To no one’s real surprise, US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi received Communion during a papal Mass yesterday marking the traditional feast of Sts Peter and Paul. Pelosi, her husband Paul, and other family members happened to be in Rome on vacation and decided to attend the Mass. The act of receiving Communion, first…
Even before Pope Francis stages his latest consistory on August 27, inducting 20 new members into the Catholic Church’s most exclusive club, the event has managed to make news – in this case, not so much for the new cardinals who’ll be there, but the one erstwhile cardinal-designate who won’t. This past Thursday, the bishops’…
Given the death late Friday of Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who was 94, what’s often described as the Vatican’s “old guard” has taken a significant blow. Sodano had been the Secretary of State to two popes and the former Dean of the College of Cardinals, and he remained massively influential in shaping the Vatican’s internal…
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán came calling on Pope Francis April 21, and, according to the official chronology, the encounter lasted a robust 40 minutes. From one point of view, the headline could well be that the two leaders could spend that much time together without coming to blows. They disagree on almost everything, from…
Over the weekend, I spent some time with a group of journalists visiting Rome from the States, part of a special events unit within their news agency trying to get ready for whenever the next papal conclave occurs – or, as I call it, the “Big Show”. We were standing outside a Roman landmark when…
Wars always have wildly unforeseen consequences, eviscerating a status quo and violently shaping new realities. While most pundits are pondering the geopolitical, diplomatic and military fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s war also seems destined to have important consequences on the religious scene. Right now what those consequences may be seems impossible to descry,…
As the dust began to settle last year on the Vatican’s troubled $400 million dollar land deal in London, and as the colossal dimensions of the failure it represents became clear, Pope Francis was determined to put someone on trial, including his former chief of staff, Italian Cardinal Becciu, along with nine other defendants. Yet,…
An old saying has it that “journalism is the first draft of history”. Frankly, I’ve always been a bit dubious about that claim. In my experience, and to paraphrase John Lennon, history often seems to be what happens while journalists are talking about other things. Here’s a quote from historian Arnold J. Toynbee in his…
Sunday marked the 63rd anniversary of an important turning point for 20th Century Catholicism, and one with direct relevance for understanding the current occupants of two of the most influential offices in Italy: Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, and Sergio Mattarella, the recently re-elected President of the Republic. That turning point was the ordination of…
Last night, 80-year-old Sergio Mattarella was re-elected overwhelmingly as Italy’s President of the Republic, a result that triggered joy both inside parliament and in Italian streets. Mattarella is a widely beloved figure here, perhaps the most popular man in the country, someone who’s demonstrated both keen institutional judgment and also a remarkable ability to capture…