Posted inVatican Dispatch

Progress With China?

Is an accord between the Holy See and China on the horizon? China watchers are asking this question following a flurry of interviews, articles and comments in the Chinese and Italian media in early 2015.The interest began when Vatican Insider interviewed some Chinese bishops who encouraged the Holy

Posted inVatican Dispatch

Call Him a Saint?

The news, though ground-breaking, went largely unnoticed. The Vatican has given its clearance to open the cause on May 3 for the canonization of Dom Hélder Câmara, the “bishop of the poor” and one of the most influential Latin American church leaders of the 20th century.Cardinal Angelo

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The Quality of Mercy

On March 13, Pope Francis surprised the world by proclaiming a year-long Jubilee of Mercy. Since then he has begun to give indications, in homilies and talks, as to what this entails.As I write, the formal bull of indiction has not yet been published. That will be done on April 12, the Second Sunday

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The Church’s Asian Soul

During Pope Francis’ recent visit to the Philippines, I had the joy of meeting once again a man I have known for over a decade and greatly respect: Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, the emeritus archbishop of Manila. We talked about many things, but two in particular stood out: the vocation of the F

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