October 24, 2015, Saturday — The Pope's Final Discourse Today At eh end of the Synod, Pope Francis gave a final discourse in the presence of 265 bishops attending the final session, which ended just a few minutes ago. The press conference to sum up the final document and the 94 propositions that were approved is [...]
October 24, 2015, Saturday — Final Synod Document Approved The Bishops' Synod on the Family has ended. The final document has been approved. All 94 points have been approved by more than a 2/3 majority. A final closing discourse by Pope Francis received enthusiastic applause. In the next hour, the final document will be published, incuding [...]
October 23, 2015, Friday — From Russia to Rome "The word mother can be traced back cleanly to Proto-Indo-European, as can father, brother and sister -- it appears in cognate form in languages like Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, and so forth, and it may go back further." —Discussion of the origin of the word "mother" on an [...]
October 21, 2015, Wednesday — A Japanese Doctor in a Helicopter... It seems like the beginning of a bad joke. And, in fact, it is. A very bad joke, in fact... All of Rome this morning was in an uproar about the story that a Japanese doctor based in the United States who works in an [...]
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning! The Eucharistic celebration with which we began the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops just ended in St. Peter's Basilica. The Synod Fathers, coming from every part of the world and gathered around the Successor of Peter, for three weeks, will reflect on the vocation and mission of the [...]
August 26, 2015, Wednesday — Eleven Cardinals and a Pope Introductory note We have just come out with a special 132-page Commemorative Edition of Inside the Vatican magazine, welcoming Pope Francis to America. At the center of the issue is a beautiful, deeply moving Photo Essay on "The Beatitudes of Pope Francis." This Photo Essay alone [...]
The family and its position in changing times such as ours will be at the center of the upcoming Extraordinary Synod of Bishops, to be held in the Vatican from October 5 through 19, at the specific and strongly-felt request of Pope Francis. Approximately 180 people will attend, mostly representatives of Bishops’ Conferences from around the [...]
In St. Peter’s Square on October 26, 2013, Pope Francis met representatives of families from around the world who had gathered to celebrate the closing the “Year of Faith”. The thing that is most striking when one reads the Instrumentum Laboris, the working document that will be used at the upcoming bishops’ Synod on [...]
Professor Guzman Carriquiry Lecour has served the Holy See for 43 years. He recently celebrated his 70th birthday (April 20, congratulations!). He is currently secretary of the Holy See’s Pontifical Commission for Latin America — the first layperson to serve in that role (since May 2011), just as he was the first ever layperson to be [...]
