(ANALYSIS) At the current synod, whose purpose is to address “communion, participation, and mission” in the church, women’s role is on the agenda. But Catholic women have historically found ways to speak to and about their church leadership, even when they have been excluded from its proceedings.
Read More(PHOTO ESSAY) The U.S. president has the Secret Service as protection. The pope has the Swiss Guard. Who are these men donning multi-colored uniforms designed during the Middle Ages who march around St. Peter’s Square? Religion Unplugged takes you behind the Vatican walls for a closer look at the military unit.
Read MoreThe city is preparing for a jubilee year, a time when the Catholic Church invites pilgrims to Rome. The events, which will officially began on Christmas Eve this year and end on Dec. 28, 2025, constitute a special time dedicated to prayer and pilgrimage. Italy’s capital, which already draws an estimated 25 million visitors each year, could see that number increase to 32 million in 2025.
Read MoreFallout from the “Last Supper” scene during the Opening Ceremony at the Paris Olympics spilled over into a second week after bishops from around the world — and even the Vatican — issued statements calling out the display as offensive to Christians everywhere. The Holy See said ir was “saddened” by the display, while others called on the IOC to “repudiate this blasphemous action.”
Read MoreThe Holy See’s secretary of state visited the Ukrainian city of Odessa and said that the pope is following the situation there “with so much attention, with so much worry and so much pain.”
Read MoreThe once-powerful cardinal was found guilty on Saturday by a three-judge Vatican panel of embezzlement and fraud in a high-profile corruption case that rocked the Holy See’s hierarchy for the past three years.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The speculation over whether Pope Francis’ age — he turns 86 on Dec. 17 — will cause him to resign has increasingly become a story, first in the Italian press, and subsequently around the world. It is something that will preoccupy reporters throughout the summer.
Read MoreOver the last 20 years, Serbia has been slowly improving its relationship with the Holy See. Last fall, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary of the Holy See for Relations with States, visited Serbia. During his visit, he met with the country’s president and prime minister as well as recently-elected Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church, telling the Serbian press that “Pope Francis is open for all invitations.”
Read MoreThe humanitarian activist and religious freedom fighter Cardinal Zen, who had previously served as bishop of Hong Kong from 2002 to 2009, was detained, along with four others, in connection with his role as administrator of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which supported pro-democracy demonstrations by paying for the legal and medical fees of protesters.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The focus the past few weeks has been on Germany and the involvement of Benedict XVI in the handling of some abuse cases, decades before he became a key church official in Rome and, eventually, pope. This was also long before the church adopted stricter policies on how to handle cases of clergy sexual abuse.
Read MoreZen, who recently returned to Hong Kong from a trip to the Vatican, has no higher authority on Earth to appeal to in his fight to save his country’s church from infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party.
Read MoreThe Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan Congressional caucus, held a panel on July 30 to discuss the imprisonment, torture and believed death of Catholic Bishop James Su Zhimin. Su’s treatment by the Chinese Communist Party is representative of other violations of religious freedom in the country, and panelists believe it is time for the Holy See to cut ties with the country.
Read More(OPINION) Let’s start with a loaded question. But it’s a questions that journalists really need to ask, because of trends during recent events in Catholic life. Is the Vatican’s press office helping to push a progressive agenda that could forever change the Catholic church?
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