The news that two officials of the Vatican Secretariat of State were promoted to new positions have gone almost unnoticed. The event is revealing of the transition in Pope Francis’ pontificate taking place in the past two weeks.

The appointments can be considered two promotions. Monsignor Carlo Maria Polvani, who headed the Office for [...]

The publication of the new Statutes of the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II has marked a moment of transition in Pope Francis’ pontificate.

Elected six years ago with a mandate of reforms, Pope Francis did not make all of his moves at once. He preferred to change the top ranks only when [...]

The appointments of Matteo Bruni as director of the Holy See Press Office, and those of Alessandro Gisotti and Sergio Centofanti as deputy editorial directors of the Vatican Dicastery for Communications, show how the Vatican communication is evolving.

In Pastor Bonus, the apostolic constitution that regulated until now functions and tasks of the [...]

The meeting of Pope Francis and the Synod and metropolitan bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has been labeled as “a new methodology” in the final release by the Holy See Press Office.

Speaking with ACI Stampa, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the UGCC, underscored that this new methodology consisted [...]

The document issued by the Apostolic Penitentiary on the seal of confession is particularly courageous. The document reaffirms that the seal of confession can not be broken. The document is the response to a series of laws under discussions, or already approved, in countries like Australia, Chile, Costa Rica, and India; and [...]

Even the last Council of Cardinals ended with no decisions taken. A decision on the Curia reform was expected, or at least it was expected that some of its contours would be revealed. The fact that the secretary of the Council of Cardinals, Bishop Marcello Semeraro, took part in the briefing in the [...]

Concluding an ad limina visit of Swiss Bishops on Nov. 9, 2006, Benedict XVI stressed: “I remember, when I used to go to Germany in the 1980s and ’90s, that I was asked to grant interviews and I always knew the questions in advance. They concerned the ordination of women, contraception, abortion, and [...]

The draft of the Apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium has already been circulating. The new constitution will redesign Curia offices and its tasks. Many previews of this draft have been published. Among the previews, there is a noteworthy detail: among the functions of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development is the task

It seemed almost taken for granted that Pope Francis was going to celebrate a consistory at the end of June. With the consistory, the Pope might have created six new cardinals and surpassed the limit of 120 cardinals voting in a conclave set by Paul VI and confirmed by St. John Paul II.

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Besides Pope Francis’ trip to Romania, taking center stage last week were Mons Anthony Figuereido’s leaks about McCarrick – Figuereido had been a personal secretary to McCarrick – and the interview that Pope Francis granted to the Mexican television station “Televisa.”

Both the leaks of the “Figuereido reports” and Pope Francis’ answers are [...]