Pope Francis offered more evidence today of his commitment to Vatican II era collegiality In a letter posted by the Vatican news service the pope announced today that he was elevating the position of the nbsp undersecretary of the synod secretariat to the episcopacy to demonstrate that quot we ca

The number of refugees fleeing from Syria into neighboring Lebanon passed the 1 million mark on April 3, according to U.N. officials, a bleak milestone exacerbated by rapidly depleting social resources and a host community stretched to the breaking point. Just over three years after Syria’s co

Over at National Catholic Reporter Josh McElwee is reporting that Pope Francis has asked the Vatican 39 s Congregation for Bishops to look into allegations of sexual misconduct against disgraced Scottish Cardinal Keith O 39 Brien The congregation according to the report has dispatched Maltese

As the nation continues its apparently endless debate on comprehensive immigration reform members of the U S Conference of Catholic Bishops joined together this morning with residents migrants and advocates at the border in Nogales Arizona There they celebrated Mass together to remember the tho

One man stepped into his new role promising change but has struggled to deliver it; the other, considered a “safe” choice by the men who elected him, turned out to be an effortless instigator of change from the moment he stepped onto a Vatican balcony, greeting the world with a humble re

One man stepped into his new role promising change but has struggled to deliver it; the other, considered a “safe” choice by the men who elected him, turned out to be an effortless instigator of change from the moment he stepped out onto a Vatican balcony, greeting the world with a humbl

As the first anniversary of the election of Pope Francis approached in mid-March, the Pew Research Religion and Public Life Project noted the pope’s overwhelming popularity but reported it could not tease out a discernible “Francis effect” in the behavior of American Catholics. Pew

U.S. warships steamed toward the Black Sea on a “routine deployment” as the Russian military solidified its hold on the Crimean peninsula on March 7. With Russian soldiers encircling Ukraine military outposts, a hastily reconstituted Crimean parliament, in a further provocation, voted to

Pew Research says it can 39 t tease out a discernable Pope ldquo Francis effect rdquo in the behavior of American Catholics but maybe it needs to look beyond its telephone surveys Talking to some vocation directors might make a good start Jesuit vocations officers for instance are reporting

Despite the pope's immense popularity, there is little evidence of a “Francis effect.”