Pope Francis said it during the trip back from Brazil: «I feel a nostalgia for the Curia of the old days.» With every major appointment, it is becoming more clear who is that Pope Francis is referring to, when he mentions the old days’ Curia. There are no groundbreaking appointments. Pope [...]
Pope John XXIII will be canonized. But the real news is that he will not be canonized as a result of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints acknowledging a miracle attributed to his intercession. John XXIII will be saint because Pope Francis has decided so. He made his proposal and submitted it [...]
When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, almost all the priests he proposed to be appointed bishop were rejected. According to sources, almost every list of candidates that Bergoglio would propose (three names, per the Holy See’s standard practice) for an open see for bishop would be overlooked. Instead, the appointments came from the [...]
How should the homilies Pope Francis delivers every morning during Mass in Sanctae Marthae Chapel be considered? Are they part of the Pope’s magisterium? Or are they just papal observations made in a private setting?
The problem cannot be underestimated, in a Vatican frantically astounded by a Pope like Francis. When John Paul II [...]
«Love your enemies». This seems to be Pope Francis’ most practiced gospel commandment recently. During this first month of Pontificate, Pope Francis received twice his compatriot Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, in order to see – sources say – how much time is needed to organize the trip [...]
Just one day after the death of Pope Pius XI, on February 10, 1939, Msgr. Angelo Pomata stood in front of a cahier’s window at Religious Works (the “ancestor” of the Institute for Religious Works). The cashier was Massimo Spada. Pomata was dispatched there by Eugenio Pacelli – who, after the death of the [...]
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 [...]
«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 [...]
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 [...]
Benedict XVI had been defined «the last of Benedictins». As Saint Benedict, who in 529 founds the monastery of Montecassino and from there – with the ora et labora, the collections and copy of texts, founds a new civilizations, so Benedict XVI goes over the scandals and the human problems of the [...]