MondayVatican
Each of Pope Francis’ steps in the upcoming trip to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay will be characterized by the Spanish word “alegria”. This is the same theme heralded by “Evangelii Gaudium” (the Joy of the Gospel), the Apostolic Exhortation that Pope Francis has indicated to be the reference point of his pontificate. [...]
To encounter the secular world or to shape a new civilization? Pope Francis’ Church is divided between these two poles. Despite the Pope’s continual appeals in favor of desecularization, of going against the grain and of fighting ideological colonization (especially in terms of the family,) his notion of ‘going to the peripheries’ has [...]
The encyclical “Laudato Si” not only reveals Pope Francis’ thought concerning the social teaching of the Church and good ecological practices. The genesis of its drafting also reveals the world around Pope Francis. True, the Pope makes his decisions himself. But is is also true that there is a world around him, [...]
What if Pope Francis’ encyclical on ecology is in reality a text with a broader message, and ecology is just a papal pretext to ask the world’s rulers for further mutual collaboration and a greater commitment to peace, and to ask people of good will to adopt a more sober lifestyle? A few days [...]
There must be a hidden criterion by which Pope Francis chooses the countries to which he travels. As far as the Old Europe is concerned, after the trip to Sarajevo the criterion seems clear: going where God is needed and where the thirst for God has created what he calls – when speaking about [...]
The past week began with a sort of “shadow synod,” that is a gathering of members from the Swiss, French and Germany Bishops’ Conferences dedicated to the issues to be discussed at the coming Synod of Bishops. Media representatives admitted to take part in the event were very few, and those few were [...]
Pope Francis’ opening address to the Italian Bishops Conference’s general assembly showed the spirit of the real Pope Francis. The Pope condensed his views about the Church into two pages of text that he personally wrote. His view is of a non-clerical Church, capable of educating lay people, with priests and bishops [...]
Charity in truth or truth in charity? This is the conundrum the more 300 delegates of the 133 associations under the Caritas Internationalis (CI) umbrella who voted May 14 for their new president. In the first general assembly that took place after the reform of the CI statutes, the delegates had to choose [...]
Pope Francis gave an important speech this week to the joint committe of the Council for European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) and to the Conference of European Churches (CEC). In the speech, the Pope asked Christians not to be divided on ethical issues, and above all he said his categorical no to legislation restricting [...]
Pope Francis is now facing the slowdown of his reforms. The establishment this week of a Commission for Communications to shape and implement the proposals of the Committee for Communications appointed some time ago by the Council of Cardinals may represent a further slowdown in the path of curial reforms. When it was [...]
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