Vatican News

Everyone is in debt to God's mercy, Pope Francis says

Vatican City, Mar 18, 2020 / 05:49 am (CNA).- Showing and receiving God’s mercy are central aspects of Christian life – and everyone is in debt to God for the mercy he has already been shown, Pope Francis said during his general audience address Wednesday.

“Mercy is not one dimension among others, it is the center of Christian life: there is no Christianity without mercy,” he said March 18.

Pope Francis encourages small acts of love during coronavirus quarantine

Vatican City, Mar 18, 2020 / 04:40 am (CNA).- While many are stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis says that there are many small acts of love and kindness one can do for others without leaving the house.

Pope Francis prays for those who have died from coronavirus

Vatican City, Mar 18, 2020 / 04:36 am (CNA).- Pope Francis offered Mass Wednesday for all the people who have died from the coronavirus, including medical staff who have lost their lives after helping the sick.

“Today we pray for the deceased, those who have lost their lives because of the virus,” Pope Francis said before his morning Mass in the chapel of the Santa Marta guesthouse March 18.

Ireland’s Msgr. Hugh O'Flaherty, a Vatican ‘defender of the weak’

Vatican City, Mar 17, 2020 / 11:05 am (CNA).- Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty, an Irish priest who hid Italian Jews from the Nazis and went on to baptize the former head of the Gestapo in Rome, is world renowned for the heroism he displayed during and after World War II.

They called him the “Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican.”

Pope Francis prays for elderly, alone and scared during coronavirus pandemic

Vatican City, Mar 17, 2020 / 03:21 am (CNA).- Pope Francis prayed Tuesday for the elderly, who are suffering from isolation, loneliness, and fear during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I would like us to pray today for the elderly who are suffering in this moment in a special way, with a very great interior solitude and sometimes with so much fear,” the pope said March 17.

Do coronavirus closings violate religious liberty? A religious freedom expert weighs in

Vatican City, Mar 16, 2020 / 01:06 pm (CNA).- Few were surprised when the Chinese Communist Party banned church services in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in Hubei province. But the Italian government decree suspending all public religious ceremonies -- leading to the suspension of Masses in the pope's own diocese -- provided more of a jolt.

Pope Francis reforms Vatican City courts with new law

Vatican City, Mar 16, 2020 / 11:30 am (CNA).- The Holy See announced a new law governing the judicial system of the Vatican City state Monday. The motu proprio provides enhanced safeguards for the independence of judges and prosecutors in Vatican City to better address economic, financial and criminal cases in the sovereign territory.

Law CCCLI was signed by Pope Francis on Friday, March 13.

French bishop tests positive for coronavirus after Vatican visit

Vatican City, Mar 16, 2020 / 08:05 am (CNA).- A French bishop who visited the Vatican last week has tested positive for coronavirus, his diocese announced Monday.

Bishop Emmanuel Delmas of Angers tested positive for COVID-19 on the evening of March 15. The Diocese of Angers said in a statement March 16 that the bishop first experienced symptoms during his time in Rome.

Pope Francis makes walking prayer pilgrimage for coronavirus pandemic

Rome, Italy, Mar 15, 2020 / 12:43 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis on Sunday took a brief walking pilgrimage in the city of Rome, and prayed for an end to the coronavirus pandemic during a surprise visit to both the Basilica of St. Mary Major and a cross that traversed Rome during a 16th century plague.

Scholar hopes Vatican archives will give 'fuller, transparent' picture of Pius XII

Washington D.C., Mar 15, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- A researcher from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum told CNA that she hopes the recent opening of the Pius XII archives in the Vatican will give historians a fuller, more transparent image of the wartime pope.

Dr. Suzanne Brown-Fleming, the museum’s director of international academic programs, has been unable to travel to Rome to view the archives due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but told CNA that she hopes to make the trip in April.

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