Amazon Bishops Say: ‘Show Me the Money’

Issues on the table at the upcoming Vatican summit on the Amazon region are not just political and ecclesiastical, but also down to earth and mundane, including the funding difficulties for Amazonian dioceses and parishes.

Participants at UN Prayer Service Praise Pope’s Abu Dhabi Declaration

Pope Francis’s landmark agreement with the Muslim world, signed earlier this year during his visit to Abu Dhabi, was heralded at the annual prayer service on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly as “an antidote to hatred, violence, extremism and blind fanaticism.”

St. John Paul II’s Challenge Is Still Valid: “Learn Rome!”

Back in the day, when St. John Paul II would meet with seminarians in the Eternal City each year, he would challenge them to “imparare Roma.” It’s a phrase that technically violates the rules of Italian grammar, but everyone knew what he meant: “Learn Rome!”

Why the Pope Probably Wasn’t Trolling Trump on Populism

I got a call Saturday to come on air from my friends at CNN, where I serve as senior Vatican analyst. The producers wanted me to join a morning news program, following a recent interview with Pope Francis in which he compared populist rhetoric about “us” and “we” to the kind of talk associated with the Nazis.

St. Joseph’s Parishioner Meets Pope

Kelly Calderon, who grew up in East Flatbush and is a parishioner of St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral, Prospect Heights, had an experience in June that many Catholics only dream about: She met the Holy Father in person.