Vatican News

Pope Francis makes surprise visit to Rome’s Basilica of St. Augustine

Vatican City, Aug 28, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis made a surprise visit to the Basilica of St. Augustine Thursday to pray at the tomb of St. Monica.

During his visit to the basilica in Rome’s Campo Marzio neighborhood near Piazza Navona, the pope prayed in the side chapel containing the tomb of St. Monica on her feast day Aug. 27.

Analysis: Is Vatican silence on China strategic?

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 27, 2020 / 10:00 am (CNA).- The Holy See faces mounting criticism for its silence on human rights abuses in China ahead of the expected renewal of the controversial 2018 agreement. But is the Vatican’s silence strategic, and if so, is the strategy working?

It has been two years since the 2018 Vatican-China deal on the life of the Church in the country was signed. In that time, China has escalated its persecution of religious and ethnic minorities.

The Catholic Church’s new path to sainthood: What is ‘offering of life?’

Vatican City, Aug 27, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- For centuries, the Catholic Church has declared many different holy men and women to be saints through the strict legal process known as canonization. Traditionally, this process has included identifying which of two legal categories of holiness a candidate for sainthood fits into: confessor or martyr.

But in 2017, Pope Francis introduced a third option, called “offering of life.”

Pope Francis to resume general audiences with the public

Vatican City, Aug 26, 2020 / 05:45 am (CNA).- Members of the public will be able to attend Pope Francis’ general audiences again from Sept. 2 after an almost six-month absence due to the coronavirus crisis.

The Prefecture of the Papal Household announced Aug. 26 that the pope’s general audience next Wednesday would take place “with the presence of the faithful.”

Reader punched in the face at Sunday Mass in Philadelphia; motive unknown

Denver Newsroom, Aug 24, 2020 / 05:00 pm (CNA).-  

Most people do not expect the Gospel passage “When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well” to take on a literal meaning in their lives - much less in the middle of Mass.

But it did become literal for one reader during Sunday Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul in downtown Philadelphia.

Pope Francis: ‘Christian charity is not simple philanthropy’

Vatican City, Aug 23, 2020 / 06:30 am (CNA).- Christian charity is more than simple philanthropy, Pope Francis said in his Angelus address Sunday.

Speaking from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square Aug. 23, the pope said: “Christian charity is not simple philanthropy but, on the one hand, it is looking at others through the eyes of Jesus Himself and, on the other hand, seeing Jesus in the face of the poor.”

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