Vatican News

After a two-week vacation, Benedict XVI heads back to Rome

Vatican City, Jul 14, 2015 / 12:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- With two restful weeks outside of the Vatican behind him and two honorary doctorates in hand, Benedict XVI has again returned to Rome, where he has a rare public event set for the summer.

“Holiness, thank you very much for your unexpected and most welcome words, for the blessing that you have given to Castel Gandolfo and its inhabitants,” mayor Milvia Monachesi told the retired Pope as he left the city July 14.

Vatican applauds nuclear deal, calls for commitment to make it 'bear fruit'

Vatican City, Jul 14, 2015 / 07:14 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After global powers reached an agreement with Iran Tuesday limiting the country’s nuclear activity, the Vatican said the deal was an important step and expressed their hope the fruits would spread to more than just the nuclear field.

“The agreement on the Iranian nuclear program is viewed in a positive light by the Holy See,” Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ said in a July 14 statement, shortly after the announcement of the deal.

Full text of Pope Francis' in-flight interview from Paraguay to Rome

Aboard the papal plane, Jul 13, 2015 / 11:43 am (CNA).- In the course of his 64 minute in-flight press conference while en route to Rome, Pope Francis answered questions ranging from politics, his upcoming trip to the Unites States, and his feelings about taking selfies.

The Pope responded in Italian to 14 questions posed by journalists during his July 12 overnight flight from Asuncion to Rome.

Pope calls 'communist crucifix' protest art, but says he wasn't offended

Vatican City, Jul 13, 2015 / 09:18 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Responding to waves of controversy after receiving a “communist crucifix” – a carving of Christ crucified on a hammer and sickle – from Bolivian president Evo Morales, Pope Francis said he took no offense, but understands the work as “protest art.”

“I would qualify it as protest art, which in some cases can be offensive,” the Pope said during an inflight news conference on his July 12 overnight flight from Paraguay to Rome.

Vatican applauds nuclear deal, calls for commitment to make it 'bear fruit'

Vatican City, Jul 13, 2015 / 09:14 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After global powers reached an agreement with Iran Tuesday limiting the country’s nuclear activity, the Vatican said the deal was an important step and expressed their hope the fruits would spread to more than just the nuclear field.

“The agreement on the Iranian nuclear program is viewed in a positive light by the Holy See,” Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ said in a July 14 statement, shortly after the announcement of the deal.

No controversy here – Pope sets record straight on family synod remarks

Vatican City, Jul 13, 2015 / 09:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During a press briefing on the return flight from South America, Pope Francis clarified that his call for prayer ahead of the upcoming Synod on the Family referred to today's family crisis generally – not, as some media have sources speculated, to “any point in particular.”

Pope to Paraguay’s poor: faith without solidarity is dead

Asunción, Paraguay, Jul 12, 2015 / 08:53 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On his final day in South America Pope Francis visited the poorest neighborhood in Paraguay’s capitol, encouraging residents to practice solidarity, because without it one’s faith is either hypocritical or dead.

“Jesus didn't have any problem with lowering, humbling himself unto death for each one of us out of this solidarity among brothers, this love that his Father had for each one of us,” the Pope said in off-the-cuff remarks July 12.

Papal crowds in Ecuador topped one million on Francis' first day

Vatican City, Jul 7, 2015 / 10:48 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On the first full day of his apostolic journey to South America Pope Francis had already drawn more than 1 million people to his first public Mass in Guayaquil, the Vatican’s spokesman estimates.

“There were a lot of the people in the streets of Guayaquil. 300,000 or 500,000 people were on the streets of the city,” Holy See press officer Fr. Federico Lombardi told journalists July 6.

Pope Francis' visit will stir up people's faith, Bolivian priest at Vatican expects

Vatican City, Jul 6, 2015 / 10:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis will set foot on Bolivian soil, beginning a three-day visit to the country which one of its priests, who works in the Vatican, expects will strengthen the faith of its Catholics.

Father Ariel Beramendi, the sole Bolivian priest working at the Vatican, told CNA he expects that Pope Francis' trip to his homeland will “revive and stir up the faith of Catholics” there.

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