Pope Francis canonised Argentina’s first female saint, María Antonia of St Joseph — known affectionately in the Pope’s home country as ‘Mama Antula’ — in a Mass in St Peter’s Basilica on Sunday. Argentina’s President Javier Milei sat in the front row to the Pope’s right during the canonisation on February 11 and embraced the…
Fr Patrick Briscoe OP Sometimes you hope to be wrong. For example: A good friend that I made in college seminary discerned out of formation and began to pursue a relationship with a young woman. I didn’t think they were a match. I told him as much. (Graciously, he did not end our friendship…
In a new interview, Pope Francis said he is in good health and denied any plans to resign, saying he has several foreign trips planned for this year, including a summer stop in Polynesia and a potential return trip to Argentina. Speaking of his health, Francis in the interview jested that “I’m still alive” despite…
The German Child Protection Association has criticised Pope Francis for his comments on the beating of children. “There is no justification for beating children, not even a papal one,” said Daniel Grein, Federal Director of the Child Protection Association, in Berlin. “Anyone who physically abuses a child is doing the wrong thing. This also includes…
Penelope Middelboe I fear for Pope Francis’s health. I wrote him a personal letter posted on 7 December, but it hasn’t left the UK yet according to the tracking number. I fear for his health because the last time I wrote personally to a pope was in May 1963 when I was six years old.…
Kerry diocese keeps ‘hope alive’ with mission The diocese of Kerry has launched its online mission, ‘Hope Alive!’, from January 21 to 24. Well-known humanitarian Adi Roche headlines the mission and will reflect on what it means to welcome the stranger on Sunday, January 21, at 8pm. Guest speakers include Fr Michael Conway, Dr Keith…
Carol Glatz All forms of artificial intelligence should be used to alleviate human suffering, promote integral development and help end wars and conflicts, not increase inequality and injustice in the world, Pope Francis said in his message for World Peace Day 2024. “Artificial intelligence ought to serve our best human potential and our highest aspirations,…
Cindy Wooden Pope Francis’ 2023 was a year of important trips made or postponed, a predecessor’s funeral and his own 10th anniversary as Pope, a call to the world to act on climate change and a call to the Church to strengthen its mission by learning “synodality”. The Argentine pope, who was born on December…
Pope Francis revealed his intention to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major, reflecting his intense personal devotion to Mary and the famed icon of Salus Populi Romani contained in its Borghese chapel. Francis thus will become the sixth pontiff to be interred in the basilica, joining Pius V, Sixtus V, Paul V, Clement IX…
Letter From Rome H.L. Mencken once famously quipped that love is like war, in that it’s easy to begin but very hard to stop. Had Mencken plied his journalistic trade in the internet age, he might well have added rumours to that list, which are notoriously easy these days to put into circulation and virtually…
John L. Allen Jr.