“Only a free church is a credible church,” Pope Francis declared in his homily on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
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 inPolitics & Society, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis meets with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss ‘hot button issues’ like the Middle East, the Holy Land and China
Vatican sources said that during the meeting they “touched on all the hot button issues, including the situation in the Middle East, the Holy Land and China.”
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Pope Francis encourages Jesuit Father James Martin in his L.G.B.T. ministry
On the eve of the Outreach 2021 L.G.B.T. conference, Father Martin received a handwritten personal letter in Spanish from Francis, expressing his support.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Vatican Dispatch
‘The Holy See fears the collapse of the country’: Pope Francis to host a day of prayer for Lebanon
“The Holy See fears the collapse of the country,” Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states, stated frankly.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis asks Cardinal Cupich to carry out internal review of Vatican office for human development
As archbishop of Chicago since 2014, Cardinal Cupich has shown considerable organizational talent. The visits will reportedly begin next week.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis appoints English Oblate, Father Andrew Small, secretary of child protection commission
Pope Francis has appointed Andrew Small, O.M.I., a 53-year-old English priest, as the secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis appoints Korean bishop to head the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy
The appointment of Bishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik as the new prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy is another major surprise in the Francis papacy.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis rejects Cardinal Marx’s offer of resignation, calls on all bishops to take responsibility for the abuse crisis
Francis, who knows the 67-year-old cardinal well, took less than three weeks to reach his clear-cut decision.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Explainer: Cardinal Marx wasn’t accused of sexual abuse or cover-up. So why has he offered to resign?
Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s offer to resign as archbishop of Munich and Freising hit the church in Germany and Rome like an earthquake. And while survivors welcomed the move, not everyone agrees with the cardinal’s analysis of the abuse crisis.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis orders review of the Vatican congregation that oversees over 410,000 Catholic priests worldwide
Pope Francis has asked Bishop Egidio Miragoli, to carry out a visitation of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, which has oversight of the more than 410,000 Catholic priests around the world. He did not reveal why the pope chose him to do this work.