There is one word that will be pivotal at the upcoming Synod for bishops: conscience. The arguments of those who want to adapt doctrine to pastoral practice will probably be based on conscience. In this way the main topics of discussion will be switched around from guaranteeing access to sacramental Communion for the [...]

A Secretariat of State fully comprised of officials of Pope Francis’ choosing. First, the Pope chose his Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Then, he appointed Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher as Vatican “foreign minister,” promoting Archbishop Mamberti to the Apostolic Signatura (and creating him cardinal). Now the appointment of a new deputy [...]

“A theological family.” This is how Fr. Stephan Horn, Salvatorian, describes the circle of former students of Joseph Ratzinger. Fr. Horn served as academic assistant to Joseph Ratzinger in Regensburg from 1971 to 1997, and today he is the secretary of the Ratzinger Schuelerkreis, which gathers once a year since 1978. In an [...]

Pope Francis’ pontificate in a nutshell can be found in a 2013 letter of the Franciscan Friar, Berislao Ostojic, who until 2013 was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s confessor. The letter was sent to the Franciscan brother, Mario Marcos, sometime after Pope Francis’ election, and came to light again – thanks to the website [...]

The “noise” Pope Francis wanted people to make (hacer lìo, make noise, is one of his favourite expressions) is bearing its fruits. The debate surrounding the upcoming Synod of Bishops is on, and it could not be any different than it is. There is a certain anxiety on each side: among those who [...]

“The doctrine on marriage is not at stake; the family, as an irreplaceable resource of every human society, is.” Fr. Giampaolo Salvini, a former director of La Civiltà Cattolica, stated this in an article he wrote summarizing the working document (“instrumentum laboris”) of the upcoming Synod. The article is the last in [...]

Benny Lai, dean of Italian Vatican-watchers, during the last years of his life always insisted, “It’s not my Vatican anymore.” Lai – accredited since 1946 – especially missed the sense of symbols, the importance of gestures, the theological depth. Benny Lai was not a believer. But he grasped the core issue at the [...]

The latest interpretation of Benedict XVI’s resignation was given in recent weeks by Fr. Silvano Fausti, a Jesuit who was Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini’s confessor. Right before he died last month, Fr. Fausti granted a video interview and recounted that during their last meeting Cardinal Martini had told the current Pope Emeritus that [...]

Pope Francis’ trip to Latin America may be epitomized in one image: the Pope’s disappointed face when the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, gave him a crucifix sculpted in the shape of a hammer and sickle that had been allegedly designed by the Jesuit Fr. Luis Espinal, assassinated by a death squad in [...]