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Pope Francis’s second full day in office – live updates
15.30 GMT That wraps up our live coverage for today. We’ll be back on Tuesday morning at 8.30am GMT for live coverage of the Pope’s inaugural Mass. In the meantime, Pope Francis has already inspired...
View ArticleFrancis is a Pope of the Christian Democrat Left
The relations between Church and State have a different flavour in Italy, for a variety of reasons. One is historical. The Pope has just been to see the President of the Italian Republic, a state visit...
View ArticlePope to visit Holy Land on May 24
Pope Francis has announced the dates of his trip to the Holy Land in May. The Holy Father will visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem in the West Bank, and the Jordanian capital, Amman. 24 May to 26 May. Francis...
View Article‘Wake up the world’ with faith, says Pope
Pope Francis has called for a special year-long focus on consecrated life, asking the church’s religious sisters, brothers and priests to “wake up the world” with their testimony of faith, holiness and...
View ArticleFr Lombardi: words in Scalfari interview ‘cannot be attributed to the pope’
The Vatican has said that a recent interview with pope Francis in which he talks about sex abuse should not be considered a record of his exact works. In the article, published yesterday in the Rome...
View ArticlePope acknowledges Catholic complicity in persecution of Italian Pentecostals
Pope Francis has fulfilled a request of the Italian evangelical community by recognising the complicity of some Catholics in the fascist-era persecution of Italian Pentecostals and evangelicals. “Among...
View ArticlePope Francis to visit Paris and Lourdes next year
Pope Francis is to visit France next year, stopping off in Paris and Lourdes, the Vatican has confirmed. The Pope is already visiting Strasbourg next month to address the European Parliament, but that...
View ArticleThe ‘media synod’ has eclipsed the real one
Last Saturday, the synod closed with the voting on the final report and with a final address by the Pope, which was greeted with a prolonged standing ovation. The week of high drama ended with a great...
View ArticlePope likely to meet Christian refugees in Turkey
Pope Francis is likely to meet Christian refugees from Iraq and Syria during his trip to Turkey. The Holy Father is due to arrive on November 28 for a three-day trip to the Muslim country. Although the...
View ArticlePope Francis is like a world-class football manager, says bishop
Pope Francis is like a world-class football manager and his bishops are a team called by God, Bishop John Arnold of Salford said at his installation last week. The new bishop was speaking about the...
View ArticleChristians can’t ignore differences on life issues, says Pope
Christianity has something to say about human dignity, and “it would be a shame” if differing positions on the sanctity of all human life or on marriage were to increase the divisions among Christian...
View Article‘Follow Mary on the path to peace,’ says Pope
Before announcing the names of the 20 new cardinals he will create on February 14, Pope Francis used his Sunday Angelus address to continue the reflection on peace, Mary and the Church that he began...
View ArticleFrancis is seen but not heard in Sri Lanka
Papal visits, planned long in advance, cannot be arranged to coincide with unfolding news events. But the visit to Sri Lanka, coming only days after a surprise presidential election result that some...
View ArticleChristianity can lead us to happiness, Pope tells young people
Christianity is not a set of prohibitions, but a “project for life” that can lead to true happiness in building better relationships and a better world, Pope Francis has told a group of young...
View ArticleSt Joan of Arc: Holiness beyond comprehension
Watching the last episode of Wolf Hall last week, one could not help but feel sympathy for the hapless Queen Anne Boleyn. It was clear that she was innocent of the charges of gross sexual misconduct...
View ArticlePope Francis announces Extraordinary Jubilee Year
Pope Francis has declared an Extraordinary Jubilee Year for the Church, calling it a “Holy Year of Mercy”. The year will begin on December 8 2015, the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican...
View ArticlePope Francis surprises homeless people during tour of Sistine Chapel
Pope Francis surprised a group of homeless people yesterday when he joined them on a private tour of the Sistine Chapel. The 150 men and women had been given a tour of the Vatican Museum and gardens...
View ArticlePope Francis greets thousands of children at the Vatican
Peace takes hard work and must be built one person at a time working each day by forgiving others, ending injustice and stopping greed, Pope Francis told thousands of school children. Pope Francis...
View ArticleChildren need to see their mother and father in love, says Pope
Children need to see their parents kiss each other, compliment each other and resolve arguments peacefully, Pope Francis has said. “Dear parents, your children need to discover by watching you that it...
View ArticlePope Francis greets patients and families at Paraguayan children’s hospital
Pope Francis greeted patients and their families in a children’s hospital on July 11 before traveling to the Marian shrine of Caacupe to celebrate Mass. The Pope spent about half-an-hour in the Ninos...
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