Recent appointments make clear that the safeguarding of children and minors is a top priority of Francis’ pontificate.
Gerard O’Connell
Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.
Posted inNews
Former Vatican Nuncio Placed Under House Arrest
The former nuncio to the Dominican Republic Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski was placed under house arrest on Sept 23 to prevent him from escaping justice or tampering with evidence the Director of the Vatican Press Office Fr Federico Lombardi S J told reporters today He will be tried at the end
Posted inNews
Medical Condition Leads to House Arrest for Former Nuncio: Case appears ‘not to have modern precedent’
The Vatican has announced that the Holy See’s former nuncio to the Dominican Republic, Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, has been placed under house arrest inside the Vatican City State for the abuse of the minors in the Latin American state.The decision, which appears not to have a precedent in mo
Posted inIn All Things
Pope Francis Weeps As He Honors Albania’s Martyrs
I have been on many papal trips to foreign countries over the past thirty years and have experienced some profoundly moving and faith-filled moments on several of them but I had never before seen a Pope so overcome with emotion that he wept But that is what I witnessed on Sunday evening September
Posted inIn All Things
Pope in Albania: ‘Authentic Religion is a Source of Peace’
Pope Francis drew enthusiastic and prolonged applause when in his homily at mass in Mother Teresa Square in Tirana the capital of Albania attended by some 300 000 people mdash most of them Catholics but also very many Orthodox and Muslims mdash he greeted them saying ldquo May peace be in your
Posted inNews
A Pastor Committed to the Culture of Encounter and the Poor: In his most important decision to date in the United States, Pope Francis has chosen Bishop Blase Cupich for Chicago
Pope Francis has given a new direction to the American Church by appointing the bishop of Spokane, Blase Joseph Cupich, 65, as the ninth archbishop of Chicago.The archbishop-elect is a highly-talented leader, a pastor with vision, together with long, varied and successful pastoral and administrative
Posted inIn All Things
‘Together with God’: Pope’s Albania Trip Affirms Cooperation of Christians and Muslims
Pope Francis is going to Albania on Sunday Sept 21 It is his first visit to a European country and he has chosen to go to the only majority Muslim country on the periphery of the old continent where Christians and Muslims who suffered under communism now live together in harmony and have formed
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Bit by Bit, A World at War
Pope Francis wants to stop the downward spiral of inhumanity, and believes the media can play an important role.
Posted inIn All Things
Pope Francis Invites China’s President to Meeting on World Peace
Pope Francis has invited the President of China Xi Jinping to meet him in the Vatican to discuss world peace but he has also expressed his own willingness to travel ldquo tomorrow rdquo to Beijing for this same purpose if that were preferable He issued the invitation in a letter which he signe
Posted inIn All Things
Exclusive Interview with Bishop Shomali: Strong U.S. Mediation Needed To Avoid Another War
“We have to tell people, tell politicians, to work harder because peace is possible.”