Letter from Rome On the first day of the final session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality, a study group responsible for evaluating the female diaconate has said that, while still exploring other forms of women’s’ involvement in the Church, they will not become deacons. Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s…
Pope Francis last Sunday announced a consistory in December for the creation of 21 new cardinals from all over the world, representing yet again the Pope’s love of the peripheries and his inclination to reward key allies. Speaking during his October 6 Angelus address, the Pope announced that “on December 8, a consistory will be…
Letter from Rome While offering an overall positive judgment on the Marian apparitions and devotions associated with the Medjugorje phenomenon in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Vatican nevertheless said in a new document released Thursday that some issues still need to be clarified. The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) presented the document, titled ‘The…
In a line that may once again stir reaction in more traditional Catholic quarters, Pope Francis on Friday wrapped up a three-day visit to Singapore, a country with large pockets of at least five different faiths, that “all religions are a path to God”. “They are like different languages in order to arrive at God,…
In a new interview with the Jesuit province of China, Pope Francis expressed his desire to visit the country and spoke of his admiration for the faith of the Chinese Church and culture, as well as various aspects of his papacy, including criticism and opposition. Asked by Jesuit Fr Pedro Chia, who conducted the interview,…
Letter from Rome Last week the Vatican’s Academy for Life issued a new text on a series of bioethical issues, including the provision of food and hydration for patients in a vegetative state, which marks a modest departure from the Vatican’s previously held position on the issue. Published Thursday by the Pontifical Academy for Life…
Letter from Rome Last week Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a phone call to Pope Francis in which he urged a collective condemnation of what he said was the “ridicule” of moral and religious values at the Olympic opening ceremony. News of the call was published in an August 1 statement published on the…
After a strongly negative response from several thousand users, the Vatican quickly took down an online poll last week on the concept of “synodality”, which is at the heart of Pope Francis’s high-profile consultation process set to conclude in October with a Synod of Bishops in Rome. Published the morning of July 25, the poll…
Letter from Rome Since unveiling a new set of norms for evaluating the validity of alleged Marian apparitions and other spiritual phenomena two months ago, the Vatican has put out rulings on several cases, recently approving devotion to two popular Marian appearances in Italy. In mid-May, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith…
In a stroke of irony, the Vatican’s doctrinal office on Thursday, which marked the United States’ Independence Day, convened and formally declared that a former US envoy charged with schism was excommunicated. In a July 5 statement, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) announced that nearly six years after calling on…