Pope Francis on Thursday appointed a new Director of the Holy See Press Office.  British-born Matteo Bruni is the new spokesperson of the Holy See, with effect from 22 July.

Born on 23 November 1976 in Winchester, Bruni graduated in modern and contemporary foreign languages and literature from Rome’s La Sapienza University.  He has been working since July 2009 at the Holy See Press Office, where he has been overseeing the accreditation of journalists and operational communications as coordinator of the Accreditation Section…

The Catholic bishops of the Philippines have released a major pastoral letter on “climate emergency”, urging their communities to ecological conversion, listen to the cry of the Earth and the poor and act together to mitigate the ill effects of climate change.

Signed by Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the pastoral letter, entitled “An urgent call for ecological conversion, hope in the face of climate emergency”, was released on Tuesday. 

The 9-page document is divided into eight sections, with the first half offering a reflection on the state of the environment, followed by concrete ecological actions…

One of the incredible things about being part of a large family is the overall sense of unity between the siblings that so often occurs. Of course, there are always the squabbles, but there’s so much love — and influence — shared from the oldest to the youngest. This seems to be the case with the Hinnebusch family. When William (1908-1981), the eldest of 10, set off to join the Dominicans, six of his other siblings soon followed his example…

A brief statement issued by the interim director of the Holy See Press Office, Alessandro Gisotti, shone light on the continuation of operations in the Vatican’s Teutonic Cemetery.

Gisotti said the preliminary investigations that took place onJuly 11in the cemetery inside Vatican City were both of a documentary and a logistical nature. It emerged, he said, that between the 1960s and ‘70s  of the last century work was carried out to expand the college itself and that work, during this period, involved the entire cemetery area and the building of the Teutonic College…