That Pope Francis wanted to proclaim Pius XII blessed is something that has been rumored in recent times. To speed up procedures, the Pope could use the «equipollent canonization,» a formula he already used six times since the beginning of the Pontificate. He might do it again. Pius XII’s file has been [...]
The “nota verbale” (verbal note) sent by the Vatican’s Secretariat of State to all the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See represents Pope Francis’ most recent initiative to promote peace. It is through persuasion, dialogue and prayer that Pope Francis hopes to influence current armed conflicts, to bring them to an end. In [...]
Perhaps a Pope coming from the ends of the world was needed to put an end to the so-called “Italian exception”. Id est, that privileged relationship between Italy and the Holy See that tightly linked the two banks of the Tiber. The relation was tight because of geography: Rome is in Italy, and [...]
The clock starts today for a very important week for the reform of the Church. The Council of Cardinals will begin its three-day meeting today. After that, informal meetings, until February 20 and 21, when the cardinals will gather in an ordinary public consistory. On Saturday, February 22 there will be a consistory [...]
The Roman Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls has been entrusted to Benedictines for 1300 years. There was such a strong tradition of ecumenical dialogue there, that Benedict XVI ultimately decided to give the basilica a specific mandate to promote ecumenism. Popes have been concluding the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity [...]
The preparatory document of the extraordinary synod for the family grabbed headlines only because of the questionnaire attached to it. It was comprised of 38 questions, posed in an unusually straightforward manner, addressing issues very pragmatically.
This pragmatic style is the only reform that has taken place under Pope Francis so far. There [...]
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 [...]
Sheriff defends law. He brings everybody into line. And honest people is happy. This is what could happen in an ideal world. But many discontent the arrival of a sheriff. Honest people feel in peril: they work behind the curtain, they know that the only way to change the balances of a «corrupted» place [...]