Vatican News

Vatican permits priests to say up to four Masses on Christmas Day

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- The Vatican’s liturgy congregation will permit priests to say up to four Masses on Christmas Day, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on Jan. 1, and Epiphany to accommodate more worshipers amid the pandemic.

Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, signed a decree announcing the permission Dec. 16.

Council for the Economy discusses Vatican pension fund

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- The Council for the Economy held an online meeting this week to discuss several challenges to Vatican finances, including the city state’s pension fund.

According to a press release from the Holy See, the Dec. 15 meeting also addressed aspects of the Vatican’s budget for 2021 and a draft of statutes for a new committee to help keep Holy See investments ethical and profitable.

Swiss Guards receive funding boost for barracks renovation

Vatican City, Dec 16, 2020 / 06:00 am (CNA).- The Swiss government agreed last week to give $5.66 million toward the renovation of the Swiss Guard barracks at the Vatican.

The Swiss Federal Council, the highest executive authority in the country, is giving the funds in 2020 in honor of the 100th anniversary of Switzerland’s resumption of diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

Pope Francis: ‘Those who pray never turn their backs on the world’

Vatican City, Dec 16, 2020 / 04:30 am (CNA).- People who pray for others are like God’s antennas, Pope Francis said at the general audience Wednesday.

In his address Dec. 16, the pope insisted that those who seek solitude and silence to intercede for others are not evading reality.  

“Whoever can knock on the door of someone who prays finds a compassionate heart which does not exclude anyone,” he said, seated beside a traditional depiction of the nativity.

‘It doesn’t embarrass us’: Art teacher defends Vatican’s much-maligned nativity scene

Vatican City, Dec 15, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Since it was unveiled last Friday, the Vatican’s nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square has elicited diverse reactions on social media, many of them strongly negative.

“So the Vatican presepe has been unveiled....turns out 2020 could get worse…” wrote art historian Elizabeth Lev in a post that went viral on Twitter. “Presepe” is the word for manger scene in Italian. 

Pope Francis to agricultural sector: Seek solidarity, not just profit

Vatican City, Dec 15, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Those who work in agriculture should consider the relationship between Creator, man, and nature, striving to operate on a paradigm of solidarity, not profit alone, Pope Francis said Tuesday.

Pope Francis made the comment in a message to Coldiretti, an Italian national confederation of cultivators, Dec. 15, during its end-of-year assembly.

Pages