Vatican News

Pope Francis surprises jubilee pilgrims in visit to Vatican departments

Vatican City, Feb 4, 2016 / 05:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Thursday the “Pope of Surprises” made an unscheduled stop at the welcoming center for pilgrims in Rome for the Jubilee of Mercy, before heading to three Vatican departments for a lengthy visit after.

Francis dropped by the Jubilee Welcoming Center at 9 a.m. Feb. 4, where he surprised the roughly 10 workers and the different groups of pilgrims who were present when he arrived through the back entrance.

Padre Pio's incorrupt body is in Rome – here's why

Vatican City, Feb 4, 2016 / 10:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The incorrupt body of Padre Pio has arrived to Rome for the first time ever alongside that of another friar, St. Leopold Mandi?, as a special initiative for the Jubilee of Mercy.

Urns containing the relics of Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina and Saint Leopold Mandi? arrived to Rome’s basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Wall Feb. 3.

Pope Francis: I want to help bring peace to Mexico

Vatican City, Feb 3, 2016 / 03:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis will leave for Mexico in just over a week. In a new interview with a Mexican news agency, he told citizens of the crime-ridden country that while there, he hopes to be a messenger of peace, which must be fought for daily.

“Violence, corruption, war, children who cannot go to school because of their countries at war, trafficking, arms manufacturers who sell weapons so that the wars in the world can continue.”

Do mercy and justice contradict each other? Pope Francis says no

Vatican City, Feb 3, 2016 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- When God is described in the Bible as being both merciful and just it can seem like an identity crisis, however Pope Francis said it’s the opposite: rather contradicting each other, the two actually go hand in hand.

“Sacred Scripture presents us with God as infinite mercy, but also as perfect justice. How are these two things reconciled? How can the reality of mercy be articulated with the need for justice?” the Pope said Feb. 3.

Starring Pope Francis – New film features Holy Father as himself

Vatican City, Feb 1, 2016 / 03:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The “Pope of Surprises” is at it again. Pope Francis is set to be featured in the upcoming film “Beyond the Sun,” the first Pope in history to play himself in a big screen production.

The idea for the film came from the Holy Father, who approached the filmmakers at AMBI Pictures, asking them to produce a movie that could effectively portray Gospel passages and parables to children.

The 'terrorism of gossip' destroys communities, Pope warns religious

Vatican City, Feb 1, 2016 / 10:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Christ-like obedience, the “terrorism of gossip”, and hope for future vocations were some of the themes Pope Francis addressed during a Monday audience marking the end of the Year for Consecrated Life.

Some 5,000 religious men and women attended the audience to mark the end of the year dedicated to the consecrated vocation, which ends Tuesday.

Pope Francis: it's not us, but God who takes the first step

Vatican City, Jan 31, 2016 / 05:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday Pope Francis said that it’s the weak and vulnerable who are most valuable in God’s eyes, and stressed that it’s always him who takes the initiative in meeting us where we are.

“God meets the men and women of every time and place in the concrete situation in which they find themselves. He also comes to encounter us,” the Pope said Jan. 31, adding that “it's always he who makes the first step.”

Mercy and mission go hand-in-hand, Pope says

Vatican City, Jan 30, 2016 / 06:18 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Mercy and the Christian responsibility to be missionaries are closely connected, Pope Francis said Saturday, kicking off the first in a series of special audiences for the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

“As Christians, we have the responsibility to be missionaries of the Gospel,” the Pope said during the Jan. 30 audience, which centered on the “close link between mercy and mission.”

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