Pope Francis ended the year without celebrating Mass due to sciatica pain. And he started it without celebrating the Baptism in the Sistine chapel, as it is tradition, this time for the anti-COVID restrictions. 2021 was born, therefore, marked by coronavirus restrictions, and the Pope’s appeals to get out of the crisis together, and [...]

Pope Francis concluded the year by proclaiming a Special Year for the Family in 2021, dedicated to Amoris Laetitia. This special year, he explained, falls five years after the publication of the post-synodal exhortation that has generated so much controversy. It intends precisely to study it, reflect on it, and highlight the challenges of [...]

What if the Christmas address to the Roman Curia was Pope Francis’s last? A few days after the delivery of that speech, rumors spread that Pope Francis could renounce his pontificate, as Benedict XVI had already done, between Christmas and New Year. The rumors were credited by an alleged comment by Austen [...]

On December 17, Pope Francis turned 84 and celebrated his 8th birthday since becoming Pope. 2020 was a challenging year, marked by the pandemic. There were no international trips, nor massive events. Yet, many things were accomplished. Soon, the Curia reform plans will be completed. However, the Curia reform is already underway since [...]

It has not yet been officially announced, but on December 21, Pope Francis should meet with the Roman Curia employees for Christmas greetings, Covid restrictions permitting. It is awaited with expectation, because it is through this speech that Pope Francis could definitively mark the new phase of his pontificate.

What would this new phase [...]

Pope Francis’ pontificate is now turning toward a new phase. The Nov. 28 consistory was both a watershed and a new impetus. For Pope Francis, this impetus should lead to the final stage of his project for the renewal of the Church.

Even people who know Pope Francis well cannot describe his renewal [...]

The death of Paolo Gabriele could have closed a chapter of the Vatican world. It was not so. Instead, he has opened another, and this one too has more questions than answers.

For those who do not remember, Paolo Gabriele was Benedict XVI’s butler who then betrayed the Pope’s trust and handed over [...]

In the end, Cardinal Angelo Becciu sued the Italian magazine L’Espresso for a defamatory campaign against him. The complaint provides a series of details to claim there was a plot against the Cardinal. The word “plot” was mentioned, for the first time, by Vittorio Feltri, editor of the Italian newspaper Libero. Feltri used broad [...]

The publication of the McCarrick Report could not be more untimely. The 461-page report documenting evaluation mistakes, superficialities, and major flaws in selecting bishops came out the day after a documentary critical of Cardinal Dziwisz was broadcast in Poland. The documentary attacked Dziwisz for allegedly covering up abuse. On the morning of Nov. 10, [...]

We still do not know if the five Vatican officials suspended during the investigation on the purchase of a luxury real estate property in London will be prosecuted or not. Everything seems on hold one year after the spectacular searches and seizures that took place in the Secretariat of State and the [...]