Pope Francis on Wednesday asked forgiveness for scandals that have taken place in the Church and here in the Vatican. He also mentioned recent corruption scandals that have rocked the city of Rome and its municipal administration. He was speaking to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square before beginning his weekly catechesis. Commenting on today’s reading in which Jesus says “Woe to the world because of scandals…

Oct 13. On Tuesday the Synod delegates spent the whole day working in “circuli minores,” director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, told the daily press briefing. He also read statements from Cardinals George Pell and Wilfrid Napier.

He was joined at the briefing by three Synod Assembly delegates: Abbot Jeremias Schröder, General of the Benedictines of St…

Before the recitation of the Marian Prayer, Pope Francis focused his attention on Sunday’s Gospel reading from Mark, which recounts Jesus’ encounter with the “rich young man”.

The Holy Father explained that this text was built around the “three gazes of Jesus.”

The first is his “intense gaze full of tenderness and affection,” when the young man expressed that “for him observance of the precepts is not enough, since it does not meet with his desire for wholeness…

At the Synod of Bishops on the Family on Friday morning, participants presented the results of their small language group work that has been going on behind closed doors for the past couple of days. Each group has been discussing the first section of the Synod’s working document, orInstrumentum Laboris, focused on the challenges facing family life today.

Who exactly are those rows of men with their red and purple hats, sitting in the Synod Hall for three whole weeks? …

God does not abandon the righteous, while those who sow evil are like strangers, whose names heaven remembers not. This is the lesson Pope Francis drew from the readings of the day at Mass Thursday morning in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican.

A courageous young mother with a husband and three children – and a tumor – “one of the ugly ones” – that keeps her nailed to her bed…

At the press briefing on 7th October 2015, the Holy See Press Office announced that the Synod Fathers had elected chairpersons and moderators for their “circuli minores” (small groups). The thirteen groups were determined by language. The groups began to work on Wednesday morning on the first part of  Instrumentum Laboris which outlines the context in which contemporary family life is lived…