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Pope’s new head of doctrine praises department’s ‘democratic system’ for handling queries

October 03, 2023

ROME – Pope Francis’s new doctrine chief has said he believes a revised structure for his department is working well, and now includes a “democratic system” for handling whatever queries or complaints might arrive that prohibits him from making unilateral decisions. New Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, a close papal friend and ghostwriter who recently became

Pope responds to cardinals’ dubia, says ‘maybe’ to blessing some same-sex unions, ‘no’ on women priests

October 02, 2023

ROME – Responding to a group of five cardinals who posed critical questions about his upcoming Synod of Bishops on synodality, Pope Francis largely upheld the Church’s ban on women priests, while suggesting the doctrine can still be studied, but signaled openness to giving blessings to same-sex couples provided that doing so is not confused

Lawyer in ‘trial of the century’ claims defendants treated Vatican bank ‘like a cash machine’

September 28, 2023

ROME – A panel of Vatican judges overseeing the trial of ten defendants for extortion and other financial crimes, dubbed the Vatican’s “trial of the century”, heard Wednesday from a lawyer representing the Vatican bank who complained that the accused had treated the bank “like a cash machine, which always had to respond positively to their

Alleged Rupnik victims say Church’s pledge of ‘zero tolerance’ for sex abuse is mere PR campaign

September 20, 2023

ROME – An open letter signed by five alleged victims of Father Marko Rupnik, a former Jesuit and renowned Slovenian artist, asserts that recent events show pledges of “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse by church officials are merely a “PR campaign … followed only by frequently covert actions, which support and cover up for the

Cardinal Müller on Synod: ‘This is the great hour of manipulation’

September 14, 2023

On Tuesday Cardinal Müller gave a frank interview to Spanish Catholic news website InfoVaticana, in which he has expressed his grave concern about multiple aspects of the upcoming Synod Assembly on synodality and the current state of the Church. The interview was done in writing as the Cardinal is in Poland, and followed the announcement

Pope’s Ukraine envoy to meet Chinese premier on Wednesday

September 12, 2023

ROME – An Italian newspaper reported Tuesday morning that Pope Francis’s personal envoy for the conflict in Ukraine, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, will depart today for Beijing, where he is expected to meet Premier Li Qiang, considered China’s second most important official after President Xi Jinping. Zuppi’s trip to Beijing has been widely anticipated, coming after

Pope dismisses critics of Synod as ‘ideological’ with an ‘incapacity for dialogue’

September 04, 2023

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE – Pope Francis warned against the influence of what he called “ideology” on an upcoming Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, indicated that his future travel plans may be curtailed given considerations of health and limitations on movement, and also distanced himself from climate change extremists. The pontiff also largely rejected

Pope Francis kicks off ‘hot autumn’ at the Vatican

September 04, 2023

ROME – As summer winds down in Rome and the city fills up with reluctant vacationers getting back to the grind, Pope Francis has kicked off what promises to be a true autunno caldo, or “hot autumn” at the Vatican. For Francis, this autumn promises to be one of his busiest yet, with two international trips,