Vatican Archives - Catholic Herald

Vatican

Catholic imprint on six ‘swing states’ may shape the global future

May 02, 2024

ROME – Were you to ask veteran Vatican-watchers to name the six most important prelates in the Catholic Church today beyond the pope himself, you’d probably get a fairly representative sampling of leading papabili, meaning perceived candidates to be the next pope. The list probably would include Cardinals Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, president of the ultra-influential

‘Justice and peace shall kiss’ in Verona during Pope’s visit

April 30, 2024

Pope Francis is due to make what will be his second journey of the year beyond Rome in order to visit the Italian city of Verona, the famous setting of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” tragedy. On 18 May the Pope will travel to Verona, which is located in the Veneto region, approximately 75 miles

Pope makes first papal visit to Venice’s ‘Biennale’ festival to offer stirring message to artists and young people

April 29, 2024

Pope Francis made a day trip to Venice on Sunday to attend a famed annual cultural event, during which he spoke out about the important role of artists and gave a rallying cry to young people to live their lives to the full and not be ensnared by the digital world. Pope Francis travelled to

Visiting the domain of an antipope: the Palmarian pontiff

April 26, 2024

The centuries that followed the Reformation, whether consequentially or coincidentally, saw an end to serious contenders to the Papacy. The era of the antipope appeared to be at an end. Since antipope Felix V, challengers have dwindled to the point of extinction. However, I recently learned that a short drive away from my apartment in

Archdiocese of Birmingham gets two new Auxiliary Bishops

April 26, 2024

Pope Francis has appointed two new auxiliary bishops to serve the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Monsignor Timothy Menezes, Dean of St Chad’s Cathedral, and Canon Richard Walker, Vicar General, will serve the Archdiocese of Birmingham as auxiliary bishops, notes the archdiocese’s website. The role of an auxiliary bishop is to assist the diocesan bishop in the

AI priest avatar gets the chop in first week of digital ministry

April 25, 2024

An AI-generated avatar priest that was launched at the start of the week by a Catholic organisation appears to have been digitally defrocked following criticisms and concerns raised about the experiment in using emerging artificial intelligence technology to bolster the Catholic Faith. The “Fr. Justin” interactive AI app was launched by Catholic Answers, a US-based

Italy’s abortion row heats up amid concerns about influence of pro-life organisations from US

April 22, 2024

ROME – Conflict is churning both inside Italy and across Europe over a new plan by the Italian government to introduce pro-life consulters to publicly funded family planning clinics that issue the certificates women need to undergo an abortion. Despite the controversy, so far the Italian bishops’ conference, known by its acronym of CEI, as

New Catholic Lectionary for British churches arriving this Advent following approval by Vatican

April 18, 2024

A new Lectionary will come into use in parishes in England, Wales and Scotland from Advent 2024. The Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments gave its seal of approval on a new Lectionary proposed by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in July of last year. Published by the