What if Pope Francis’ encyclical on ecology is in reality a text with a broader message, and ecology is just a papal pretext to ask the world’s rulers for further mutual collaboration and a greater commitment to peace, and to ask people of good will to adopt a more sober lifestyle? A few days before …
Leggi tutto “Pope Francis’ encyclical on ecology: what to expect and what not”
The encyclical “Laudato Si” not only reveals Pope Francis’ thought concerning the social teaching of the Church and good ecological practices. The genesis of its drafting also reveals the world around Pope Francis. True, the Pope makes his decisions himself. But is is also true that there is a world around him, composed of consulters, …
Leggi tutto “Pope Francis: the world behind the “Laudato Si””
There must be a hidden criterion by which Pope Francis chooses the countries to which he travels. As far as the Old Europe is concerned, after the trip to Sarajevo the criterion seems clear: going where God is needed and where the thirst for God has created what he calls – when speaking about dialogue …
Leggi tutto “To Go Where God Is Needed: Pope Francis’ Criterion for European Trips”
Charity in truth or truth in charity? This is the conundrum the more 300 delegates of the 133 associations under the Caritas Internationalis (CI) umbrella who voted May 14 for their new president. In the first general assembly that took place after the reform of the CI statutes, the delegates had to choose between two …
Leggi tutto “Pope Francis, charity in truth or truth in charity?”
Pope Francis is now facing the slowdown of his reforms. The establishment of a Commission for Communications to shape and implement the proposals of the Committee for Communications appointed some time ago by the Council of Cardinals may represent a further slowdown in the path of curial reforms. When it was time to make a …
Leggi tutto “Pope Francis, the Papacy of the media and the real Papacy”
Pope Francis gave an important speech this week to the joint committe of the Council for European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) and to the Conference of European Churches (CEC). In the speech, the Pope asked Christians not to be divided on ethical issues, and above all he said his categorical no to legislation restricting religious freedom. …
Pope Francis’ opening address to the Italian Bishops Conference’s general assembly showed the spirit of the real Pope Francis. The Pope condensed his views about the Church into two pages of text that he personally wrote. His view is of a non-clerical Church, capable of educating lay people, with priests and bishops who act as …
More than a need for a reform, the Roman Curia needs better functionality and more vision – these are the conclusions one can draw from last week’s events in the Vatican. The week began with the meetings of the Council of Cardinals to discuss about Curia reforms and also with the international incident raised by …
There is a recurrent theme in all the conversations around curial reform as well as an eventual reform of Catholic doctrine on the basis of the outcome of the coming Synod of Bishops: the theme is ‘sensus fidei fidelium’ (literally, the sense of faith on the part of the faithful), that is, the intuition possessed …
La YESMOKE è una nave da guerra, il cui fine è il danneggiamento finanziario delle multinazionali del tabacco. Noi che vendiamo a 4 euro un pacchetto di sigarette, paghiamo di tasse più di quelli che lo vendono a 5. 4 anni di riprese, iniziati per caso mentre preparavano un altro documentario. Una storia incredibile e …
Leggi tutto “SmoKings_L’epopea tarantiniana dei Messina Bros vs Big Tobacco”
For the first time in these two years of his pontificate, Pope Francis has made two “Vatican style” appointments. Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi’s appointment as Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, along with the inclusion of Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki among the members of the APSA (Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See) – …
Leggi tutto “Pope Francis, Finally Appointments “Vatican-style””
Pope Francis will speak at the United Nations Headquarters in New York this coming September 25. United Nations confirmed the papal address last week, thus making official one of the most important moments of the coming papal trip to the United States in September. The trip will last one week, and will culminate with Pope …
Leggi tutto “Pope Francis to the United Nations: Which Diplomacy?”
Pope Francis celebrated the second anniversary of the pontificate his way, by convoking an Extraordinary Jubilee for Mercy to begin December 8, 2015 and to end November 20, 2016. This decision shows how much Pope Francis is focused on the theme of mercy. The Holy See Press Office release reminded us that the word “mercy” …
Leggi tutto “Is the Jubilee of Mercy the Real Face of Pope Francis’ Revolution?”
Neglected by the media, there is a hidden Vatican that is working tirelessly to promote the human being. It is the Vatican of diplomacy, the Vatican that sits at international conferences and mediates for peace, the Vatican that employs its weight and influence in order to foster the defense of every human being. This Vatican …
The official approval of the statutes of the three recently established Vatican economic bodies marked a small turning point in the path toward Vatican reforms. The anomaly that Pope Francis created by establishing curial dicasteries without any statutes has now come to a close. The era of external consultants has now turned into the era …