The Gospel should be generously and simply proclaimed said Pope Francis during morning Mass Tuesday in the Casa Santa Marta chapel. Poverty and praise of God, he said are the two key signs of an evangelical and missionary Church. Instead a rich Church becomes an old, lifeless Church, it becomes [...]

The Beatitudes are ‘new commandments’, but they are not just a simple do gooders list. They cannot be understood with the mind, only with the heart, so if our hearts are closed to God we will never know true freedom. Christian consolation is the presence of God in our hearts [...]

Pope Francis prayed the Angelus with thousands of pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square this Sunday. In his remarks to the gathered faithful, the Holy Father reflected on the mercy of Our Lord, which is the focus of the Church’s prayerful attention during the month of June, traditionally dedicated to [...]

Pope Francis spoke with tens of thousands of pilgrims who made a 28km, all-night pilgrimage on foot from Macerata to the Marian shrine at Loreto, in Italy. Noting that they pilgrims would be praying the Holy Rosary all along the way, and singing hymns under the guidance of their pastors, [...]

Religious freedom was among the topics which Pope Francis touched upon Saturday during his meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. In his address to the Italian Head of State, Pope Francis recalled how 2013 marks the 17th centenary of the Edict of Milan, a document which many consider to be [...]

In a style that seems to have almost become signature of the current pontificate, Pope Francis stepped out of yet another scripted session to engage in a spontaneous question-and-answer period with hundreds of children and teens.

The papal audience in the Paul VI Hall with students, teachers and staff of Jesuit [...]

Pope Francis on Thursday spoke to the members of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, which is dedicated to training priests to serve in the diplomatic corps and the Secretariat of State of the Holy See.

In his address, the Holy Father reminded the students that they must cultivate a deep spiritual life [...]

Pope Francis will remain at the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence in the Vatican, even during the summer months.

The Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ affirmed the Holy Father’s intentions after presenting the Pope’s summer schedule on Thursday.

Fr Lombardi also announced that that the [...]

Pope Francis met with humanitarian groups dealing with the Syrian crisis on Wednesday before his general audience. The event was organized by the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”.

“In the face of ongoing and overwhelming violence, I strongly renew my appeal for peace,” said the Holy Father. He encouraged the inititatives of [...]

When stock markets drop ten points its ‘a tragedy’ but starving children, homeless people dying on our streets, people disposed of like trash – such as the unborn or the elderly – has become the norm.

This is the result of a culture of waste, of our being unable to ‘read [...]

This coming Saturday, 8 June, the Holy Father will send a video message to those participating in the “Ten Squares for Ten Commandments” initiative that is being promoted by the Renewal in the Holy Spirit movement. It will take place in the Square of the [...]

Hypocrites may say all the right things, but for the wrong reasons. A Christian should not use a “socially mannered language”, prone to hypocrisy, but speak the truth of the Gospel with the transparency of a child. There is no truth without love; love is the first truth.This was the [...]

Pope Francis has established a Pontifical Commission charged with drawing up an “exhaustive” report into the juridical standing and activities of the Vatican’s financial institution, the Institute for Religious Works, more commonly known as the IOR.

The Commission is composed of 5 people. These include two US natives, Harvard Law Professor [...]

Rev. Lawrence F. Murphy’s personal recollections of the epoch-making election of Pope John XXIII.

Part I of an account of Pope John Paul II’s formative years, to commemorate his Silver Jubilee, by Alan McGuckian, S.J.

In the last installment of his series, Alan McGuckian S.J. covers the years from Wojtyla’s ordination to his election in the second conclave of 1978.

A brief summary of the fourteen encyclicals of Pope John Paul II, by Dermot Roantree.

This is the second instalment of The making of a Pope, Fr. Alan McGuckian’s account of the life of Pope John Paul II before his election to the chair of Peter.

Fr Michael Collins examines the extraordinary history of the papacy and the great influence it has had on the development of civilisation.

In this short work, Joseph McEvoy summarises the life of Pope John XXIII, one of the most important and best loved popes of recent centuries.

William Oddie edits a collection of essays by distinguished Catholic writers, each assessing some aspect of Karol Wojtyla’s extraordinary achievement as Pope John Paul II.

Henry Peel OP recounts the story of the gradual adoption throughout Europe of Pope Gregory XIII’s new calendar, a replacement for the inaccurate Julian calendar.

The transcript of a 3R Productions Radio programme recounting the Pope’s visit to Ireland in September 1979.

Paul Kildare lists previous Popes Benedict. One was a saint, another a scoundrel. One was murdered, another excommunicated. One was an antipope, another had a brother and a nephew popes.

Maynooth professor, D. Vincent Twomey SVD, a former doctoral student of Pope Benedict XVI, reflects on the transformation of his university teacher into the Universal Teacher of the Nations.

Every pope receives the pallium along with the Fisherman’s Ring when he is invested at his first Mass as Pope. Every Feast of SS Peter and Paul, 29th June, the pope also imposes the pallium on each of the new metropolitan archbishops.

On Sunday next, 29th June, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles, Pope Benedict will confer the pallium on a number of metropolitan archbishops appointed during the course of the last year at a concelebrated Mass in the Vatican Basilica. Patrick Duffy explains.