Pope hopes for S.Sudan peace as leaders end Vatican retreat Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis called Thursday for warring South Sudanese factions to respect the latest armistice after a two-day Vatican retreat aimed at shoring up the fragile peace. “I express my heartfelt hope that hostilities …
Read More »Pope accepts abuse resignation of Chile cardinal Ezzati: Vatican
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Chilean Cardinal Riccardo Ezzati, who had agreed to step down along with his country’s bishops over sexual abuse cases and their cover-up, the Vatican said Saturday. Ezzati, archbishop of Santiago, is the seventh senior Chilean church official …
Read More »LENT: Pope denounces deceptiveness of ‘culture of appearance’
Rome, Italy | AFP | Pope Francis denounced the deceptiveness of “the culture of appearance” in a ceremony marking Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, the 40-day period before Easter when Catholics traditionally fast. “Earthly realities fade away like dust in the wind,” said the pope at the Basilica …
Read More »Vatican to open archives of WWII pope Pius XII in 2020
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis announced Monday that the Vatican will open the secret archives of the era of Pius XII in March next year, which could shed light on the Catholic Church’s actions during World War II. Researchers have long sought to examine the archives …
Read More »Cardinal Marx admits Church files on paedophile priests ‘destroyed’
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | A top Catholic cardinal admitted Saturday that Church files on priests who sexually abused children were destroyed or never even drawn up, a move which allowed paedophiles to prey on others. “Files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible …
Read More »Pope’s guidelines for concrete change over sex abuse
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Thursday handed the world’s top Catholic bishops guidelines to shape the debate at a landmark Vatican summit on tackling clerical sex abuse. “As a help, I would share with you some important criteria formulated by the various episcopal commissions and …
Read More »Pope Francis warns against internet ‘disinformation’
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Thursday warned against the “disinformation” and “targeted distortion of facts” to be found on the Internet and social networks’ “manipulation of personal data”. The Internet “is a source of knowledge and relationships that were once unthinkable,” the Argentine pope said in …
Read More »Pope touts ‘Click to Pray’ app ahead of World Youth Day
Accompany Pope Francis in his Click To Pray profile. Download the app ? pic.twitter.com/m3Wt6jWwoK — Click To Pray (@clicktoprayapp) January 20, 2019 Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Sunday recommended a praying app called “Click to Pray” ahead of a World Youth Day festival in Panama …
Read More »Pope says nationalist leaders undermine global diplomacy
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Nationalist leaders are weakening the world’s system of multilateral diplomacy, Pope Francis warned on Monday in his annual address to ambassadors to the Holy See. The pope decried “the resurgence of nationalistic tendencies at odds with the vocation of international organisations to be …
Read More »Pope vows justice for victims of ‘vile’ sex abuse
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis vowed justice for victims of clerical sex abuse Monday, describing paedophilia as one of the “vilest” crimes ahead of a historic global meet on the crisis roiling the church. “I cannot refrain from speaking of one of the plagues of our …
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