As his press secretary nears retirement, Pope Francis is promoting and moving key officials in the Roman Curia... Pope Francis went to Africa for a six-day, three-nation apostolic journey, culminating in Central African Republic, a country still in the throes of a brutal civil war. But Francis will not be coming back to anything remotely considered “peace [...]
In mid-October, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, the head of the Vatican Press Office, confirmed press reports that Pope Francis had decided to make his first annual Lenten spiritual exercises with the Curia’s heads at a Pauline retreat house outside of Rome, instead of following the traditional practice of making the retreat in the Vatican itself. In [...]
Pope Francis Archbishop Pietro Parolin was absent from the ceremony of his installation as the new Vatican secretary of state on October 15. Struck by gallstones (or appendicitis, according to other sources), Parolin had to undergo an urgent, though not grave, operation. During the ceremony, Pope Francis thanked the outgoing secretary of state, Cardinal [...]