Vatican News

Rome’s pontifical universities prepare to resume in-person classes

Rome, Italy, Jul 15, 2020 / 10:10 am (CNA).- Rome’s pontifical universities will again hold in-person classes for the upcoming academic year, as they make adjustments to operations during the continuing coronavirus emergency.

After temporarily shutting down in early March -- and then switching to online classes for the remainder of the academic year -- the Vatican-accredited schools have been directed to make every effort to teach in person for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Vatican diplomat urges solidarity in face of growing world hunger

Vatican City, Jul 14, 2020 / 06:35 am (CNA).- According to a new report from the United Nations, an estimated 690 million people went hungry in 2019 -- 10 million more than in 2018.

Published July 13, the newest edition of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report said that billions of people do not have access to nutritious food, usually due to high costs and low affordability.

Italian bishop condemns mafia usury as ‘new slavery’ for families 

Rome Newsroom, Jul 13, 2020 / 08:30 am (CNA).- Mafia loan sharks have exploited the economic downturn creating a hidden “new slavery” of usury within communities, an Italian bishop said Sunday.

Bishop Giovanni D’Alise of the southern Diocese of Caserta issued the warning following reports that some parents had been forced to send their children to work off family debts to local mobsters. 

‘You are not forgotten,' Vatican cardinal tells seafarers on Sea Sunday

Vatican City, Jul 12, 2020 / 06:30 am (CNA).- A Vatican cardinal urged Catholics Sunday to exercise a “preferential option for the poor” for seafarers serving on the front line of the coronavirus crisis. 

In a July 12 message marking Sea Sunday, Cardinal Peter Turkson described how the pandemic had left hundreds of thousands of maritime workers stranded and even driven some to suicide. 

Pope Francis: ‘If we want, we can become good soil’

Vatican City, Jul 12, 2020 / 06:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis urged Catholics Sunday to reflect on whether they are receptive to the Word of God. 

In his Angelus address July 12, he meditated on Sunday’s Gospel reading, in which Jesus recounts the Parable of the Sower. In the parable, a farmer scatters seed on four types of terrain -- a path, rocky ground, thorns, and good soil -- only the last of which successfully produces grain. 

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