Pope Francis said Tuesday that the latest round of financial scandal at the Vatican is actually a success story, because the situation was revealed thanks to an internal Vatican probe, which he said demonstrates that new controls are working.
Pope Francis said Tuesday that the latest round of financial scandal at the Vatican is actually a success story, because the situation was revealed thanks to an internal Vatican probe, which he said demonstrates that new controls are working.
Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Chappetto described the ad limina visit to Rome Nov. 11-15 as a pilgrimage. The bishops of New York state’s eight dioceses traveled to the Vatican for an official visit to report on the state of their dioceses, and during their time in Rome, the bishops celebrated Mass at the city’s four major basilicas.
Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Pope Francis visited Japan Nov. 23-26 as a “pilgrim of peace. The pontiff visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki to deliver a message against nuclear weapons, calling them “immoral” and urging nations to get rid of them.
The pope said he felt a “duty” to come to Hiroshima Peace Memorial as a pilgrim of peace and stand in silent prayer, “to recall the innocent victims of such violence.”
Over half a century since joining the Jesuits with the hope of becoming a missionary in Japan, Pope Francis finally fulfilled the dream of visiting this land.
As impeachment hearings divided the nation Wednesday, several blocks away a blockbuster line-up of Catholic thinkers sought to harness the Church’s social teachings to make sense of increasing political and cultural volatility while, at the same time, wrestling with public witness in a fractured church.
Speaking to people from 18 different religions on Nov. 22, Pope Francis said that the complex challenges of the world today – including globalization, the rapid advances of technology and the persistence of civil conflicts resulting in migration, refugees, famine and war – makes the need for cooperation between religions all the more pressing.
Speaking to some 60,000 members of Thailand’s tiny Catholic community, Pope Francis on Thursday called them to be missionary disciples, explaining that being a “mercenary of the faith” does not compel others to convert.
Pope Francis arrived in Thailand Wednesday to open a Nov. 20-26 Asia tour that will also take him to Japan. It marks the first time a pope has visited the former kingdom of Siam since St. John Paul II in 1984.
When Pope Francis embarks on the thirty-second trip of his pontificate Nov. 19, headed towards Thailand and Japan, he will once again be visiting nations where Catholics are a small minority.