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 [...]

Pope Francis opened the general assembly of the Italian Bishops’ Conference with a harsh speech. In it, he complained about the Italian bishops because they did not follow his indications contained in the 2015 Pastoral Convention in Florence, and because they are mismanaging the new procedures for marriage nullity. However, above all, [...]

Last Apr. 29, Pope Francis received Cardinal Angelo Sodano in a private audience. Cardinal Sodano is the Dean of the College of Cardinals. The reason for the meeting is unknown. However, any time the Dean of the College of Cardinals is scheduled to meet Pope Francis, speculations rise.

After all, Benedict XVI received Cardinal [...]

With the new motu proprio Vos estis Lux Mundi, Pope Francis has clarified the procedures of reporting cases of abuse, establishing clear rules for the procedures to follow and including every kind of abuse, even the possible reporting on matters of omissions and mishandling by bishops.

Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna, adjunct secretary of [...]

There is a high symbolic weight in the decision to move the office of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano out of the Leonine Walls, to a building located in Italy, although in an extraterritorial site.

It is not the decision itself. Unifying in a single location the full Vatican media department, from the [...]