Tag Archives: VATICAN

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Sunday prayed for peace in the war-ravaged Central African Republic, where two priests were killed in ethnic unrest last week. “I learned with sadness the news of the massacre two days ago in a camp for the displaced in the …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis has vowed to end clerical sexual abuse, but bishops from Asia and Africa have shown a mixed response to a scandal some have termed a “Western problem”. Church leaders from around the world attended the closing mass Sunday of a month-long …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | A bid by Belgium bishops to allow young married men to take the cloth has fallen flat at a Vatican meet — though Pope Francis is considering testing out the idea in the Amazon. The suggestion of easing the rules on celibacy was …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis is ready to visit North Korea if its leader Kim Jong Un extends a formal invitation, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday after meeting the pontiff. Moon briefed the pontiff about his visit to Pyongyang in September when Kim …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Wednesday compared having an abortion to hiring a “contract killer”. “Interrupting a pregnancy is like eliminating someone,” Francis said in an address to worshippers in the Vatican. “Getting rid of a human being is like resorting to a contract killer …

Bari, Italy | AFP | Pope Francis on Saturday voiced concern that Christians will disappear from the Middle East amid “murderous indifference” as war rages on. “The Middle East has become a land of people who leave their own lands behind,” Francis said. He was addressing the leaders of almost …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis said Wednesday he was “very worried” by escalating violence in the Middle East after 60 Gazans were shot dead by Israeli troops while protesting the US embassy’s move to Jerusalem. “I am very worried about the escalation of tensions in the …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Three victims of a Chilean paedophile priest on Wednesday demanded the Catholic Church force tougher sanctions on complicit cardinals after meeting Pope Francis. The calls by Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton and Jose Andres Murillo come a day after Australian authorities ordered the …

Melbourne, Australia | AFP | From country priest to trusted top Vatican aide, Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric George Pell has seen his reputation plagued in the twilight of his career by controversy swirling around a 1970s paedophile scandal in the former gold rush town of Ballarat. To his admirers, …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Sunday praised North and South Korean leaders for their “brave commitment” to peace after they agreed to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. The pontiff hailed the “positive outcome” of their historic summit in Seoul on Friday, when Kim …