On Dec. 11 top Vatican officials hailed Swedish teen Greta Thunberg, recently named TIME Magazine’s “Person of the Year” for her environmental advocacy, as a “great witness” of Church teaching on care for creation and the human person.
Pope Francis
Only in Print: Nativity in Dyker Heights Shows True Meaning of Christmas | December 14, 2019
John Miniero, a retired baker who proudly displays a homemade nativity scene outside his home in Dyker Heights, knows what Christmas should really be about: the birth of Jesus.
Syria’s Assad Says Pope Francis Has ‘Incomplete’ Picture of the War
In a new interview, Syrian President Bashar al Assad responded publicly to a letter he received from Pope Francis over the summer voicing concern about civilian casualties in the country’s ongoing civil war.
Immaculate Conception is Feast of Hope for Sinners, Pope Says
Mary, conceived without sin, is a “masterpiece” who reflects “the beauty of God who is all love, grace and self-giving,” Pope Francis said on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Experts Say Pope’s Metaphor of a ‘Field Hospital’ has Special Punch for Africa
According to a range of scholars at a Pan-African Congress on Theology, Pastoral Life, and Society, the pope’s metaphor for the Church as a “field hospital” provides particular resonance for the African continent – and, they say, must guide pastoral practice in the realms of education, liturgy, and the laity.
Pope Vents Frustration Over Lack of Political Will to Implement ‘Laudato Si’
A little more than four years after Pope Francis published one of his most provocative documents, not to mention perhaps his most political, in the form of his eco-encyclical Laudato Si’, the pontiff appears increasingly disappointed in the way the environmental manifesto been received.
Refugees, Migrants Given Safe Haven by Vatican Weep With Gratitude
The pontiff walked his own talk by having his “charitable right arm,” Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, bring 33 migrants from Afghanistan, Cameroon and Togo who had been stranded on the Greek island of Lesbos, back to Rome under Vatican patronage.
On Day of the Disabled, Pope Calls for ‘Full Integration’ in Society
They’re often the first people he greets when holding an audience, so it came as no surprise Dec. 3 when Pope Francis released a message for the World Day of Persons with Disabilities, calling for them to be fully integrated in society, not only through legislation but a much-needed change in mentality.
Persecution Has ‘Strengthened the Prophetic Role of Church’ in Asia, Priests Say
Despite rising extremism, two missionary priests in Southeast Asia believe that anti-Christian persecution has “strengthened the prophetic role of church.”
Pope Urges Display of Nativity Scenes in Both Public and Private
In a document signed in the city where the Nativity crèche was born, Pope Francis on the first Sunday of Advent urged Christians to keep the “beautiful family tradition” of preparing these scenes in the days before Christmas, but also to keep the custom of setting them up in the workplace, in schools, hospitals, prisons and town squares.