The Church according to Pope Francis is outlined in the nearly 260 page-long Apostolic Exhortation «Evangelii Gaudium» (The Joy of the Gospel), that he wrote in two weeks in Spanish (with some neologisms and slogans) with a clear core message: the Church must come out, to the streets, and announce the Gospel [...]
Pietro Parolin was discharged from the hospital and should arrive in Rome after a short convalescing period at home. This is the first piece of news released about the new Secretary of State’s health. Parolin could not take part in the ceremony by which he formally assumed his new position because he needed [...]
The absence of Msgr. Pietro Parolin at the ceremony of his taking possession as Secretary of State was certainly not a good thing. Struck by gallstone (or appendicitis according to other sources), Msgr. Parolin had to undergo an urgent, albeit not grave, surgery operation. During the ceremony, Pope Francis, after thanking the outgoing Secretary [...]
Next Oct. 15 the awaited change at the top of the Vatican Secretariat of State will take place. Tarcisio Bertone will leave his post to Pietro Parolin, who had been Bertone’s number four until 2009. That year, Parolin was promoted archbishop and sent as Papal nuncio to Venezuela.
The change is awaited for two reasons.
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Pope Francis has underscored in Assisi his idea of «a poor Church for poor.» It is part of the «reform of attitudes» that Pope Francis considers more important than the Curia reform, i.e. a reform of the organizational structure. During this week, a certain lack of institutionality has been felt. At first [...]
No doubt about it: every gesture by Pope Francis is a political signal. The time when his choices could be considered those of a naïve or inexperienced Pope is over. Every decision Pope Francis makes is signaling in which direction he wants to move the Church.
The eight cardinals charged with advising the Pope [...]
Pope Francis has started to form his team. And he has done so from the very top. As Secretary of State, Pope Francis has decided to appoint Pietro Parolin, an Italian hailing from Veneto and born in 1955, who until now was Papal Nuncio in Venezuela. He is an experienced diplomat whose career [...]
It is now time to make decisions. Pope Francis is in a hurry, he wants to fill the most important pieces of the curial puzzle. After more than 100 days as bishop of Rome, it is now time to act as a pope for real. And above all, to start deciding whom to [...]
Benedict XVI will be like a Moses for the Church. Moses went to a mountain and interceded for the People of Israel while the latter were combating against Amalek. So will the Pope do after his retirement – the President of Pontifical Council for Culture, Card. Gianfranco Ravasi, said in a Lent meditation [...]
What has resulted from Vatileaks? First of all, isolating the Pope from its collaborators. Who, after the leaking of documents –even if inconsequential– will dare to write freely to the Pontiff? Secondly, Vatileaks gave rise to a climate of suspicion that is seemingly favoring the return of the Vatican Old Guard. This [...]