Vatican News

Pope Francis appoints Duluth priest as next Bishop of Rapid City

Vatican City, May 12, 2020 / 09:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Peter Muhich to be the next Bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota.

Fr. Muhich, 58, most recently served as the rector of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary in Duluth, Minnesota. During the coronavirus pandemic, Fr. Muhich made efforts to provide blessed palms and holy water for people’s homes, and livestreamed Masses from the cathedral.

Pope Francis: God’s peace gives hope, not ‘anesthesia’ against hard times

Vatican City, May 12, 2020 / 05:30 am (CNA).- The world offers peace like it is something to possess within ourselves; instead, God’s peace is a gift which opens us to others and points toward heaven, Pope Francis said at Mass Tuesday.

Peace “is not anesthesia,” the pope said May 12. “You anesthetize yourself with the things of the world and when the dose of this anesthesia ends take another and another and another…”

Vatican Museums to reopen with temperature checks, mandatory face masks

Vatican City, May 11, 2020 / 09:20 am (CNA).- The Vatican Museums are preparing to reopen by reservation only with new health measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to the general secretary of Vatican City State.

“For the incoming public, we are completing the installation of some thermal scanners for detecting temperature,” Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga said in an interview published May 9 by L’Osservatore Romano.

Pope Francis names Chicago priest coadjutor of Peoria diocese

Vatican City, May 11, 2020 / 05:18 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Monday appointed Fr. Louis Tylka, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Peoria to serve alongside Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC.

As coadjutor, Tylka will assist Bishop Jenky, 73, in the administration of the Illinois diocese and succeed him as bishop upon his retirement or death.

Pope Francis prays for the unemployed after coronavirus layoffs

Vatican City, May 11, 2020 / 04:30 am (CNA).- Pope Francis began his morning Mass on Monday by praying for the unemployed after millions of people lost their jobs amid coronavirus restrictions.

“In these days many people have lost their jobs … We pray for these brothers and sisters of ours who are suffering because of lack of work,” Pope Francis said on May 11.

Remember you are made for heaven, says Pope Francis

Vatican City, May 10, 2020 / 05:30 am (CNA).- We must always remember that we are made for heaven, Pope Francis said in his Regina Coeli address Sunday. 

Speaking in the library of the Apostolic Palace due to the coronavirus pandemic, the pope said May 10: “God is in love with us. We are his children. And for us He has prepared the most worthy and beautiful place: paradise.”  

Pope Francis: ‘The Church advances through prayer’

Vatican City, May 10, 2020 / 03:30 am (CNA).- Church leaders must put prayer before all other things, Pope Francis said at his morning Mass Sunday.

Speaking in the chapel at Casa Santa Marta, his Vatican residence, the pope said May 10 that praying must be a bishop’s first priority.

He said: “The bishop's prayer, the first task: to pray. And the people, seeing the bishop pray, learn to pray. Because the Holy Spirit teaches us that it is God who ‘does things’.” 

Pope Francis: the devil seeks to destroy the Church through envy

Vatican City, May 9, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- The devil uses envy to try to thwart the proclamation of the Gospel, Pope Francis said at his morning Mass Saturday.

In his homily in the chapel at Casa Santa Marta, May 9, the pope reflected on the day’s first reading, Acts 13:44-52, in which the Jewish community at Antioch rejects St. Paul’s preaching about Jesus. 

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