The image of the two white-dressed pontiffs praying together at the Pontifical Villa of Castel Gandolfo marked in some ways the handover from Pope Benedict to Pope Francis. This Easter was witness to this handover. We can see in it an element of continuity and another one of strong discontinuity.
The element of continuity [...]
In his first meeting with ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, Pope Francis’ message focused on the poor. This is typical of him. «The heart of his message – explains Virginia Bonard, a journalist who works for the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina – is to shed light on the poor and on marginalized [...]
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, [...]
«The longer the congregations, the shorter the conclave will be,» Card. Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, stated at a media briefing on March 6. Now that the conclave has been set to begin tomorrow, March 12, and there have only been nine general congregations – while, in 2005, cardinals met 12 times – [...]
What will the next Pope be like? Cardinals were already talking about it, long before the Swiss Guards closed the gates of the Pontifical Residence in Castel Gandolfo – at 20:00 on Thursday, February 28. From that moment, the Sede Vacante period officially began. In fact, by the time the General Congregations of [...]