One week after Pope Francis was released from the hospital, having been admitted for a bout of bronchitis, the Vatican announced that he will not preside over the late-night Way of the Cross procession on Good Friday as planned due to cold weather.
International News
Nigerian Catholics Dismayed Over Post-Election Violence Back Home
People of the Nigerian diaspora in the Diocese of Brooklyn had hoped the national election back home in February would bring a new president, serious about quelling anti-Christian violence.
Peace Holding in Northern Ireland 25 Years After The 1998 Signing of the Good Friday Agreement
“The Troubles” of Northern Ireland — a dispute between Catholic nationalists and Protestant loyalists — roiled violently for three decades until the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
Why Wednesday of Holy Week is also called Spy Wednesday
Wednesday of Holy Week, when Christians commemorate the betrayal of Jesus by the disciple Judas, also has the unusual name of Spy Wednesday.
Holy Land Patriarchs in Easter Message Place ‘Ultimate Hope Only God’ Amid Increasing Attacks on Christian Sites
Just as early Christians were sustained by the words of St. Peter describing Jesus’ resurrection as offering a “new birth into a living hope,” so too should the Christians of the Holy Land today be encouraged and empowered by this knowledge as they face tumultuous times, when their own faith continues to be tested, said the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in their March 31 Easter message.
Pope Names Dominican Sister to Lead Academy of Social Sciences
Pope Francis has named Dominican Sister Helen Alford, dean of the faculty of social sciences at the Angelicum University in Rome, to be president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
Tidbits On the Tiber: Other Sights and Sounds from Palm Sunday
While the dominant Vatican headline yesterday was Pope Francis’ triumphant return to form in the Palm Sunday liturgy after three days in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for bronchitis, other tidbits, mostly in Sunday’s Italian press, have sort of flown below the radar.
One Day After Leaving Hospital, Pope Leads Palm Sunday Mass
Despite being discharged from the hospital just a day earlier, Pope Francis presided over an outdoor Palm Sunday Mass in a brisk St. Peter’s Square, telling believers to embrace those who feel abandoned as Jesus did on the cross.
As Pope Leaves Hospital, He Comforts Couple, Jokes With Reporters
“I’m still alive,” Pope Francis joked to reporters who asked how he was doing as he left Rome’s Gemelli hospital April 1.
Pope Visits Pediatric Oncology Ward, Baptizes Infant
Pope Francis used his third day at Rome’s Gemelli hospital to visit children hospitalized in the oncology ward and to confer the sacrament of baptism on a tiny infant named Miguel Angel.