Letter from Rome From the beginning, Pope Francis has been committed to financial reform of the Vatican. It was the first study commission he created, it was the first major appointment he made, and it’s been a constant of his papacy over what’s now almost eight years. Yet after all this time, Francis faces the…
Will Pope have a ‘Pell Problem’ with Super Mario over visions of reform?
Letter from Rome During the St John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI years, the Vatican had a council of cardinals from around the world who allegedly oversaw its financial affairs. Members of that body routinely complained that the information they received was incomplete, that it lacked credibility and was fundamentally untrustworthy. Two of the…
Abuse case at Vatican pre-seminary captures risk reward of transparency
Letter from Rome A Vatican tribunal last Wednesday heard testimony from the accused party in an unusual sexual abuse case, one involving a charge that one minor abused another during their time at a pre-seminary on Vatican grounds that provides altar boys for liturgies in St Peter’s Basilica and that’s produced roughly 200 priestly vocations…
Pope’s move for women’s rights anything but a token gesture
Letter from Rome In what’s being hailed as a demonstration that Pope Francis is in earnest about empowering women within ecclesiastical structures, last Friday, for the first time ever, the pontiff named a woman as the Promoter of Justice for the Appeals Court of the Vatican City State. In effect, the Promoter of Justice functions…
By meeting Cupich, Pope Francis masters speaking without words
Letter from Rome St Francis of Assisi supposedly said, “Preach always, and, when necessary, use words”. In all honesty, there’s no evidence St Francis ever said anything like that – but even so, it’s a piece of advice Popes long have taken to heart. Over the centuries, Popes have always found plenty of ways to…
Mixed messages on Biden reveal not just competing camps but divided hearts
Letter from Rome Among the many traditions surrounding a presidential inauguration, Catholics seem to have created one of their own, especially when it’s a Democrat: Mixed messages from the Vatican and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Twelve years ago, when Barack Obama was elected, Pope Benedict XVI dispatched a note of congratulations on November…
As Callista Gingrich departs, she’s the new ‘COAT’ in US/Vatican ties
Letter from Rome In sports, people argue about who’s the GOAT, meaning “Greatest of All Time”. In basketball, is Lebron James the GOAT or is it Michael Jordan? In baseball, are we talking Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb? In college football, did Alabama Coach Nick Saban just become the GOAT by winning a seventh national…
If Biden is to heal America, he’ll need his Church
Letter from Rome By all accounts, President-elect Joe Biden is a sincere Catholic. He’s spoken openly about how his beliefs have sustained him through personal pain and loss, and while there may be debate in some circles about how coherent his politics are with his faith, few contest whether he has faith in the first…
Does the Vatican have a double standard on papal privacy?
One certainly can’t accuse the Vatican of being part of what Italians call the “no vax” crowd, meaning resistance to the Covid-19 vaccines. Not only did the Vatican nip a Catholic form of such opposition in the bud recently by signing off on the morality of the vaccine, but on December 2 the Vatican announced…
Should Hong Kong crackdowns count as ‘anti-Christian persecution’?
Prison sentences handed down last week for three young pro-democracy activists, in tandem with the arrest of media tycoon Jimmy Lai, has been largely read as the latest chapter in China tightening its grip on Hong Kong and eviscerating the principle of “one nation, two systems” under which the territory was transferred to Chinese control…