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 [...]
The February 22 consistory will start shaping the future Church. The numbers are clear. From now to 2017, 32 cardinals will turn 80, thus losing the right to vote in a future conclave. And from now to Feb. 22, there will be 106 cardinal electors, so Pope Francis had in fact 14 “red [...]
That the common good is at the center of the Holy See international agenda has been proven once again. This time, in the book «La diplomazia pontificia in un mondo globalizzato» (Pontifical Diplomacy in a Globalized World), a selection of the diplomatic interventions of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone during his seven years as Secretary of [...]
The most recent proposal floating is that of creating a Congregation for the Laity. After all – Cardinal Oscar Andrés Maradiaga has maintained – there is a Congregation for the Clergy and one for Bishops, but there is not one for the lay people, who are the biggest part of the Church. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
«All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one». In Benedict XVI’s Church, this passage from Matthew’s Gospel is ever more being followed. Proof of it is the release of the no confidence resolution of the Board of Superintendence of the IOR (Institute for [...]
Quaerere Deum, search for God. This was the motivation that brought so many people to begin the era of monasticism in Europe. Benedict XVI outlined it in his speech to College de Bernardins in Paris. «Find the monk that lays inside you»: this is how – according to Giuseppe Della Torre, president [...]
In 2008, Benedict XVI spoke to participants in the Study Congress organized by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law. In that occasion, he quoted Antonio Rosmini: «The human person is the essence of law». And he said: «The ius ecclesiae is [...]