Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis will break with centuries of tradition and livestream Easter Sunday mass to allow the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics celebrate their holiest holiday under a coronavirus lockdown. Fear and confusion in the face of a disease whose official death toll has soared past …
Read More »Pope guides locked-down world through virtual Easter
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Church doors will be shut and the Vatican sealed off when Pope Francis leads 1.3 billion Catholics in Easter Sunday celebrations held under a worldwide coronavirus lockdown. Fear and confusion in the face of a disease whose toll has unrelentingly climbed towards 100,000 are …
Read More »Pope rails against ‘unjust sentences’ as Cardinal Pell freed
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis decried “unjust” sentences against “innocent” people on Tuesday, hours after Australian Cardinal George Pell walked free from prison following the quashing of his conviction for child sex abuse. Australia’s High Court overturned five counts of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in the …
Read More »Pope reportedly tests negative for virus after Vatican scare
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis was reported Thursday to have tested negative for the novel coronavirus after a person in his residence was said to have contacted COVID-19. Several Italian newspapers with reputable sources in the Vatican said the Italian clergyman who got sick had lived for …
Read More »Pope ‘tests negative for coronavirus’: report
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis, who is suffering from a cold, has tested negative for the coronavirus, an Italian newspaper reported Tuesday, as Italy battles Europe’s worst outbreak. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni did not respond to a request for comment on the report in the Messaggero newspaper. Francis cancelled a Lent …
Read More »Seven years after stepping down, Benedict fuels ‘two popes’ headache
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Seven years after his surprise resignation, Benedict XVI — weakened by age but still intellectually spry — appears unable to remain in the shadow of his Argentinean successor Francis, creating the appearance of “two popes” at odds. On February 11, 2013, at the age …
Read More »Pope says poverty can be beaten if rich play their part
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis insisted Wednesday poverty could be beaten if the world’s rich play a full part in ending inequality as he attended a conference on financial inclusion. “We are neither condemned to inequality nor to paralysis in the face of injustice. The rich world …
Read More »Former prostitutes among ex-nuns at Vatican shelter: cardinal
Rome, Italy | AFP | Former nuns “abandoned” by the Catholic Church, including some who became prostitutes to survive, have been sheltered at a Vatican residence for more than a year, a Brazilian cardinal said. Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz confirmed the house’s existence at an undisclosed location in Vatican City …
Read More »Ex-pope’s shadow Vatican role in the spotlight
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Ex-pope Benedict XVI seems to have broken his silence recently over key Catholic issues and his comments have raised serious questions within the Church about the extent to which there are, in fact, two “men in white” at the Vatican. In 2013, Benedict became …
Read More »Dispute over former pope’s role in controversial book
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | The Vatican was gripped Tuesday by a dispute over whether elderly ex-pope Benedict XVI was being used by the Catholic Church’s ultra-conservative wing to undermine his successor Pope Francis. At least three Vatican correspondents cited a source close to Benedict saying the former pontiff …
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