There is one striking figure in the 2017 Church Stats presented to the Pope on March 6: for the first time since 2010, the number of priests decreases, while bishops and deacons are more.

This clue must not be underestimated. It means there are no vocations.

Old bishops retire, other priests are appointed [...]

The eve of Pope Francis’ sixth anniversary of Pontificate was shocked by the news that Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, was sentenced on first grade to six months of prison for covering up abuse. It was likely a clue: this year will not be easy to Pope Francis.

Cardinal Barbarin’s sentence goes [...]

The way the Holy See reacted to Cardinal Pell’s first-degree conviction for abuse of minors was a signal. In one declaration, the Holy See Press Office stressed that it held the Australian court in the highest respect, but that at the same time it had to be considered that Cardinal Pell has always [...]

At the end of the Vatican summit on the protection of minors, while a follow up restricted meeting of Vatican dicasteries is taking place today, the issue of small lobbies of power and Vatican careerism still lies on the background. This issue affects every pontificate. Pope Francis’ one is no exception.

The way [...]

The new statutes of the Vatican general auditor, in effect since Feb. 16, can be considered a further step in Pope Francis’ path of reform. However, their release also shows that reforms are really made on the go, with trials and errors. The way the statutes are drafted, then, show also a recognition [...]

Nothing is born out of nothing. Not even Pope Francis’ trip to the United Arab Emirates. The first Pope to travel to a country in the Arab Gulf, Pope Francis brought back home a joint declaration with al Azhar university that underscores that no violence can be applied in the name of God; [...]

Before Pope Francis’ trip to Panama, Cardinal Walter Kasper underscored in a few seconds interview that there was a plot behind the sex abuse scandal, to delegitimate the Pope and have a new conclave.

Also before the Pope’s trip, Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, lowered the expectations on [...]

Pope Francis received in Panama news of the crisis in Venezuela, that outbroke after Juan Gaidò self proclaimed interim president and some States recognized him as president, while others not. Shortly after, the Holy See Press Office underscored that Pope Francis was apprehensively following the developments in Venezuela.

When it comes to [...]

An external observer can have two impressions about Pope Francis’ reform. The first impression is that a blueprint is missing — that is, in the end, the nature of the “reform made by walking” which Pope Francis conceived and Bishop Marcello Semeraro, secretary of the Council of Cardinals, explained in two articles on [...]

Pope Francis’ pontificate seems to have picked up speed. Not only because of the 2019 trips schedule, which is already tight, though incomplete. Not only because the changes in the Vatican communication department. And not only because of the rumors that the Pope is going to shut down the [...]