Pope Francis won everyone over with plain, straightforward and clear homilies. Every morning, Vatican employees rush to outrun each other in order to attend the Mass the Pope celebrates in Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he’s still residing. And everyday L’Osservatore Romano – the Vatican daily newspaper – reports on the Pope’s everyday “parish [...]
He won over the crowd from the very first moment he showed up from the balcony in the Blessings Lodge by simply saying «Buonasera». Then, he won over the sister Churches underlining no less than three times that he was (just) the «bishop of Rome» and never referring to himself as Pope. Finally, [...]
In front of the Roman clergy, he spoke for one hour off-the-cuff, with no hesitation and with a certain serenity. And he denounced one of the “issues” with the Church, probably for him the pivotal one. Which is that there had been two Second Vatican Councils: one of the Fathers [...]
Ultimately, is an upstairs/downstairs exercise. Go up a number of steps and then come down a few and meet in the middle. Tawadros II, the new Coptic-Orthodox Patriarch of Egypt, had to go up three steps during his enthronement ceremony. At every step, one of his titles was proclaimed: bishop of bishops, [...]
When John Finnis decided to dedicate to Thomas Aquinas the first of the Oxford University Press book series about the founders of modern thought, it was sort of a revolution. Modern thought has been – since the French Revolution – attributed to the Enlightenment. It begins – according to history of philosophy books [...]
It is entitled Jesus of Nazareth. The Infancy Narratives and it is the last book written by Joseph Ratzinger. Today, Ratzinger is Benedict XVI. But the Pope wanted to delink his theological book from the Papal magisterium. «In order to promote a freer and lively discussion,» Ratzinger said when the first of [...]
At the end of the synod for the new evangelization, Benedict XVI personally announced that soon seminaries will be under the administration of the Congregation for the Clergy. Currently, seminaries are under the administration of the Congregation for Catholic Education. Soon, a Papal motu proprio will explain the motives leading to this decision. [...]
The second outcome of the Vatileaks case may have come in the classical Vatican formula promoveatur ut amoveatur (promote to remove). James Michael Harvey, Prefect of the Pontifical Household, is to be created cardinal in a surprise consistory announced by Benedict XVI. The consistory will take place November, 24, and will create just [...]
There is a hidden Church. It is made up of young people committing for a better world; of believers that live the Gospel; of people who simply try to lend an hand to their neighbour. It is hidden only because big medias focus on gossips, power struggles and (true or false) plots and scandals. [...]
The most beautiful Benedict XVI’s lesson on ecumenism was probably the homily he held during the Holy Mass that concluded the last Schuelerkreis meeting – i.e. the circle of ex Ratinzger’s students that rejoins once a year since the end of 70s. The Pope invited is pupils not to limit themselves to [...]