The Holy Father Pope Francis today named Msgr. Albert Bahhuth, Ph.D., Father Matthew Elshoff, OFM. Cap., Father Brian Nunes, and Father Slawomir Szkredka, Ph.D., S.S.D., auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Archbishop José H. Gomez and the bishops-elect addressed the L.A. media on the Pope’s announcement at a press conference today, at 10…
Vatican News, CNA—The Vatican has published the names of those participating in the upcoming Synod on Synodality assembly in October, including laypeople who will be full voting delegates at a Catholic Church synod for the first time. The delegates are made up of representatives selected by bishops’ conferences and Eastern Catholic Churches, leaders in the…
The announcement on July 1 that Pope Francis has named Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández to lead the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was accompanied by a letter the Holy Father addressed to the Argentine theologian. While Fernández’s appointment came as a surprise to many, the pope’s letter also has attracted attention because of…
Pope Francis has named Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, his longtime personal theologian and ghostwriter, to lead the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Argentine prelate succeeds Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, SJ, 79, who has been prefect of the dicastery since 2017. Fernández, almost 61, will take up his new post in the middle…
CNA, CBJ—The Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops has completed a formal investigation of Bishop Joseph E. Strickland and the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, according to multiple media reports and confirmed by EWTN News. Apolstolic Visitation The inquiry, known as an apostolic visitation, marks a rare though not unprecedented intervention by Rome into a U.S. diocese and…
Vatican News — “I encourage you to continue your efforts to contribute to a revival of faith in, and love for, the Holy Eucharist, the “source and summit of the Christian life.” With these words, Pope Francis expressed his gratitude to the members of the Committee preparing for the forthcoming National Eucharistic Congress in the…
Pope Francis is recovering from abdominal surgery this week in the same hospital room where St. John Paul II was treated throughout his pontificate. The Vatican said on June 8 that Francis is “in good general condition, alert and breathing naturally” one day after his three-hour surgery to treat an incisional hernia. Pope Francis is…
According to a June 6, 2023, article by Religion News Service, the Vatican bank—once a symbol of financial malfeasance—has successfully rebranded itself as a pillar of transparency at the Vatican. The late Cardinal Pell of Australia, at the behest of Pope Francis, played a major role in radically transforming the Vatican bank policies and practices.…
American layman Curtis Martin, founder of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), was named by Pope Francis to serve along with 13 other consultors as advisors to the members of the Dicastry of Evangelization. Since FOCUS was founded in 1998, it has grown to have hundreds of full-time student missionaries who serve tens of…
CNA—The head of the Coptic Church is scheduled to offer the Orthodox Divine Liturgy in the Catholic Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome on May 14. According to Father Martin Browne, an official at the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, this liturgy will take place in the context of an official visit of…
CNA—In the late summer and fall of 2016, central Italy was devastated by several powerful earthquakes. Numerous historic churches and buildings were destroyed in the quakes — including one of the oldest monastic complexes in Italy, the Abbey of Sant’Eutizio, whose bell tower and church roof collapsed. One of the Benedictine abbey’s artworks, a crucifix…
NEW YORK, January 13 (C-Fam)— In his annual address to foreign diplomats at the Holy See Pope Francis criticized Western countries and the UN for promoting gender ideology and abortion. He told the ambassadors that education “requires showing integral respect for the person, and for his or her natural physiognomy, and avoiding the imposition of…
CNA—Cardinal Joseph Zen met privately with Pope Francis on Friday after attending Benedict XVI’s funeral. The Hong Kong authorities temporarily released the passport of the 90-year-old cardinal, who was arrested last year under the city’s national security law, to allow him to travel to Rome. According to America Magazine, Zen met Pope Francis in the…
The following is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 6, 2023. Like a rising star (cf. Num 24:17), Jesus comes to enlighten all peoples and to brighten the nights of humanity. Today, with the Magi, let us lift…
ACI, CNA, Vatican News—There is no doubt that the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Jan. 5 was a pope’s funeral. Not only was the funeral rite the one foreseen for the death of a pope, but so were all the rites that accompanied it. The rogito For example, the medals and coins of…
In an interview with Vatican News, Dr. Michael Hesemann, a close friend of the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and his brother Georg Ratzinger, says: “instead of mourning, it is time to thank God that he was among us”, and reflects on how “we all had the opportunity to rediscover Christianity by his constant inspiration,…
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services: “I remember many meetings with him while I served in the Secretariat of State, and I will never forget his greeting to me at the first General Audience I attended some weeks after his…
BBC—Nearly 200,000 people paid homage to former Pope Benedict XVI during his lying in state over the last three days, the Vatican says. His body has been sealed in a coffin ahead of his funeral on Thursday. Pope Francis will preside over the funeral – the first time a sitting Pope has led his predecessor’s…
The historical, beautiful Rosary and funeral Mass for Pope emeritus Benedict XVI took place January 5, 2023, but don’t fret if you missed it. From the Sagrato of Saint Peter’s Basilica, recitation of the Rosary and Solemn Requiem Mass for Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, presided over by Pope Francis, you will find it all here,…
WSJ—Russia and China want to replace the West. Benedict wanted to save it. A big story the past year has been the firming alliance between the world’s two leading autocrats, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, predicated on their conclusion that the West is in terminal decline. Fortuitously, the world has just lost its…
