Vatican News

Vatican Secretary of State calls for synergy in fight against poverty and climate change

Vatican City, Jan 25, 2021 / 08:30 am (CNA).- The Vatican Secretary of State has called for a new model of development built on “the synergistic bond” between the fight against climate change and the struggle against poverty.

In a video message to the Climate Adaptation Summit taking place online Jan. 25-26, Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that climate change is “one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”

Pope Francis tells Latin American Ecclesial Assembly not to be elitist

Vatican City, Jan 25, 2021 / 05:30 am (CNA).- Pope Francis sent a video message Sunday to Latin American Church leaders organizing a “synodal” regional assembly, in which he asked them not to be ideological elites, but to remain close to the people of God.

Pope Francis prays for homeless man who died in freezing cold near St. Peter’s Square

Vatican City, Jan 24, 2021 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis prayed on Sunday for a homeless man who died near St. Peter’s Square amid freezing temperatures.

Speaking after the Angelus on Jan. 24, the pope led prayers for the 46-year-old Nigerian man who was reportedly found dead by volunteers from the Community of Sant’Egidio on Wednesday.

Vatican archbishop: Turn off your phone and open the Gospel

Vatican City, Jan 24, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- A Vatican archbishop urged Catholics to turn off their cell phones and open the Gospel instead as he celebrated Mass marking the Sunday of the Word of God.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, issued the appeal on Jan. 24 as he offered the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Vatican gradually to defund some mission territories

Vatican City, Jan 23, 2021 / 03:01 pm (CNA).- Earlier this month the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples sent a letter to the bishops of some 1,100 Catholic territories and announced the gradual reduction of the financial support they regularly receive from the Vatican.

Pope Francis forced to miss more events due to recurrent nerve pain

Vatican City, Jan 23, 2021 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis has been forced to cancel three public appearances scheduled for Sunday and Monday due to a recurrence of the nerve pain that struck him at the end of 2020.

Pope Francis: Witness to the truth by exposing ‘fake news’

Vatican City, Jan 23, 2021 / 04:15 am (CNA).- Pope Francis issued a new warning about misinformation on Saturday, weeks after he was the subject of a viral “fake news” story.

Writing in his World Communications Day message, released on Jan. 23, the pope said that “the risk of misinformation being spread on social media” was now widely recognized.

Pope Francis decries men who sustain ‘reprehensible’ trade in preface to trafficking victim’s biography

Vatican City, Jan 22, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis has written the preface to a biography of a human trafficking victim in which he decries the men who sustain the “reprehensible” trade by their choices.

Human trafficking is estimated to be a $150 billion industry that profits off of 25 million victims worldwide, according to the International Labor Organization.

Two 20th century Italians advance on the path to sainthood

Vatican City, Jan 21, 2021 / 04:49 pm (CNA).- Two Italian contemporaries, a young priest who resisted the Nazis and was shot dead, and a seminarian who died at age 15 from tuberculosis, are both closer to being declared saints.

Pope Francis advanced the beatification causes of Fr. Giovanni Fornasini and Pasquale Canzii Jan. 21, together with six other men and women.

Ex-Vatican bank president given 9-year prison sentence for money-laundering

Rome Newsroom, Jan 21, 2021 / 09:47 am (CNA).- The former president of the institute commonly known as the “Vatican bank” has been given a sentence of eight years and 11 months in prison by the Vatican court.

The sentence was handed down at a hearing on Thursday by the president of the Vatican City State tribunal, Giuseppe Pignatone. The conclusion of the trial, which began in 2018, marks the first time that the Vatican has issued a prison sentence for financial crimes.

Retreat House Bandra