Letter from Rome   When the Vatican announced last Thursday that Pope Francis had named a new spokesman, most early reaction suggested the move didn’t exactly inspire confidence about an upgrade in the role of the press office. The Pope tapped a 43-year-old Italian layman who’s worked in the press office for the last decade,…

Shortly after Pope Francis was elected in March 2013, he declared his wish to preside over a “poor Church for the poor”. While that was a statement of intent, his first real chance to make it operational came three months later when he visited the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa off the coast of Sicily,…

Every so often, we get official confirmation of the obvious, and, surprisingly enough, it still makes waves. Such is the case again with the release of a preparatory document for an October summit of bishops on the Amazon, which confirms that the ordination of married “elderly people”, meaning men, will be on the agenda. From…

Although right-wing populist Matteo Salvini is now Italy’s undisputed political leader after his Lega party finished in first place in last week’s European elections, he doesn’t bask in universal acclaim. Among other expressions of disapproval, some Italians who reject his anti-immigrant, anti-outsider rhetoric have taken to showing up at his rallies and other events dressed…

News headlines of late have been dominated by rumblings between the US and Iran, capped by President Donald Trump taking to Twitter to state emphatically: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran.” In such moments of global tension, the Vatican typically aspires to play the role of a reconciler…

Theoretically, all baptised Catholics are supposed to strive for sanctity. If you’re like most of us, however, you rarely meet someone who just seems to radiate holiness – not a faux saccharine piety, but the real deal. We’re talking about the sort of personality with whom, after an encounter, you walk away thinking: “I just…

Letter from Rome   Last Tuesday made official a transition that’s been quietly underway for a while in terms of the Vatican’s response to the clerical sexual abuse scandals: Pope Francis and his aides are rethinking, if not the substance of a ‘zero tolerance’ policy, at least the rhetoric of it, becoming increasingly unwilling to…

Whatever else Pope Francis’ decision on Monday, March 4 to open the archives from the pontificate of Pius XII in 2020 may mean, there’s one preliminary conclusion that seems take-it-to-the-bank, no-doubt-about-it, slam-dunk certain. Here it is: opening the archives will not – indeed, by definition, cannot – settle the historical controversy about Pius XII and…

Letter from Rome   Under any circumstances, the announcement in September that Pope Francis plans to convene a summit on February 21-24 for all the presidents of bishops’ conferences around the world, along with the Vatican’s senior leadership, to discuss the clerical sexual abuse scandals in the Church would have been big news. After the…