To revisit the life and journey of Pope Francis, we are republishing a La Stampa article from shortly after his rise to the papacy.
Tag: vatican city
A Swiss hero, a shocking mass suicide and one of the most famous basilica.
Updated Oct. 10, 2024 at 12:00 a.m. Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council on this day in 1962. What was Pope John XXIII’s significance in the Roman Catholic Church’s history? Pope John XXIII, born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, serving from 1958 until his death in […]
Only a select few reside behind the walls — and even fewer women. From strict rules to unique traditions, is life inside this “man’s world” worth the sacrifice?
While busy delivering the best international journalism, the Worldcrunch team also stumbles on a fair deal of downright strange stuff happening around the world, reported in every language.
An agreement between the Vatican and Beijing was quietly renewed recently. However, China still views Catholicism with a mix of deep suspicion and general distraction. Meanwhile the faithful and pastors are caught between two very different worlds.
Welcome to Friday, where a shooting at a favela in Rio kills 25, the Pfizer jab shows promising results against COVID variants, and pizza vending machines arrive in Rome. We also look at how central banks are finally starting to take an interest in cryptocurrencies. • COVID-19: Pfizer vs. variants, pandemic Olympics: Two different studies […]
It is the most delicate of roles right now, as Father Georg continues to serve his original boss, retired Pope Benedict XVI, while also heading the Papal household of Pope Francis.
-Analysis- The #MeToo movement was, above all, a collective “breaking of the silence” that shifted the longstanding balance of power on the question of sexual misconduct, particularly in the professional world. Many have noted that what became a collective raising of (mostly female) voices may have required the accusations of a few Hollywood movie stars […]
The old, retired cardinal has had enough. He does not like what the Vatican is doing in China. He takes a plane and asks to be received by the pope. But instead of bringing it to an end, the encounter between the two men escalates the tensions around the Vatican’s pending agreement with China, a […]
Pope Francis is not afraid of speaking freely, with his sermons and writings — and a fair share of press interviews — stirring up the Catholic establishment since his election in 2013. Yet a new book based on transcripts of 12 separate conversations with a French sociologist is particularly rich in revelations. The 432-page Politique […]
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Pope Francis: No Fear Of Islam In Europe
La Croix, May 17, 2016 VATICAN CITY — In a rare interview, Pope Francis told French Catholic daily La Croix that there is no “fear of Islam” in Europe, and that the freedom to practice religion must be protected “not outside, but inside society.” The wide-ranging interview, published Tuesday, covered the Pope’s views on the […]
L’Osservatore Romano, Jan. 27, 2016 The meeting of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani with Pope Francis was featured on Wednesday’s Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, with the front-page headline: “A Political Solution For The Middle East.” At the 40-minute meeting at the Vatican, the first visit between a pope and Iranian president since 1999, Francis and Rouhani […]
VATICAN CITY — For Pope Francis, “a work of art is the strongest evidence that incarnation is possible.” It is an idea expressed in his book “La Mia Idea Di Arte” (My Idea of Art), co-written with Italian journalist Tiziana Lupi as part of the Church’s latest attempt to recover bonds with its traditional allies […]
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On This Day – December 8
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On This Day – December 4
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On This Day – November 18
Paris Match, Oct. 15, 2015 In an exclusive interview with glossy French magazine Paris Match conducted at his modest apartment in the Vatican, Pope Francis bemoaned greed and the “idolatry of money” that’s driving the world to ruin. The magazine, whose covers more commonly feature celebrities and royals, was invited to the Casa Santa Marta, […]
VATICAN CITY — A letter delivered to Pope Francis, reportedly signed by 13 Roman Catholic cardinals, questions whether the pontiff has organized the ongoing Synod on the Family in such a way that ensures “predetermined results on important controversial issues,” Italian weekly magazine L’Espresso has reported. The magazine’s longtime Vatican correspondent Sandro Magister reported the […]
On the eve of the pontiff’s visit to the United States, confidential Obama administration documents reveal a remarkable harmony with Francis’ objectives.
Osservatore Romano, Sept. 9, 2015 In yet another step to loosen long-held practices inside the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has eased the process for how divorced Catholics can remarry and stay inside the Church. Two papal edicts, known as motu proprios, were published Tuesday that open the way to make the process of marriage “annulment” […]
Since ascending to the papacy two years ago, Pope Francis has been quietly and not-so-quietly leaving his mark on the world, pursuing a number of ambitious foreign policy goals. His nine-day trip to Latin America that begins Sunday will be mostly focused on pastoral issues. But from Cuba to Vietnam, the Middle East and environmental […]
-Analysis- ROME — Ireland’s resounding approval of same-sex marriage in last month’s referendum has obviously rankled the Catholic Church. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who acts as “prime minister” to Pope Francis, went so far as to characterize the outcome as “a defeat for humanity.” Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told La Stampa that […]
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Parked Nearer, My God, To Thee
Back in 1965, you could still leave your car in the holiest of all parking lots, next to Bernini’s fountain on St. Peter’s Square.
HILLARY’S IN, AND THE WORLD REACTS Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Sunday announcement that she’s running in the 2016 presidential race, her second bid to become the first female U.S. president, drew news coverage from around the world, with one German newspaper even using the English headline, “The Very First Lady.” Via a short video on her […]
The Vatican has revised its public restroom renovation to include showers for the homeless, as Pope Francis’ ambassador to the poor launches similar projects across Rome.
With the arrest of former Polish Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the Pope is showing that he will crack down on child sex abuse in his Church by ending any protection of criminals.
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The Nun And The News
This nun walking under St. Peter’s Square’s colossal colonnades was looking at copies of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official newspaper founded in 1861. Zooming in, I was able to see that the front page was about Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Mater et Magistra on the topic of Christianity and social progress — written four years […]
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Before The Popemobile
Paul VI was the last pope to use the sedia gestatoria regularly, like here for Easter celebrations on St. Peter’s Square. This ceremonial chair which was carried on the shoulders of a few chosen men — usually belonging to old Roman families — was abandonned by his successor John Paul I, before being altogether replaced […]
VATICAN CITY — To the priests who invited him to take a vacation with them, the late Cardinal Alberto Idelfonso Schuster of Milan replied, smiling, that there would be plenty of time for that in the afterlife. Pope Francis — the Jesuit whose agenda would wear out any 40-something — seems to be inspired by […]
What happened when the most powerful man in the world felt the aura of the Argentine pontiff.
It has been one year since Pope Francis was elected to the head of the Catholic Chuch. It was virtually instant stardom for the Argentine-born Pope, and magazines around the world couldn’t get enough of the supremely humble 266th pontiff. UNITED STATES ARGENTINA: BRAZIL: PERU: ITALY: POLAND: PORTUGAL: GREAT BRITAIN/IRELAND: FRANCE: GERMANY: SWITZERLAND: GREECE: NIGERIA: […]
Gay rights activists condemn the accusations from the man once responsible for the safety of the Pope as the “worst stereotypes” that homosexuals have long been subject to.
In a rare sit-down with a reporter, Argentine pontiff responds to a wide range of questions from La Stampa’s Vatican correspondent about Marxism, divorce and the meaning of suffering.
VATICAN CITY — There’s a joke going around St. Peter’s Square: Next thing you know, to comply with his ecclesiastical vows of poverty, the pope is going to put the Vatican up for sale! That day hasn’t yet arrived, but the idea speaks as much to Pope Francis’ unpredictability as to his now famous acts […]
-Analysis- VATICAN CITY — The pope who came from “almost the ends of the earth” continues to spread his message of hope, secure in the knowledge that the proclamation of the Gospel has much to offer men and women of our times. By no means should we believe that modernity will bring the end of […]
VATICAN CITY – The Holy See has opted for silence, following the uproar provoked by the comments attributed to Pope Francis that there is a “gay lobby” inside the Vatican. The leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Clerics, have condemned the publication of the transcript of their meeting with Pope Francis, which […]
Monday, June 9, 2014 POROSHENKO INITIATES PEACE TALKS Newly inaugurated Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said violence in the country must end “this week,” as he took part in peace talks with the Russian ambassador to Kiev and a representative for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Financial Times reports. Meanwhile, fighting continued […]