Vatican News

This man was killed for defying Hitler – and now he's been beatified.

Vatican City, Mar 21, 2017 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Italian layman Joseph Mayr-Nusser who refused to take the Hitler oath was beatified March 18 in his home town of Bolsano.

In 1944, Mayr-Nusser, a Catholic husband and father, refused to take the oath of allegiance to Hitler after being drafted into the German army. He died on the way to Dachau concentration camp, to which he had been sentenced.

Pope Francis' schedule for Fatima visit released

Vatican City, Mar 20, 2017 / 09:48 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Monday, the Vatican released the official program for Pope Francis’ two-day visit to Portugal in May, where he’ll celebrate the centenary of the Fatima Marian apparitions and make a brief stop at an air base to meet the country’s president.

Francis will likely make a stop at his favorite Roman basilica, Saint Mary Major, sometime before leaving Rome at 2 p.m. May 12.

Pope meets Rwandan president, apologizes for Church failure during genocide

Vatican City, Mar 20, 2017 / 08:46 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During a brief meeting with Rwandan president Paul Kagame Monday, Pope Francis voiced his sadness for members of the Church who participated in the 1994 genocide, asking for forgiveness and assuring those who still suffer of his prayer.

According to a March 20 Vatican communique, during the meeting, the Pope “conveyed his profound sadness, and that of the Holy See and of the Church, for the genocide against the Tutsi.”

Pope Francis: This Lent, seek the only ‘well’ that satisfies – Christ

Vatican City, Mar 19, 2017 / 06:47 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday Pope Francis said that Lent is the perfect time to remind ourselves of the life-giving water we received at our Baptism, turning away from things of the world, which ultimately leave us unsatisfied.

“The water that gives eternal life has been poured out in our hearts the day of our Baptism; then God has transformed us and filled us by his grace,” Pope Francis said March 19.

Pope Francis goes to confession

Vatican City, Mar 17, 2017 / 11:48 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At the end of his annual Lenten penitential service on Friday, Pope Francis was the first to go to the sacrament of confession, afterward hearing the confessions of seven laypeople, three men and four women, in attendance.
 
Instead of giving a homily during the service, which he has done in years past, Pope Francis led people in a lengthy silence following the readings in order to reflect and pray prior to receiving the sacrament of confession.
 

Here's what Pope Francis is doing for Holy Week

Vatican City, Mar 17, 2017 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- With Easter only a month away, plans have already been set in the Vatican for the celebrations surrounding the big day, and the lead-up to Holy Week will be filled with several papal daytrips, Masses, and liturgies.

The Pope began Lent with his March 5-10 spiritual exercises alongside members of the Curia in Ariccia, a small town just outside of Rome.

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