Mar 30 Pope presides over Easter Vigil at the Vatican after last-minute Good Friday absence By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Pope Francis presided over the Vatican's somber Easter Vigil service on Saturday night, delivering a 10-minute homily and baptizing eight people, a day after suddenly skipping the Good Friday procession at the Colosseum as a health precaution. Continue reading
Mar 17 Watch 7:13 Investigation finds policies at Catholic-run hospitals restrict reproductive health care By John Yang, Andrew Corkery According to KFF Health News, more than half a million babies are delivered each year in Catholic-run hospitals across the United States. In most cases, there are no complications, but during an emergency, patients can find themselves caught between accepted… Continue watching
Jan 14 Bishop Álvarez and 18 priests released from prison, handed to Vatican, Nicaragua says By Associated Press Nicaragua's government said Sunday it released a prominent Catholic bishop and 18 other clergy members imprisoned in a crackdown by President Daniel Ortega and handed them over to Vatican authorities. Continue reading
Jan 08 Pope Francis calls for universal ban on surrogacy By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press The speech also listed the threats to global peace and human dignity, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Israel-Gaza war, migration and climate crises and the “immoral” production of nuclear and conventional weapons. Continue reading
Dec 18 Pope formally allows priests to bless same-sex couples By Associated Press The Vatican issued a new document explaining a radical change in Vatican policy by insisting that people seeking God’s love and mercy shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it. Continue reading
Dec 16 Watch 7:30 What’s behind a growing rift between conservative U.S. Catholics and the Vatican By Ali Rogin, Simon Epstein, Andrew Chambers Efforts by Pope Francis to make the Catholic Church more inclusive for LGBTQ+ people and women, alongside urging vaccination against COVID, have been creating a growing chasm between the Vatican and traditionalist American Catholics. David Gibson, director of the Center… Continue watching
Dec 16 Vatican cardinal sentenced to 5½ years in prison after being convicted of embezzlement By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press A Vatican tribunal on Saturday convicted a cardinal of embezzlement and sentenced him to 5 ½ years in prison in one of several verdicts handed down in a complicated financial trial that aired the city state’s dirty laundry and tested… Continue reading
Nov 11 Pope forcibly removes Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland, a vocal U.S. conservative By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Pope Francis on Saturday forcibly removed the bishop of Tyler, Texas, a conservative prelate active on social media who has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and has come to symbolize the polarization within the U.S. Catholic hierarchy. Continue reading
Oct 03 Vatican meeting to address key issues facing the Catholic Church By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press It calls for a “radical inclusion” of LGBTQ+ Catholics and others who have been marginalized by the church, and for new accountability measures to check how bishops exercise their authority to prevent abuses. Continue reading
Sep 30 Pope Francis creates 21 new cardinals to help carry out Catholic Church reforms By Nicole Winfield, Trisha Thomas, Associated Press Pope Francis created 21 new cardinals at a ritual-filled ceremony Saturday, including key figures at the Vatican and in the field who will help enact his reforms and cement his legacy as he enters a crucial new phase in running the… Continue reading