters in the United States, I have witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest in your nation in these …

The Christian Post reports: Two days after bishops in Italy’s Roman Catholic Church complained that government officials did not include the resumption of in-person masses as part of a reopening plan for the country starting May 4, Pope Francis on Tuesday urged “prudence and obedience” to prevent the coronavirus from surging in the country again. Speaking to the faithful during …

“This morning, I’m starting to see the pagan awakening of some members of the radical — many members of the radical left, suggesting that this is nature’s revenge. Nature’s revenge. Now, I have been informed by reliable sources that nature does not actually have intent. I have been informed by reliable sources on the left that God doesn’t exist, number …

The Jesuit magazine America reports: In a remarkable Easter Sunday letter to members of social movements around the world, Pope Francis, noting that the widespread suffering caused by the global coronavirus pandemic does not fall evenly, suggested that the crisis warranted the establishment of a universal basic income. He described it also as an opportunity for affluent societies to “downshift” …

CNN reports: Pope Francis has said the coronavirus pandemic is one of “nature’s responses” to humans ignoring the current ecological crisis. In an email interview published Wednesday in The Tablet and Commonwealth magazines, the pontiff said the outbreak offered an opportunity to slow down the rate of production and consumption and to learn to understand and contemplate the natural world. …

Reuters reports: Pope Francis marked a surreal Palm Sunday in an empty St. Peter’s Basilica, urging people living through the coronavirus pandemic not to be so concerned with what they lack but how they can ease the suffering of others.n The service, kicking off Holy Week events leading to Easter, usually attracts tens of thousands of people to a St. …

Reuters reports: The gloom over Italy darkened Friday as the country reported nearly 1,000 new deaths, its worst single-day toll in an accelerating coronavirus pandemic that has brought the world to a standstill. Grim-faced Italian officials in Rome announced 969 new deaths at a daily briefing while, not far away and at the same time, Pope Francis held a stirring …

Reuters reports: Pope Francis’ Holy Week and Easter services, which normally draw tens of thousands of people, will be held without the public attending because of the coronavirus outbreak, a step believed to be unprecedented in modern times. It was not clear how the massive events will be scaled down but sources said officials were studying ways to hold them …

The New York Post reports: Pope Francis livestreamed his prayers to giant screens in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday — breaking centuries of tradition because of Italy’s deadly spread of the novel coronavirus. The 83-year-old pope — who tested negative for COVID-19 after suffering from a cold — appeared for a few seconds at a Vatican palazzo window to wave …

Reuters reports: Pope Francis, who canceled a Lent retreat for the first time in his papacy because he is suffering from a cold, has tested negative for coronavirus, the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported on Tuesday. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said he had no immediate comment on the report. The 83-year-old Roman Catholic leader, who had part of one lung …

Reuters reports: During Lent, Catholics are called on to give up something, like sweets. On Wednesday, Pope Francis added a modern twist to the list of things to quit during the season and beyond: insulting people on social media. The pope made his appeal to tone things down while speaking to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square …

Reuters reports: Pope Francis on Sunday warned against “inequitable solutions” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying they would only be a prelude to new crises, in an apparent reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace proposal. It was believed to be the first time the pope, who has often defended both Palestinian rights and Israel’s need for security, has …