Vatican News

Don't jump to conclusions about your children's sexuality, Pope Francis says

Vatican City, Apr 1, 2019 / 11:40 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Sunday that homosexual tendencies are not sins, and that parents who are concerned about tendencies in their children should take them for psychological assessment before jumping to conclusions.

Asked about “Who am I to judge,” a well-known remark the pope made in 2013, Francis said that “sin is an act: of thought, word and deed, with freedom. Tendencies are not sin. If you have a tendency to anger, it is not a sin.”

Full text of Pope Francis' in-flight press conference from Rabat

Aboard the papal plane, Mar 31, 2019 / 08:45 pm (CNA).- Please read below for CNA's full transcript of the pope's March 31 in-flight press conference from Rabat to Rome:
 

Pope Francis: I am thankful for your company, the trip, your work. It was challenging because one day and a half and so many things, right? And thank you for your work and now I am at your service.

Pope Francis urges religious communities to charity and dialogue in Morocco

Rabat, Morocco, Mar 31, 2019 / 06:23 am (CNA).- Pope Francis urged religious communities in Morocco to practice an “ecumencism of charity,” calling for dialogue, not proselytism, in the Muslim-majority country Sunday.

“Charity, especially towards the vulnerable, is the best opportunity we have to keep working to build of a culture of encounter,” Pope Francis told the priests, religious, and seminarians gathered in Rabat Cathedral March 31.

How popes have addressed the conquest of the Americas

Vatican City, Mar 29, 2019 / 08:01 pm (CNA).- President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico this week wrote to Pope Francis and the King of Spain, Felipe VI, asking for an apology for the conquest of Mexico by Spanish Catholics in the 16th century.

His demand for an apology comes at the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the conquest, and the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s independence.

Analysis: Pope Francis issues new definition of ‘vulnerable’ adult

Vatican City, Mar 29, 2019 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis issued a new set of canonical norms Friday strengthening existing laws on sexual abuse for the Vatican City State and the Roman Curia.

 

The new norms introduce a mandatory reporting requirement for curial officials and employees who become aware of – or even suspect – a case of sexual abuse. But the most eye-catching change made by the pope was a redefinition of who can be a victim of sexual abuse.

Francis: Let us restore Confession ‘to the place it deserves’ in Catholic life

Vatican City, Mar 29, 2019 / 02:09 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis called for the Sacrament of Confession to be elevated in the pastoral life of the Church during a Lenten penitential liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica Friday.

“Confession is the passage from misery to mercy,” Pope Francis said in his homily for the Lenten reconciliation service March 29.

“Let us restore to this sacrament the place it deserves in life and pastoral ministry!” he said.

Pope Francis will travel to Morocco as a 'pilgrim of peace and fraternity'

Vatican City, Mar 28, 2019 / 12:42 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis travels to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, this weekend, where he said he will follow in the footsteps of St. John Paul II, who visited the North African country in 1985.

“Following in the footsteps of my predecessor Saint John Paul II, I come as a pilgrim of peace and of fraternity, in a world which has great need of both,” Francis said in a video message sent ahead of his March 30-31 visit.

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