Drew Christiansen

As Daniel P Horan O F M noted earlier today Pope Francis has decided not to live in the Apostolic Palace but to remain at the Casa Santa Marta the Vatican Guest House where he stayed during the conclave and has remained since his election ldquo He is experimenting with this type of living ar

The summer I was ordained I spent a month as a substitute pastor in Kotzebue an Eskimo village in the Alaskan Arctic One of the courtesies I received from the villagers was a fifty cent admission for me and my guests to the folk dances they did for visiting tourists In return I was prompted to b

Catholic greens had reason to sound exclamations of joy at today rsquo s inaugural papal Mass From the announcement of the new pope rsquo s name Francis there was speculation about whether Pope Francis would show the same sensitivity for nature that saint who preached to the birds loved the wild

Pope Francis began his inaugural celebrations suitably with prayer at the Tomb of Saint Peter But the prayer was also a symbol of church unity Accompanying were the Catholic patriarchs and major archbishops of the Eastern Churches and Bartholomew the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople For the

ldquo Papa Pancho rdquo that rsquo s what his fellow Argentines are already calling Pope Francis ldquo Pancho rdquo is the Spanish diminutive for Francis Francis of course was originally a nickname of sorts too meaning ldquo Frenchie rdquo for Saint Francis rsquo s father 39 s trading

Sam Roberts reports in this morning rsquo s New York Times that come this fall the International Herald Tribune will be re-branded as the International New York Times This is the last stage in a long and inevitable transformation The IHT as it is known has been partly or wholly owned by the Time

When the great wooden doors of the papal residence at Castel Gondolfo closed Thursday evening, the pontificate of Benedict XVI was complete. No one occupies the See of Peter. Sede vacante. Josef Ratzinger, the emeritus Bishop of Rome, bid pilgrims in the palace courtyard “Buona notte,” and entered a period of well-deserved retirement. The rounds of farewells are ended. The decision of when to begin the conclave to elect the next pope will not be taken until early next week. It is time for the church to take a rest too, to turn a deaf ear to speculation, refuse to be drawn into gossip and listen for the whispers of the Spirit.