Vatican News

Coming soon to the Vatican: haircuts for Rome's homeless

Vatican City, Jan 30, 2015 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican’s continued efforts to help the homeless of Rome have expanded beyond showers and bathrooms at St. Peter’s Square, with a barber shop set to open soon.

“Our primary concern is to give people their dignity,” Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, head of the Office of Papal Charities, told the Italian news agency ANSA.

Pope says palliums will be given to new archbishops at home – not Rome

Vatican City, Jan 29, 2015 / 04:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As a sign of “synodality” with local Churches, Pope Francis has decided that new metropolitan archbishops will officially be imposed with the pallium in their home diocese, rather than the Vatican.

“The meaning of this change is to put more emphasis on the relationship of the metropolitan archbishops – the newly nominated – with their local Church,” Mons. Guido Marini, Papal Master of Ceremonies, told Vatican Radio Jan. 29.

Beyond the digital, into the heart: a Vatican take on communication

Vatican City, Jan 29, 2015 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican's top communications official said that true interaction requires more than just phones and internet – and that dialogue is an interpersonal encounter we learn even from our mother's womb.

“The first way of communication, the source of my learning is the womb of my mother,” Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli told CNA at the Jan. 23 presentation of Pope Francis’ message for World Communications Day.

Pope Francis asks, Do you discern God's will before making a decision?

Vatican City, Jan 27, 2015 / 04:19 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis dedicated his homily at Mass on Tuesday to the theme of obeying God’s will, saying a Christian should have a heart like Mary, who was open and obedient to all that God asked of her.

“Do I pray that the Lord gives me the desire to do his will, or do I look for compromises because I’m afraid of God’s will?” the Pope asked the attendees of his Jan. 27 Mass, held in the chapel of the Vatican’s Saint Martha guesthouse.

A visit to Naples, Pompeii on Pope Francis' slate for March

Vatican City, Jan 27, 2015 / 12:36 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis' liturgical schedule from now until Easter has been released – and it includes the creation of new cardinals and a daylong pastoral visit to Italian cities of Naples and Pompeii.

In February, Pope Francis will kick-off the month by celebrating a special Mass on the second commemorating the feast of the Presentation of the Lord as well as the 19th World Day of Consecrated Life.

Wondering what to give up for Lent? Try indifference, Pope says

Vatican City, Jan 27, 2015 / 05:35 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The “globalization of indifference” was at the heart of Pope Francis’ Lenten message, in which he urged faithful to fight individualism with merciful hearts that are more attentive to the needs of others.

“(Jesus) is interested in each of us; his love does not allow him to be indifferent to what happens to us,” the Pope noted in his Jan. 27 Lenten message, saying that often times when we live a healthy and comfortable lifestyle, “we forget about others.”

Women are irreplaceable in passing on the faith, Pope says

Vatican City, Jan 26, 2015 / 02:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Women in the family have a crucial role in transmitting the faith from one generation to the next, said Pope Francis during morning Mass for the feast of saints Timothy and Titus.

Addressing the congregation gathered in the Vatican's Santa Marta residence on Jan. 26, the Pope centered his reflection on Paul’s letter to Timothy – who writes that his “sincere faith” comes from the Holy Spirit “through his mother and grandmother”.

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