Pope Francis uses iPad to sign up for World Youth Day
Pope Francis has become the first person to sign up for next year’s World Youth Day. The Pope registered using an iPad in the window overlooking St Peter’s Square during his traditional Sunday blessing...
View ArticlePope Francis praises nuns and single parents on American discussion programme
Pope Francis appeared on ABC News’s “Town Hall” discussion programme last week in advance of his trip to the United States. For an hour “World News Tonight” anchorman David Muir put questions from...
View ArticleSaudi Arabia bans magazine with Pope Francis on cover
Saudi Arabia has banned the Arabic version of National Geographic magazine, which features an image of Pope Francis. Although the company did not explicitly say so, it is believed that the Islamic...
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Eyewitness: Holguin Catholics experience the unimaginable
The scene would have been unimaginable a few years ago: A Catholic Mass in Holguin’s Revolution Square, where May Day parades and other patriotic events exalting the Cuban Revolution take place. But on...
View ArticleSix families to receive Gospel of Luke from Pope in Philadelphia
Riad Sargi and his family are glad to know that Pope Francis has not forgotten the suffering of the people of Syria. “I met Pope Francis two years ago in Rome. When I met him I asked him to do...
View ArticleThousands raised for disabled boy blessed by Francis
A crowdfunding campaign has raised more than $100,000 (£65,000) for a disabled boy who was blessed by Pope Francis in America. Michael Keating, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was in Philadelphia with...
View ArticleGroup of children wish Francis a happy 79th birthday
To follow a path toward Christ, one must follow the good path of forgiveness, peace and solidarity, Pope Francis told hundreds of Italian children. The Holy Father told members of Catholic Action’s...
View ArticlePope Francis in Africa: full schedule
Pope Francis begins his five-day visit to Africa on November 25. During the papal visit, the Holy Father will spend time in Kenya, Uganda and Central African Republic. The full schedule (local times)...
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Denying people water is ‘a great injustice’, says Pope at Nairobi slum
Pope Francis denounced the conditions slum-dwellers are forced to live in today, saying that access to safe water is a basic human right and that everyone should have dignified, adequate housing....
View ArticleBook review: A papacy that reads like the plot of a TV series
Pope Francis: Untying the Knots – The Struggle for the Soul of Catholicism by Paul Valley Bloomsbury, £16.99 There is a danger in writing a biography of a living person: as more events happen the...
View ArticlePope: Prayers of the laity can make miracles happen
The prayers of the faithful, not the pope, bishops, priests or nuns, have the power to make miracles happen in the most impossible situations, Pope Francis has said. Saints, like St Monica, have proven...
View ArticleNaples is the ideal place for a winter break
I have just had a post-Christmas break in Naples, saying in a small hotel quite close to the Cathedral, which contains several wonders: the superb shrine of Saint Januarius, the city’s patron, the...
View ArticleFull text: Pope Francis at Mexico’s National Palace
I thank you, Mr President, for your words of welcome. I am happy to set foot on Mexican soil which holds a special place in the heart of the Americas. Today I come as a missionary of mercy and of peace...
View ArticleFull text: Pope Francis’s speech to families in Tuxtla Gutiérrez
Dear brothers and sisters, I am grateful to be here, on Chiapaneca soil. It feels good to be here on this soil, on this land; it is good to be here in this place which, with you here, has a family...
View ArticlePope Francis visits notorious prison on final day of Mexico tour
Pope Francis urged society to rethink its ideas of locking up inmates and throwing away the key, calling such an approach another symptom of the “throwaway culture” he often decries and “a symptom of a...
View ArticlePope Francis did not ‘lose his cool’ during his trip to Mexico
I have a problem with the assertion that Pope Francis ‘lost his temper’ with one of his fans during his trip to Mexico. There is a piece of footage doing the rounds – showing His Holiness being pulled...
View ArticlePope Francis condemns ‘blind violence’ after Brussels bombings
Pope Francis has condemned the “blind violence” of the terrorist attacks that took place in Brussels on Tuesday morning, which have killed over 30 people. Two explosions hit Zaventem airport in the...
View ArticleAmoris Laetitia is ‘kitchen sink theology’ and all the better for it
Okay, you’ve already seen the headlines, and no doubt skipped to find the juicy bits in the text itself. (At least, I hope you have. If a blog by me is really your first port of call for something like...
View ArticleLook at your own sins before judging others, Pope says at audience
Christians must look to their own sins and failings and not fall into the temptation of hypocrisy that causes them to believe they are better than others, Pope Francis said. “The relationship of...
View ArticlePhilippine president-elect attacks Catholic Church and bishops
The presumptive Philippine president-elect has launched a verbal attack on the country’s dominant Church as “the most hypocritical institution” and accused some of its bishops of corruption for...
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