The establishment of a Third Section in the Vatican Secretariat of State has shed light on three themes of Pope Francis’s pontificate. The first: the fact that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, has gradually achieved an ever more central role. The second: that Pope Francis keeps on making reforms and [...]

How should we interpret Pope Francis’s moves? Guzman Carriquiry, Pope Francis’s long term friend who has worked for the Holy See since Blessed Paul VI’s time, speaking during the presentation of his latest book, “Memory, Courage and Hope. In Light of the Bicentennial of Latin America,” described Pope Francis this way: “Priest, and [...]

It might seem just a coincidence that some appointments completing the Curia roster took place in the same week that in Rome, at the Pontifical Gregorian University, two conferences shed light on the life of Christians under the Soviet Union. However, the link between the theme of the Curia reform, the choice of [...]

The case of Fr. Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap., provides food for thought. Consultor of the Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith of the US Bishops’ Conference, Weinandy was asked to resign from his post after a letter he had sent to Pope Francis was made public. In the letter, Weinandy criticized [...]