Vatican News

The Year of Mercy: What's it all about?

Vatican City, Dec 7, 2015 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- One of the central aims of the Jubilee of Mercy will be to reorient the Sacrament of Confession back to the center of the Church's pastoral life, explained one official involved in organizing the year-long event.

 

“Mercy is the tangible expression of God's love in the world,” said Fr. Geno Sylva, official for the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization (PCPNE).

 

Pope: Conversion is for believers and non-believers alike

Vatican City, Dec 6, 2015 / 09:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his Angelus address for the second Sunday of Advent, Pope Francis spoke against the presumption that the need for conversion applies only to non-believers, and that Christians are somehow exempt.

“No one can say: 'I am holy, I am perfect, I am already saved',” the Pope said Dec. 6 to the crowds in St. Peter's Square. “No. We must always welcome this offer of salvation.”

Benedict XVI will attend Holy Door opening at Vatican to start Year of Mercy

Vatican City, Dec 5, 2015 / 08:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican has announced Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will take part in the official inauguration of the Jubilee of Mercy with the opening of the Holy Door on Dec. 8.

The retired pontiff “accepted the invitation of Pope Francis to attend the opening of the Holy Door” in St. Peter’s Basilica, Holy See press office director, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ. said Dec. 5.

A car chapel? It's a real thing and Pope Francis blessed one

Vatican City, Dec 3, 2015 / 04:40 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Marian chapel built into a car – called an “Autocappella” – received a blessing from Pope Francis yesterday just before the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

The mobile chapel belongs to the “Marian Mission of the Rosary of the Shrine of Pompeii” and carries an icon of the Virgin of Pompeii to dioceses around the world.

'Saint Nicholas' makes surprise appearance in Saint Peter's Square

Vatican City, Dec 3, 2015 / 12:46 pm (CNA).- A surprise visitor to St. Peter’s Square during the general audience yesterday was met with a warm welcome.

 

A “Saint Nicholas” in full costume came all the way from Germany to offer some holiday cheer. 

 

Wolfgang Georg Kimmig-Liebe is the man who brought the well-known saint to life. And this is not the first time he visited the Vatican – in 2007, he received a blessing from then-Pope Benedict XVI.

 

Jihadists arrested for threats against Pope Francis, no specific plot known

Vatican City, Dec 2, 2015 / 05:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Four alleged terrorist sympathizers who made internet threats against Pope Francis have been arrested. While Italian authorities described them as “highly dangerous,” they said they did not appear to be involved in any specific plot.

“They were threatening the Pope, celebrating the recent attacks in Paris and threatening the former U.S. ambassador to Kosovo,” said Carmine Esposito, a police chief in the northern Italian city of Brescia.

Make the mercy jubilee a 'revolution of tenderness', Pope urges

Vatican City, Dec 2, 2015 / 02:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has granted an interview to the official website for the Jubilee of Mercy, in which he expresses his intention that the year be an occasion to encounter God's tenderness in a world rife with cruelty and atrocities.

“The revolution of tenderness is that which, today, we must cultivate as a fruit of this year of mercy: the tenderness of God toward each one of us,” the Pope told the official Jubilee publication ‘Credere’ in an interview released Dec. 2.

Pope Francis to youth: Have you thought about being a missionary?

Vatican City, Dec 2, 2015 / 07:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ recent trip to Africa was the focal point of his general audience, during which he emphasized the key role that missionaries play on the continent, and asked youth to consider it as an option for their future.

“To the youth: think about what you want to do with your life. It's the moment to think and to ask the Lord to make his will known to you,” the Pope said Dec. 2.

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