Pope Francis has urged members of the Catholic Church to view the upcoming U.S. presidential election as a decision between the lesser of two evils.
While flying back to Rome on Friday, the Pope expressed his concerns about the two leading candidates—former President Donald Trump of the Republican Party and Vice President Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party—without naming them directly.
He highlighted that both candidates, in different ways, hold positions that he believes are “against life.”
“You must choose the lesser evil,” he stated. “Who is the lesser evil? That lady or that gentleman? I don’t know. Everyone, in conscience, [has to] think and do this.”
Abortion and immigration remain key determinants in American politics, and according to the Pope, refusing to welcome immigrants is a “grave” sin, and abortion is akin to an “assassination.” Hence, the electorate must choose between the lesser of two evils.
He, however, emphasised the need for citizens to exercise their franchise, noting that “not voting is ugly.
“It is not good. You must vote,” he stated.
Throughout its history, the Catholic Church has firmly opposed abortion while advocating for more compassionate immigration policies.
The Biden-Harris administration has positioned itself as pro-choice, implementing policies that support women’s right to make decisions regarding abortion.
Meanwhile, Donald Trumphas maintained a hardline stance on immigration and has outlined plans to introduce stricter immigration policies if he wins the presidency in November.
With just 50 days until the November 5 presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump are the main contenders in the race for the White House.
The Vatican has excommunicated Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, an outspoken critic of Pope Francis, citing his refusal to submit to papal authority and accusations of schism against the Catholic Church.
Archbishop Vigano, 83, known for his ultra-conservative views, has been at odds with Pope Francis for years, publicly calling for the pontiff’s resignation and accusing him of heresy. His criticisms have targeted the Pope’s positions on issues such as immigration, climate change, and LGBTQ+ rights, which Vigano vehemently opposes.
Previously serving as the papal envoy to Washington from 2011 to 2016, Archbishop Vigano gained international attention in 2018 when he went into hiding after alleging that Pope Francis had ignored sexual abuse allegations against an American cardinal. The Vatican dismissed his claims.
In recent years, Vigano’s rhetoric expanded to include conspiracy theories, particularly regarding COVID-19 vaccines and what he termed as “globalist” agendas promoted by international organizations like the UN, echoing themes popular among certain US conspiracy theorists.
The Vatican’s doctrinal office announced the excommunication, stating, “The Most Reverend Carlo Maria Vigano was found guilty of the reserved delict of schism.” This formal action underscores his refusal to acknowledge Pope Francis’s authority, as highlighted in his public statements and writings.
Responding to the Vatican’s decree, Archbishop Vigano reaffirmed his stance via a post on X, linking to the emailed decree and stating, “What was attributed to me as guilt for my conviction is now put on record, confirming the Catholic Faith that I fully profess.”
Last month, the archbishop was charged with schism and denying the legitimacy of Pope Francis, views he defiantly expressed as an “honour.” Vigano explicitly rejected Pope Francis’s leadership, condemning what he described as “scandals, errors, and heresies” attributed to the pontiff.
Pope Francis has encountered resistance from traditionalist factions within the Church for his progressive stances on social issues, including his efforts to foster inclusivity towards LGBTQ+ individuals, advocacy for migrant rights, and critique of capitalist excesses.
This excommunication follows previous actions by the Pope against dissenting voices within the Church, such as the dismissal of Bishop Joseph E Strickland of Texas in 2023.
Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said that they know there has been a lot of talk in the media about what Pope Francis said to Italian bishops on May 20.
Italian bishops were quoted by the media as saying that Pope Francis used the word “faggotness” as a joke during a conversation in Italian. He used the word to say the Vatican still doesn’t allow gay men to become priests.
Bruni said that Francis knew about the reports and remembered that the pope from Argentina has always said that there is space for everyone in the Catholic Church, especially LGBTQ2S+ Catholics.
“The pope didn’t mean to hurt anyone or say anything against gay people, and he’s sorry if anyone was upset by what he said,” Bruni explained.
The Vatican said in 2005 and again in 2016 that the church cannot allow or ordain men who are openly gay or strongly support gay culture.
Francis reiterated his stance in a meeting with Italian bishops on May 20. He joked that there was already a presence of gay men in seminaries. The Italian media reported this, following initial reports from gossip site Dagospia.
Francis does not speak Italian very well, and he has made mistakes in the past when speaking it. The 87-year-old pope from Argentina talks in a relaxed way, jokes using casual language and sometimes uses bad words in private.
He is well-known for reaching out to LGBTQ2S+ Catholics. In 2013, he made a famous comment saying “Who am I to judge” about a priest who was said to have had a gay lover in the past.
Samia Yaba Nkrumah, daughter of Ghana’s founding father, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, achieved a historic milestone on Wednesday by meeting with His Holiness Pope Francis.
She was personally invited by the Holy Father to participate in the Second World Meeting of Human Fraternity alongside Mama Gracha Machel Mandela and several Nobel Peace Laureates.
Traditionally, private audiences with the Pope are reserved for Heads of State, government leaders, new Vatican ambassadors to the Holy See, and groups of bishops during obligatory ad limina visits.
While some of the world’s elites have been granted private audiences with the Pope on occasion, there is no documented record of any private Ghanaian citizen having received this privilege until now.
In this regard, Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah has etched her name in history as the first known private Ghanaian citizen to hold such an esteemed distinction.
A leading candidate for the Jomoro parliamentary seat in the upcoming December 2024 general elections, Samia Nkrumah, commended Pope Francis for his leadership in advocating for peace, social justice, and environmental protection.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has pledged to prioritize faith-based organizations if victorious in the 2024 general elections.
He underscored the substantial contributions of churches and Islamic groups in constructing schools and hospitals for the nation.
Dr. Bawumia emphasized that these organizations have surpassed many external development partners in their impact on Ghana and should be regarded as development partners.
“That golden age means we are going to give incentives to the faith based organizations to help government. There are lot of incentives we give to our external development partners. They bring in things duty free and so on but they don’t do as much for us as the faith based organizations. I am going to give a lot of incentives to the faith based organizations to help government”.
Dr. Bawumia made these remarks during a breakfast gathering with clergy members and Imams in the Eastern Region, commencing his nationwide campaign tour from Akropong.
He highlighted that external development partners receive several incentives, including duty-free imports, yet their contributions are not as significant as those of faith-based organizations.
“I want us (government ) and the faith based organizations to have a very very close relationship. I have said, if you look at the work that the faith based organizations, the churches and so on have done for Ghana, it is more than many of our external development partners will ever do for Ghana. Much much more. The schools they have built, the hospitals they have built but we always don’t treat our faith based organizations as partners in development. I want to bring a whole new chapter in the relationship between our churches, our faith based Islamic organizations and bring a golden age of that relationship between the church and faith based organizations and government”
Dr. Bawumia seeks to foster a “golden age” of collaboration between the government and faith-based organizations by providing them incentives to support governmental initiatives.
Pope Francis welcomed Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in the “Auletta,” or small study, of the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, according to a statement issued by the Holy See Press Office.
During the meeting, Dr. Bawumia held discussions with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations.
The discussions highlighted the positive relations between the Holy See and Ghana, focusing on various aspects of Ghana’s political and socio-economic landscape.
The meeting also emphasized the ongoing collaboration between the two entities, particularly in critical sectors such as education and healthcare.
Additionally, the talks addressed current international matters, with a specific focus on security challenges faced by countries in West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea.
This exchange of views reflects the shared concern for addressing regional security issues and fostering stability in these areas.
The meeting between Pope Francis and Vice President Bawumia signifies the ongoing dialogue and cooperation between the Holy See and Ghana, aiming to strengthen partnerships and address mutual concerns at both national and international levels.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has embarked on an official visit to the Republic of Italy and the Vatican State.
A statement issued by spokesperson Dr. Gideon Boako indicated that the Vice President will engage in bilateral discussions with His Holiness Pope Francis.
“The Pope’s message of love, mercy, and inclusive, which he has devoted himself to promoting unity and mutual understanding between all peoples, has been embraced around the world.
“The meeting will highlight our common principles of peace, justice, and solidarity to guide us into a better future,” he added.
Francis has trouble with his knees and breathing, so he didn’t join the other cardinals in the procession around the obelisk at the beginning of the Mass. Instead, the 87-year-old pope blessed the palm leaves and olive branches carried by the faithful from the altar.
Francis was supposed to give a speech during the middle of the service, and a written copy had been given to reporters. However, when a helper gave Francis his glasses to start reading, the pope made it clear that he would not give the speech, and the crowd had to wait in silence.
Vatican officials didn’t say why right away. The Vatican press office later said instead of a sermon, there was a quiet time for prayer.
Francis said prayers during the whole service and asked for peace at the end of the Mass. He said he was thinking about the families of those killed in a terrible attack at a concert hall near Moscow. He also asked for prayers for the people of Ukraine and Gaza.
Vatican officials guessed about 60,000 people came to the Mass, which took place on a sunny, breezy day in the spring. Francis said hello to them from the car for a few minutes,driving around the square after the service.
Palm Sunday starts a busy week for Francis before Easter Sunday, when Christians remember that Jesus rose from the dead. On Thursday, Francis is supposed to go to a women’s prison in Rome to wash people’s feet as part of a tradition. On Friday, he will lead the torch lit Way of the Cross procession at Rome’s Colosseum,acting out the crucifixion of Christ.
The next day is Easter Vigil. Francis leads a solemn nighttime service in the basilica, and then has Easter Sunday Mass at St. [name]Peter stands in a square and gives a blessing from a balcony at noon.
The Holy Week is a busy time for popes, even when everything is going well. But this year, Francis has been dealing with illness all winter, which the Vatican has described as flu, bronchitis, or a cold. For the past few weeks, he has sometimes asked someone to read his speeches and lessons for him so he doesn’t have to do it himself.
On Sunday, no one else was asked to speak, and the sermon was not given. Vatican officials said the text was to be seen as if it never existed. Normally, the pope doesn’t give a speech at Easter, but he usually gives thoughts on Palm Sunday.
Even when he is not feeling unwell, Francis usually talks in a quiet voice and gets tired quickly. When he was young, he had surgery to remove part of one lung because of a bad lung infection.
Last year, he was very sick with bronchitis and had to go to the hospital for three days. But then he got better and was able to make it through Holy Week. He went to the hospital two times while he was pope to have surgery on his stomach. In 2021, he stayed in the hospital for 10 days to have part of his large intestine removed.
After the Mass, Francis prayed for peace for those suffering from war and asked for God to comfort the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Moscow.
Francis said he hopes the people who plan and do these terrible things will change their hearts, because God told us not to kill.
Francis asked people to remember Ukraine’s suffering without mentioning Moscow. He said that a lot of people in Ukraine don’t have electricity because their buildings and power lines were attacked. This is causing a lot of problems and could lead to an even bigger crisis.
“He asked to remember the people who died in Ukraine. “Let’s also think about Gaza, which is going through a lot of suffering, and many other places where there is war.
Francis read his speech out loud in a strong voice, with only a few coughs. He had been asking someone else to read his speeches for him to avoid straining his voice. He still has trouble moving around and needs to use a wheelchair instead of a cane, even for short distances.
Francis led a church service and listened to people confess their sins at St. Pius V church is close to the Vatican. It is the first time he has visited this parish this year. He didn’t meet with some people last week because the Vatican said he had a mild case of the flu.
He went to the hospital in February. 28 for tests that we don’t know about, and the results are not available yet. He was sick on and off this winter with a cold, bronchitis, and the flu.
The Pope from Argentina had surgery to remove part of his lung when he was young because he had a bad cough, and now he speaks softly even when he’s not sick. In 2021, doctors took out part of his colon, and last year he had an operation to fix a belly hernia and get rid of scar tissue in his intestines.
Pope Francis, who recently battled the flu, was admitted to a hospital in Rome for diagnostic testing after his papal audience on Wednesday, the Vatican confirmed, withholding further details.
Arriving at the Gemelli Hospital on Tiber Island in a modest white Fiat 500, the Pope departed under escort in the same vehicle after a brief visit.
Earlier, the 86-year-old pontiff was wheeled into the audience hall at the Vatican, showing signs of weariness as he took his seat. Despite recent walks to his chair, he has struggled with mild flu symptoms over the past week.
Francis canceled engagements on Saturday and Monday due to illness but maintained his usual Sunday blessing from St. Peter’s Square.
Last week, during Ash Wednesday services, the Pope coughed frequently and opted out of the traditional procession, reminiscent of a similar bout with illness at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Having undergone lung surgery in his youth and colon surgery in 2021, Pope Francis has experienced ongoing health challenges, using a wheelchair and cane since last year due to knee injuries.
During Wednesday’s audience, the Pope commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Anti-Personnel Mines Convention and offered prayers for peace in the Middle East, Ukraine, and for victims of recent attacks in Burkina Faso and Haiti.
Following the audience, Pope Francis engaged with well-wishers for approximately an hour from his wheelchair, exchanging words, blessing infants, and sharing gifts.
She gave up her family’s wealth to help the poor and keep the Jesuit movement going in Argentina, even after the religious order was stopped.
The Pope said on Friday that she is a special person for the people in Argentina and for the whole Church.
The political and religious leaders are meeting in Argentina at a time when the country is facing big political problems. Inflation is very high at 200% and 40% of the people are living in poverty.
Many people in Argentina are very upset about Mr. Milei’s plans to cut spending and decrease the value of their money by 50%.
He said he wants to take away some of the protections for workers, get rid of limits on how much landlords can charge for rent, and stop the government from giving money to help people buy things they need every day.
Mr Milei says the country needs big and quick changes to fix its really bad economic problems.
In a nation where religious condemnation of homosexuality is fervent and legal consequences for same-sex relationships are severe, Ghanaian couple Kay and Naa Shika grapple with a profound fear for their safety that eclipses concerns about societal acceptance.
“We are not safe,” confesses 27-year-old Kay, speaking to Reuters in Accra under the condition of anonymity for herself and her partner, according to Graphiconline.
Their apprehension has only intensified following a landmark ruling in December permitting Roman Catholic priests to bless same-sex unions, a decision approved by Pope Francis. However, this development has encountered staunch opposition from African bishops, exacerbating rather than assuaging tensions toward the LGBTQ+ community within Ghana’s Catholic populace, according to Kay.
The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference has staunchly resisted compliance with the Pope’s directive, with Father Dominic Maximilian Ofori expressing concerns that the Pontiff’s position has provoked discontent among Ghanaian Catholics.
In a notable statement in January, Pope Francis acknowledged the unique challenges facing Africans in the wake of his decision, implying an awareness of the backlash it has incited.
“What is the use (of a blessing) if my partner and I can’t hold hands and walk down the street,” she said. “Even when we don’t identify openly, some people, based on rumours, can harm us mentally or even physically.”
Kay observed that the resistance to the Pope’s decision has amplified demands for the swift enactment of legislation that would heighten penalties for same-sex relationships and transgender identity, while also criminalizing any form of advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights.
Pope Francis has responded to criticism of his decision to allow priests to bless same-sex couples, labeling the opposition as “hypocrisy.”
The authorization of blessings for LGBT couples was granted last month through a Vatican document named Fiducia Supplicans (Supplicating Trust).
However, this decision has faced significant pushback within the Catholic Church, especially from African bishops.
“Nobody gets scandalised if I give my blessings to a businessman who perhaps exploits people, and this is a very grave sin. But they get scandalised if I give them to a homosexual,” Francis told Italian Catholic magazine Credere.
“This is hypocrisy,” he said.
Credere released excerpts of the interview on Wednesday, one day before its scheduled publication date.
Additionally, Francis affirmed that he “always” extends a welcome to LGBT individuals and remarried divorcees for the sacrament of confession, as reported by another passage published by Vatican media.
“No one should be denied a blessing. Everyone, everyone, everyone” the pontiff said, repeating a three-word slogan he used in August during a Catholic youth festival in Portugal.
At the outset of his papacy, Francis famously remarked “Who am I to judge?” when questioned about homosexuality, signaling his intention to foster a more inclusive and compassionate Catholic Church.
Making the Church more welcoming and less judgmental has become one of Francis’s key objectives, despite facing criticism from conservatives who argue that this approach risks diluting the Church’s moral teachings.
Francis has consistently defended the Vatican document Fiducia Supplicans, which authorized blessings for same-sex couples, while acknowledging the resistance it has encountered. He has emphasized the importance of priests considering local sensitivities when administering these blessings.
Furthermore, Francis has clarified that these blessings do not signify formal Church approval for same-sex unions, seeking to address concerns within the Church about maintaining doctrinal integrity.
“When a couple comes forward spontaneously to ask for them, one does not bless the union, but simply the people who together have requested it. Not the union, but the persons,” Francis said on Jan. 26.
Pope Francis has responded to criticism of his decision to allow priests to bless same-sex couples, labeling the opposition as “hypocrisy.”
The authorization of blessings for LGBT couples was granted last month through a Vatican document named Fiducia Supplicans (Supplicating Trust).
However, this decision has faced significant pushback within the Catholic Church, especially from African bishops.
“Nobody gets scandalised if I give my blessings to a businessman who perhaps exploits people, and this is a very grave sin. But they get scandalised if I give them to a homosexual,” Francis told Italian Catholic magazine Credere.
“This is hypocrisy,” he said.
Credere released excerpts of the interview on Wednesday, one day before its scheduled publication date.
Additionally, Francis affirmed that he “always” extends a welcome to LGBT individuals and remarried divorcees for the sacrament of confession, as reported by another passage published by Vatican media.
“No one should be denied a blessing. Everyone, everyone, everyone” the pontiff said, repeating a three-word slogan he used in August during a Catholic youth festival in Portugal.
At the outset of his papacy, Francis famously remarked “Who am I to judge?” when questioned about homosexuality, signaling his intention to foster a more inclusive and compassionate Catholic Church.
Making the Church more welcoming and less judgmental has become one of Francis’s key objectives, despite facing criticism from conservatives who argue that this approach risks diluting the Church’s moral teachings.
Francis has consistently defended the Vatican document Fiducia Supplicans, which authorized blessings for same-sex couples, while acknowledging the resistance it has encountered. He has emphasized the importance of priests considering local sensitivities when administering these blessings.
Furthermore, Francis has clarified that these blessings do not signify formal Church approval for same-sex unions, seeking to address concerns within the Church about maintaining doctrinal integrity.
“When a couple comes forward spontaneously to ask for them, one does not bless the union, but simply the people who together have requested it. Not the union, but the persons,” Francis said on Jan. 26.
The Catholic Church maintains that homosexual acts are considered sinful and disordered, while individuals with same-sex attractions, which are not deemed sinful, are encouraged to pursue chastity.
In a recent interview published by Italy’s La Stampa daily, Francis expressed hope that critics of LGBT blessings would eventually come to understand them. However, he acknowledged that opposition to homosexuality, particularly prevalent in Africa, posed a unique challenge.
Bishops in Africa have largely rejected the Vatican document Fiducia Supplicans, arguing that its application could lead to scandal. Both Pope Francis and Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal department, have acknowledged the validity of this stance.
In some African nations, homosexuality is met with severe punishment, including imprisonment or even the death penalty, underscoring the significant cultural and legal barriers facing LGBT individuals in certain regions.
Pope Francis said that God gave us the gift of sexual pleasure, and we should use it carefully and with patience.
He also said that watching pornography can lead to addiction because it gives pleasure without a real relationship.
The Pope was talking to a lot of people in the Vatican on Wednesday.
The sermon was about the Pope talking about the bad things caused by wanting too much pleasure.
The pope said that desire for sex ruins relationships between people and he also said that the news every day shows this.
“He asked how many good relationships have turned bad over time. ”
The Pope said this a few days after his new chief of teaching, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, was criticized for a book he wrote and published in the late 1990s called Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality.
The book is no longer available to buy. It talked about sex and gave a lot of details about how men and women feel during orgasms. Cardinal Fernández talked to a Catholic website called Crux and said he wrote the book when he was younger, and he definitely wouldn’t write it now.
Some people who have traditional views have criticized the book and said it was unsuitable for Cardinal Fernández to be in charge of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Pope Francis and Cardinal Fernández have upset conservative Catholic people before.
In December, Cardinal Fernández made a new rule that allows priests to bless same-sex couples. Pope Francis also agreed with this rule.
Even though Cardinal Fernández said the position doesn’t make same-sex couples okay in the Catholic Church, many conservatives still think it’s a problem.
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, who was in charge of the Church’s teachings under Pope Benedict XVI, strongly criticized the Vatican’s document. Cardinal Müller said online that a priest blessing a gay union would be a very disrespectful and offensive thing to do.
“Cardinal Müller said that according to the rules for this kind of blessings, people could even give blessings to places like abortion clinics or groups like the mafia. ”
Leaders from all over the world spoke out against the decision. This includes conservative Americans who have always been against the Pope’s plans to change the Catholic Church.
Tensions got really bad when the Pope kicked a US Cardinal, Raymond Burke, out of his apartment at the Vatican and stopped paying him.
In his annual foreign policy address to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, Pope Francis called for a universal ban on what he termed the “despicable” practice of surrogate motherhood. He included the “commercialization” of pregnancy among the threats to global peace and human dignity.
Francis, lamenting the increasing threats to peace in the world, listed various issues, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas conflict, migration challenges, climate crises, and the production of nuclear and conventional weapons. However, he also highlighted smaller-scale issues, such as surrogacy, stating that the life of the unborn child must be protected and not turned into an “object of trafficking.”
Expressing his strong disapproval, the Pope deemed surrogate motherhood a “grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child” based on the exploitation of the mother’s material needs. He went on to declare it a practice that should be universally banned, emphasizing that a child should never be the basis of a commercial contract.
The Vatican’s stance against surrogacy is not new, aligning with its opposition to in vitro fertilization. While commercial surrogacy contracts are common in the United States, parts of Europe, including Spain and Italy, have banned such arrangements. The ongoing war in Ukraine has shed light on the thriving surrogacy industry in the country, where surrogacy for foreigners is allowed.
The Pope’s words were echoed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, stating that surrogacy is “not morally permissible.” The Catholic Church advocates for a world that upholds the profound dignity of every person.
In his geopolitical roundup, Pope Francis broke with his usual tendency to spare Moscow public blame, explicitly mentioning Russia’s “large-scale war” against Ukraine. He also addressed Israel’s conflict with Hamas, condemning terrorism and extremism while urging an immediate cease-fire, the liberation of hostages, and advocating for a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.
The Pope’s call for a global ban on surrogacy adds a new dimension to the ongoing discourse on reproductive ethics and human dignity.
President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Reverend Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, has reiterated that Catholic priests cannot bless same-sex marriages or unions.
This reaffirmation comes in response to reports suggesting that Pope Francis formally permitted Roman Catholic priests to bless same-sex unions, which has sparked various opinions on social media.
Rev. Gyamfi clarified that Pope Francis did not direct or approve Catholic priests to bless marriages of gays and lesbians or any member of the LGBTQ community.
He emphasized that the Vatican’s document, “Fiducia Supplicans,” focuses on the pastoral care of individuals in same-sex relationships, offering them spiritual support and guidance.
“The Declaration makes a distinction between liturgical (sacramental) blessings and pastoral blessings which may be given to persons who desire God’s loving graces in their lives. The Declaration says that these pastoral blessings “are meant for everyone; no one is to be excluded from them” (par. 28).”
It also notes that in “a brief prayer preceding this spontaneous blessing, the ordained minister could ask that the individuals have peace, health, a spirit of patience, dialogue, and mutual assistance—but also God’s light and strength to be able to fulfil his will completely (par. 38),” he added.
Rev. Gyamfi added that the statement also emphasized that no one should be excluded from these blessings.
“The Declaration deals with the possibility of “blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage”.
The Vatican said on Monday in a landmark ruling approved by Pope Francis that Roman Catholic priests can administer blessings to same-sex couples as long as they are not part of regular Church rituals or liturgies.
A document from the Vatican’s doctrinal office, which effectively reversed a declaration the same body had issued in 2021, said such blessings would not legitimise irregular situations but be a sign that God welcomes all.
It should in no way be confused with the sacrament of heterosexual marriage, it added.
It said priests should decide on a case-by-case basis and “should not prevent or prohibit the Church’s closeness to people in every situation in which they might seek God’s help through a simple blessing”.
We’re going to talk briefly about what happened in Rome. The family members of hostages had a news conference after meeting with Pope Francis this morning.
Karina Ariev’s 19-year-old sister Alexandra also spoke at the event. Karina was working at an Israeli army base close to Gaza when she was taken by force.
Alexandra says that every minute and every hour are really important for the hostages. She also says that every one of them needs to come back home. Not in boxes. They need to return home and share the stories of the people who were killed, so we can learn from them and have a better future.
After Nimrod Cohen, who is 19, comes his father. He says that when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, our lives changed a lot. We don’t think about day and night, we just wait for him to come back and for others to return to Israel.
Rachel, Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s mom, says her son and his friends hid in a bomb shelter at the Supernova music festival in California. It was attacked by Hamas militants.
“Many people died, but a few survived and were able to tell us what happened. Rachel says Hersh lost his left arm from the elbow down. ”
She said it was 47 days ago that her heart was buried in Gaza.
Finally, someone from Kibbutz Be’eri came. His sister, Raaya Rotem, 45, and niece, Hila Rotem Shoshani, 13, were taken into Gaza.
He hasn’t heard from Raaya since 12:05 on October 7th and doesn’t know what’s happening.
A Polish person who starts and runs technology businesses has a worldwide plan to get more kids interested in computer programming. This plan has been supported by Pope Francis.
Miron Mironiuk, the creator of Cosmose AI (a company that makes artificial intelligence), is using his personal experience with coding to change his life.
He said that the “Code with Pope” program would help reduce the big differences in education worldwide.
We hope that the Pope’s participation will bring in Catholic countries.
“We think that if the Pope gets involved, he can persuade them to take advantage of this chance to learn programming without paying,” Mr. Mironiuk said to the BBC.
The initiative will support and promote free online coding education for students aged 11-15 in Europe, Africa, and Latin America.
After spending 60 hours learning, children will have the foundational knowledge of Python, which is one of the most widely used coding languages in the world.
In today’s world of technology, knowing how to program is just as important as being able to read and write.
Information from the World Economic Forum in 2023 showed that “most of the jobs that are growing the fastest are related to technology. ”
However, there is a serious lack of technology skills worldwide that could result in 85 million job positions remaining vacant by the year 2030.
Therefore, it is important to make sure that people in low and middle-income countries – including many Catholic ones – have easier access to good programming education.
Many people in Poland are Catholic.
The 33-year-old millionaire, Mr Mironiuk, said to the BBC that he was happy and proud to be Polish and part of a group of successful Polish people working in technology.
However, Mironiuk knows that some countries are not as lucky, and he hopes this educational program can help make a difference.
The program will be offered in Spanish, English, Italian, and Polish. The aim is to reach kids in South America (excluding Brazil), as well as English-speaking countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.
The Pope has previously encouraged young people to learn coding. He even assisted in writing a code for a UN project in 2019.
Mr Mironiuk is going to have a meeting with the Pope at the Vatican. But he agrees that the pope probably won’t try to learn new skills like his students do.
“He said he doesn’t think the person knows Python very well, at least. ” However, he will receive a certificate as recognition for his contributions in initiating the program.
Pope Francis has said that the world is in big trouble because of climate change and it is getting really close to a breaking point.
The pope expressed his disappointment with global organizations for not being able to make effective decisions, and he also criticized those who deny the existence of climate change.
His strong and clear statement has been included in a significant new version of his important 2015 paper on the environment.
He said that some harm caused by climate change is already impossible to fix.
The Pope spoke out against people who refuse to acknowledge, hide, downplay, or make excuses about climate change. He stated that it is no longer possible to deny that humans are responsible for climate change.
Pope Francis has made addressing climate change very important during his time as Pope. In 2015, the pope issued an important document called an encyclical, which marked a change for the Catholic Church.
Since that time, the pope has continuously urged politicians to actually do something to address climate change.
He also criticized “careless ways of living”, especially in the Western world.
He said that people in the US produce around twice as much pollution as people in China, and about seven times more pollution than people in the poorest countries.
The pope stated that if people in the Western world were to change their irresponsible lifestyle, it would have a big and lasting effect.
Saying that there is no hope would be extremely dangerous. It would mean that everyone, especially those who have less money, would experience the horrible effects of climate change.
Carbon capture is a process that is similar to papering over cracks.
Pope Francis said that world governing bodies need a new way to make decisions because the current process that was put in place a long time ago is not enough and doesn’t seem to work well.
He says that anything people do might be seen as a trick to divert attention. He is talking about politicians, especially regarding the change from using fossil fuels to clean energy. He believes this change is happening too slowly and won’t have a big impact. Pope Francis agreed that some progress was made during the COP summits but expressed disappointment over the absence of penalties for failing to fulfill commitments.
He said that some suggestions in the most recent global agreement, from COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, were not clear enough.
The pope cautioned that we should not rely too much on carbon capture technologies because it’s like trying to hide the problem instead of solving it.
He said that thinking all future problems can be solved using new technology is a dangerous and unrealistic mindset, similar to pushing a snowball downhill.
Pope Francis is encouraging people to take action on climate change just like he did in his 2015 encyclical. He argues that it is both a moral and scientific responsibility.
Towards the end of his plea, he speaks directly to the leaders of the world.
To the people in charge, I have a question for you: Why would someone want to stay in power, only to be remembered for not doing anything important when it was really necessary.
The Pope wrote a letter to his harshest critics in the Catholic Church. He responded to a letter from five conservative cardinals who had formal questions for him. These questions were called “dubia,” which means “doubt” in Latin. The cardinals wanted a yes or no answer from the Pope about how he is running the Church.
The cardinals, Walter Brandmuller, Raymond Leo Burke, Juan Sandoval Iniguez, Robert Sarah, and Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, wrote a letter to Pope Francis on July 10. The text talked about a meeting that will happen in October with important Church leaders. It questioned how this meeting might change the Church’s teachings. It also asked if the Pope plans to bless same-sex unions and if he wants to allow women to become priests.
According to a blog post by American Cardinal Raymond Burke, the five cardinals were not happy with the Pope’s first response. So, they changed the wording of the letter called “dubia” and sent it again on August 21. Cardinal Burke said they did this because they think the issue is very serious.
The Vatican later published a letter in Spanish on September 25. The letter was signed by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, who is the Vatican’s new leader in matters of doctrine. The reply contains the answers from Pope Francis to the dubia, and he signed it as “Francis. ”
The Pope said that the church only sees marriage as being between a man and a woman. However, he said that blessings may be given to people in same-sex unions.
In simpler words, when you ask for a blessing, you are asking God for help and praying to have a better life. The Pope also said that church leaders need to be careful and decide if certain types of blessings are appropriate and do not promote a negative view of marriage.
The Pope’s current response seems to go against what he said in March. Back then, he stated that the Church couldn’t bless same-sex unions because it goes against their belief in not supporting sinful actions.
The newest update seems to be inspired by a decision made by the German Church a few months ago. In March, some priests in Cologne gave a Catholic blessing to same-sex unions, and this decision was put into practice in August.
The Pope said that he agreed with what Pope John Paul II said in 1994, that the Catholic Church cannot ordain women. However, he also said that we need to study the issue so we can teach people who have doubts about it.
“If we don’t understand and acknowledge the practical effects of these differences, it will be hard to accept that only men can be priests. We also won’t realize the importance of women’s rights or their need to have a role in leading the Church,” said the Pope.
The upcoming meeting of Catholic bishops may affect the church’s teachings. Pope Francis said that both the leaders and the people can have a say and feel like they are part of the church’s journey. We can say that synodality, as a style and way of working together, is very important in the life of the Church.
He also said that trying to make one group’s way of doing things the only way for everyone would only stop progress.
Some conservative members of the Church are skeptical about the upcoming Synod in Rome. They worry that women will be allowed to participate and that decisions won’t be made based on agreement among all members.
Pope Francis has requested that European countries be more accepting of migrants during his trip to Marseille, a city in southern France.
Speaking at a meeting of religious leaders and young individuals from Mediterranean nations, the pope stated that people who put their lives in danger while crossing the sea are not trying to invade.
French President Emmanuel Macron was there to listen to the speech.
This news appeared when lots of people arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa, which has caused people to start discussing migration again.
France’s Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, who welcomed the Pope when he arrived in Marseille on Friday, said that the country would not allow any migrants from the island to come in.
Pope Francis said that migration is not an urgent problem, but rather a normal part of our world today. It involves three continents around the Mediterranean and needs to be handled carefully, including a response from Europe.
“Many people are suffering and crying out in pain, especially those who are trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to find a better life. This sea, which was once known as the birthplace of civilization, has now become a place where people lose their dignity and even their lives. These people are our brothers and sisters. ”
He also asked for a lot of legal ways for migrants to enter, especially those running away from war, hunger, and poverty, rather than focusing on protecting oneself. The Pope said the same thing again as he did on Friday, that it is our responsibility to save migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean.
The 86-year-old person advised governments not to ignore problems and not to be afraid to take action. They said that if someone is left alone in a dangerous situation, like being in the water and at risk of drowning, they must be saved.
Many people stood on the streets of Marseille to see him go by.
He went to Marseille for work. He was there to join the final meeting of the Mediterranean Meetings event, where they discussed migration, economic inequality, and climate change.
Francis’s visit was the first time a pope visited Marseille, which is the second-largest city in France, in 500 years.
He went to a closed meeting with President Macron and will lead a holy ceremony in the Velodrome stadium before going back to Rome later on Saturday.
Ukrainian authorities have criticized Pope Francis’ later address to Russian youth, calling his comments “imperialist propaganda.”
The pontiff made a video address to the 10th All-Russian Catholic Youth Get together in St. Petersburg on Friday, amid which he encouraged them to see themselves as relatives of the Russian domain.
“Never disregard your legacy. You’re the relatives of extraordinary Russia: the extraordinary Russia of holy people, rulers, the extraordinary Russia of Dwindle I, Catherine II, that domain – taught, awesome culture and extraordinary humankind. Never allow up on this heritage,” the pope said.
“You are relatives of the incredible Mother Russia, step forward with it. And thank you – thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian.”
On Monday, Ukrainian Remote Service representative Oleh Nikolenko attacked the pope’s discourse.
“This is the kind of radical publicity, ‘spiritual bonds’ and the ‘need’ to spare ‘Great Mother Russia’ which the Kremlin employments to legitimize the kill of thousands of Ukrainians and the pulverization of hundreds of Ukrainian towns and villages,” Nikolenko said in a Facebook post.
The pope’s mission ought to be “precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to the obliterating course of the current Russian leadership” and instep he is advancing “Russian great-power thoughts, that are, in truth, the reason for Russia’s unremitting aggression,” Nikolenko said.
Final year, Russian President Vladimir Putin compared himself to Dwindle the Extraordinary amid an exhibition dedicated to the primary Russian head, utilizing the comparison to legitimize Russia’s intrusion of Ukraine.
“Peter the Incredible pursued the Awesome Northern War for 21 years,” Putin said at the time. “On the confront of it, he was at war with Sweden taking something absent from it … He was not taking away anything, he was returning. This can be how it was.” He included that it didn’t matter that European nations didn’t recognize Dwindle the Great’s seizure of region by constrain.
Those comments were quickly condemned by Ukrainians, who saw them as a exposed confirmation of Putin’s royal aspirations – and were highlighted once more this week after the pope’s address.
Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said in a explanation that Diminish the Incredible and Catherine the Incredible are the “worst illustrations of government and extraordinary Russian nationalism,” caution that the pope’s words “could be seen as bolster for the patriotism and dominion that has caused the war in Ukraine today.”
“As a Church, we need to state that within the setting of Russia’s animosity against Ukraine, such explanations rouse the neocolonial aspirations of the assailant country,” Shevchuk said.
On Tuesday, the Vatican rejected the translation of the pope’s words as praise of imperialism.
“The Pope expecting to empower youthful individuals to protect and advance all that’s positive within the incredible socialand Russian most profound sense of being, and certainly not to lift up settler rationale and government identities, cited to demonstrate a few verifiable periods of reference,” the Vatican articulation said.
The pope has already been criticized for a few of his comments around Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In comments distributed by Italian daily paper La Stampa in June final year, Francis said the war “was maybe in a few way either incited or not prevented.” He said that some time recently Russia attacked Ukraine he met with “a head of state” who “was exceptionally stressed approximately how NATO was moving.”
In Eminent final year, the pope irritated Kyiv by alluding to Russian political commentator Darya Dugina, the girl of an ultra-nationalist logician, as being among the “innocent” casualties of the war after she was murdered by a car bomb on the edges of Moscow.
The Ukrainian Service of Outside Undertakings summoned Missional Nuncio to Ukraine, Ecclesiastical overseer Visvaldas Kulbokas, to talk about Francis’ articulation, saying that it “unjustly” likens “the assailant and the victim.”
Ukrainian authorities have already said they have “no knowledge” of a Vatican peace mission to resolve the struggle with Russia, taking after the pope’s claim of association within the handle.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with the pontiff in Rome in May, when Francis guaranteed “his consistent prayer” for peace and pushed the require for “human gestures” toward casualties of the war, agreeing to the Vatican.
Pope Francis recently paid a famed Catholic monument in Portugal a visit. The shrine is known for ominous prophecies about damnation, world peace, and Soviet communism that have gained fresh significance in light of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
The 86-year-old prayed the rosary in Fatima, where the Church claims the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in 1917, among some 200,000 other pilgrims.
Francis was supposed to travel to Ukraine to pray for peace, according to the Vatican, but instead he skipped a speech that was supposed to be the highlight of the event.
Since the tour began on Wednesday, he has cut down on many addresses or deviated from the script, with one speech being attributed to difficulty with his glasses.
Pope Francis, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, “always addresses first and foremost the people he meets, as a shepherd, and speaks accordingly.”
When speaking in his native Spanish, the Argentine pontiff veers much further from his planned statements.
We join Your Holiness’ prayer for peace, which is strongly associated with this sanctuary, he continued, “thinking in particular of the war in Ukraine and so many other conflicts in the world.”
Later, as a helper carefully pushed his wheelchair through the crowd, Francis addressed scores of individuals one by one, frequently pausing to console infants and the sick.
He then proceeded to return to the helicopter that would take him to the following event on his five-day visit to Portugal, where he was serving as the chief celebrant of World Youth Day.
Since the children’s first claimed vision of the Virgin Mary on May 13, 1917, Fatima has fascinated Catholics.
Tradition has it that the Virgin Mary visited Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia Marto, three Portuguese cousins, six times, and revealed three secrets to them.
The first two foresaw the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II, as well as the rise and fall of Soviet communism. They also painted an apocalyptic picture of hell.
The third was kept a secret by everyone save Lucia and the popes for more than three and a half centuries, creating literature and cults that believed it to be the timing of the end of the world.
On May 13, the same day as the first alleged apparition in 1917, the Vatican claimed in 2000 that it was a prophecy of the 1981 attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II.
At the time, the kids ranged in age from seven to ten. A few years after they passed away, Francisco and Jacinta were canonised in 2017.
At the age of 97, Lucia became as a nun and passed away in 2005. She is also being attempted to become a saint.
This event marks the first of its kind since 2019 and comes after a hiatus due to the pandemic.
Landing in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, on Wednesday, the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has engaged in the World Youth Day event, which convenes young Catholics, including teenagers and those in their early twenties, from around the world.
The event, spanning five days, was initiated by Pope Francis’ predecessor and takes place every two to three years. The most recent event occurred in 2019.
Arriving at the Figo Madura military air base on Wednesday morning, Pope Francis subsequently proceeded to a welcoming ceremony, hosted by Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Notably, this visit is the 86-year-old pontiff’s first trip since undergoing intestinal surgery in June.
During his visit, Francis is also scheduled to have meetings with survivors of clergy sexual abuse.
The Catholic Church has been deeply affected by thousands of allegations of child abuse committed by clergy members worldwide.
These revelations have significantly impacted the Church’s credibility and led to many believers leaving.
Ahead of the Pope’s arrival, advocates for victims erected a large billboard highlighting the widespread issue of sexual abuse within the Portuguese Catholic Church.
Approximately six months ago, a Portuguese commission released a report indicating that there have been at least 4,815 instances of sexual abuse involving minors by clergy since 1950. The victims in these cases were predominantly aged between 10 and 14 years old.
“There will be young people from all over the world and the reality [of abuse] is present in all continents,” Filipa Almeida — who was abused by a priest when she was 17 — told Reuters news agency. “It’s a great opportunity for theChurch to do something.”
On Saturday, July 22, President Akufo-Addo paid a courtesy visit to Pope Francis in Rome to strengthen diplomatic ties between Ghana and the Vatican.
This visit was a part of the President’s official four-day visit to Italy, aiming to reaffirm the friendship between the two nations.
During the visit, the Ghanaian delegation was taken on a tour of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences at the Vatican by Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, a respected Catholic priest of Ghanaian origin.
Ghana shares the Holy See’s commitment to addressing critical issues such as the climate crisis, human trafficking, and promoting equality for all.
On the occasion of Pope Francis’ 10th anniversary as Pope, which coincided with the National Day of the Holy See, President Nana Akufo-Addo lauded the Pope’s dedication to the betterment of humanity.
Since 2013, Pope Francis has advocated for fairness, equality among nations, and has spoken against discrimination and exploitation.
The Vatican has been a supportive partner in Ghana’s development efforts, particularly in areas like education, health, and youth development over the years.
On July 22, President Akufo-Addo embarked on a courtesy visit to Pope Francis in Rome, with the primary objective of strengthening diplomatic relations between Ghana and the Vatican.
This visit was a significant part of the President’s official four-day trip to Italy, during which Ghana aimed to reinforce the bonds of friendship with the Holy See.
As part of the visit’s itinerary, the Ghanaian delegation had the opportunity to tour the Pontifical Academies of Sciences at the Vatican, guided by Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, a respected Catholic priest of Ghanaian origin.
During the meeting, the President expressed Ghana’s solidarity with the Holy See in addressing critical global issues such as the climate crisis, human trafficking, and the promotion of equality for all.
The visit signifies Ghana’s commitment to fostering a strong and constructive relationship with the Vatican, reinforcing their shared aspirations for a better world and a more inclusive society.
In the recent commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ papacy, which coincided with the National Day of the Holy See, President Nana Akufo-Addo praised the former for his commitment to the cause of humanity.
“Since his pontification in 2013, His Holiness, Pope Francis, has promoted fairness and equality amongst nations, and also preached against discrimination and exploitation,” he noted.
The Vatican has over the years been supportive of Ghana’s development agenda, especially in the area of education, health and youth development.
Pope Francis has strongly criticized the recent incident of Quran burning in Sweden, expressing his anger and disgust at the desecration of the Muslim holy book.
In an interview with the United Arab Emirates newspaper Al Ittihad, the Pope emphasized the importance of respecting any book that is considered holy, as a means of showing respect to those who hold it sacred.
“I feel angry and disgusted at these actions.”
During the celebration of Eid al-Adha on Wednesday, a distressing incident occurred in Stockholm where an individual tore up and burned a Quran outside a mosque. This act has received condemnation from various quarters, including the governments of Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
In response to this incident, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), consisting of 57 member states, has called for collective action and emphasized the importance of utilizing international law to combat religious hatred.
The OIC said in a statement: “We must send constant reminders to the international community regarding the urgent application of international law, which clearly prohibits any advocacy of religious hatred.”
Pope Francis underwent stomach surgery on Wednesday, which stoked new health concerns. On Thursday, the 86-year-old was making a good recovery in a hospital in Rome.
According to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni’s statement posted to the Vatican press office’s Telegram account, “the night went well.” More details will be made public later on Thursday morning, according to Bruni.
On Wednesday, following his public audience in St. Peter’s Square, where he stopped to engage the audience, Francis headed for the hospital. The pope next went to the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, which features a suite on the 10th floor specifically for popes, according to Reuters.
“This wasn’t an urgent surgery,” Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the surgeon who operated on Pope Francis, said at a press conference.
“He continued to feel the pain, so a surgery was decided,” Alfieri said.
There were no reported complications, according to the Vatican. It had earlier said the pope would stay in hospital for several days.
Francis reacted well to the surgery and to the anesthesia, and had already made a joke since the operation, Alfieri said.
“Other pathologies or illnesses were not found,” Alfieri said, adding that the pope has resumed his work from hospital.
This operation is the latest in a series of health scares surrounding Pope Francis.
He was forced to cancel several work commitments in late may after he was debilitated by a fever. He was also hospitalized in March for bronchitis, but recovered after taking antibiotics.
When he left hospital on that occasion, Francis joked that he’s “still alive.”
Wednesday’s procedure – called a laparotomy – involved general anesthesia and is intended to repair a hernia that the Vatican said caused “recurrent, painful and worsening” symptoms.
Medical sources say that the intervention was likely related to the surgery Francis underwent in 2021, which removed half of his colon.
Francis also had one part of his lung removed after a severe bout of pneumonia as a young man. In 2019, he had ocular surgery to treat a cataract. He has also struggled with chronic sciatica pain.
Over the past year, knee troubles have also largely confined him to the use of a cane or a wheelchair.
Should Francis be incapacitated for any length of time, the Vatican could face a constitutional crisis. There is no “vice pope” in the Catholic system, meaning someone who can exercise the pope’s authority in his absence.
The Vatican’s secretary of state, currently Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, can oversee routine day-to-day management, but he has no authority, for example, to appoint bishops or to create or suppress dioceses around the world.
Bruni said before the procedure that the pope was expected to make a “full functional recovery.” The Prefecture of the Papal Household said all of Francis’ audiences have been canceled until June 18.
Tourists and members of the faithful at the Vatican told CNN they were “praying for Pope Francis,” as he left for hospital on Wednesday.
“I went to the audience today and saw the pope. Then we heard the mass and the priest said to say a prayer for the pope. We are praying for Pope Francis now,” Sister Annatuli, 40, said.
Carina, 30, said she had traveled from Mexico to visit her aunt, who is a nun in Rome. “I can comprehend how serious this is. It’s difficult because so many people are devoted to him and the church.
“We hope that he will recover.”
In an interview with Spanish daily ABC in December, Francis said he had already prepared a letter of resignation in the case of permanent medical incapacity shortly after his election in 2013.
Francis said he wrote the letter several years ago and gave it to then-Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who resigned in 2013.
In his first public comments about the letter’s existence, the pope was quoted as saying: “I have already signed my renunciation. The Secretary of State at the time was Tarcisio Bertone. I signed it and said: ‘If I should become impaired for medical reasons or whatever, here is my renunciation.’”
Papal resignations are exceedingly rare. In 2013, Francis’ immediate predecessor, the late Pope Benedict XVI, because the first pope to step down in nearly 600 years, citing “advanced age” as his reason.
In 2013, Francis’ immediate predecessor, the late Pope Benedict XVI, made the almost unprecedented decision to resign from his position, citing “advanced age” as the reason and startling the Catholic world.
The decision startled the Catholic world. The last pope to step down before his death was Gregory XII, who in 1415 quit to end a civil war within the church in which more than one man claimed to be pope.
Pope Francis has positioned himself as a more progressive leader than his predecessors during his decade-long tenure.
In 2016, he urged priests around the world to be more accepting of LGBTQ communities, but later walked back on comments declaring support for civil union for same-sex couples.
He has made historic visits to Myanmar and Iraq, and was also the first pontiff to celebrate Mass in the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam, in 2019.
The pope has also been a vocal supporter for peace in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met the pope at the Vatican in May.
Francis has also taken steps to address clerical sexual abuse – an issue that has dogged the Catholic Church around the world – saying in 2018 that young Catholics have been “scandalized” by the church’s “monstrous” abuse crisis.
Pope Francis will have surgery on his belly and remain in a Rome hospital for many days, the Vatican said on Wednesday in the latest health concern for the 86-year-old pope.
The pope was obliged to cancel many business engagements in late May when he was incapacitated by a fever, and he was hospitalized in March for bronchitis but responded well to medication.
Leaving hospital on that occasion, Francis remarked that he’s “still alive.”
Technically called a laparotomy, Wednesday’s procedure involves general anesthesia and is intended to repair a hernia that the Vatican said is causing “recurrent, painful and worsening” symptoms.
According to medical sources, the intervention is likely related to the surgery Francis experienced in 2021 to remove half of his colon.
The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, added the pope is expected to make a “full functional recovery.”
In addition to his colon surgery two years ago, Francis had part of one lung removed after a severe bout of pneumonia as a young man. More recently, in 2019, he underwent ocular surgery at Rome’s Clinic of Pius XI to treat a cataract. He has also struggled with chronic sciatica pain.
Over the past year, he experienced knee troubles that have largely confined him to the use of a cane or a wheelchair.
Should Francis be incapacitated for any length of time, the Vatican could find itself facing something of a constitutional crisis. There is no “vice pope” in the Catholic system, meaning someone who can exercise the pope’s authority in his absence.
The Vatican’s secretary of state, currently Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, can oversee routine day-to-day management, but he has no authority, for example, to appoint bishops or to create or suppress dioceses around the world.
In an interview with Spanish daily ABC in December, Francis said he had already prepared a letter of resignation in the case of permanent medical incapacity shortly after his election in 2013.
On Wednesday afternoon, Pope Francis is scheduled to undergo surgery on his abdomen at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
The Vatican has announced that he is expected to remain in the hospital for several days to recover from the hernia operation. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni explained that the hernia has been causing recurring, painful, and worsening symptoms.
In recent years, the 86-year-old pontiff has encountered several health challenges. He relies on a cane and a wheelchair due to a persistent knee ailment. The upcoming surgery adds to the list of medical issues he has faced.
“In the early afternoon he will undergo a laparotomy and abdominal wall surgery… under general anaesthesia,” said Mr Bruni.
He added. “The stay at the health facility will last several days to allow the normal post-operative course and full functional recovery.”
On Tuesday, the Pope was at the same Rome hospital for a scheduled check-up, months after he was hospitalised with bronchitis.
He spent three days in hospital in March to treat a lung infection, in the same month that he marked the 10th anniversary of his pontificate.
On what would have been her 150th birthday, let us ask Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, the patron saint of missions, for the grace to love Jesus as she loved Him, the grace to offer Him our trials and our sorrows, as she did, so that He might be known and loved by all.
After undergoing examinations, the pope has returned from the hospital in Rome.
Italian news agency Ansa and a number of other regional media sites reported that Pope Francis visited Gemelli Hospital in the nation’s capital.
According to accounts, he arrived at a hospital section dedicated to treating senior patients at 10.40 a.m. local time (8.40 a.m. GMT).
The pope returned shortly after, according to witnesses at the Perugino gate of the Vatican, one of the main gates to the city state, and greeted guards as usual.
The Vatican has not yet commented on the condition of the pope, who is 86 years old.
Pope Francis marked the 10th anniversary of his pontificate in March and has recently made headlines after denouncing anti-gay laws.
He described the criminalisation of homosexuality as an ‘injustice’ while travelling back to Rome from Juba, the capital of South Sudan, in February.
The Catholic leader said people with ‘homosexual tendencies’ are children of God and should be welcomed by the church.
In late March he spent a few days at the Gemelli Hospital – one of Europe’s largest private hospitals sometimes known as ‘The Pope’s Hospital’ – with an acute case of bronchitis.
He was given intravenous antibiotics and discharged on April 1, after which he joked ‘I’m still alive’.
He also skipped some audiences last month due to a fever.
The pope had part of his colon removed in July 2021 as part of an operation tackling a painful bowel condition called diverticulitis.
He revealed earlier this year the condition has returned.
Pope Francis is also missing part of one lung, which was removed when he was a young man living in his native Argentina.
He has suffered several ailments in his later years, including sciatica nerve pain and strained ligaments in his knee, and is often seen using a cane or wheelchair to get around.
Despite this the pope has a packed schedule, with trips to Portugal and Mongolia planned for August.
His next public appointment is expected to be his weekly general audience tomorrow in St Peter’s Square.
Pope Francis is meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome.
It comes after Francis claimed that the Vatican was engaged in a covert effort to resolve the conflict.
Upon his arrival in Italy, where he also had meetings with Premier Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella, Mr. Zelensky tweeted: “An important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine!”
The pair promised full military and financial backing for Ukraine and reiterated the country’s support for its EU membership bid.
Zelensky flew to Rome on an Italian government plane that was escorted over Italian airspace by fighter jets. He was due to be received in Berlin on Sunday.
His meeting with the pope is the most significant part of his visit.
Mr Zelensky previously met Francis at the Vatican in 2020 and the two have had several phone conversations since the war began.
At the start of the war, the pope tried to take a balanced approach in hopes of being a mediator but later began forcefully condemning Russia’s actions, comparing them to some of the worst crimes against Ukraine during the Soviet era.
Returning from a trip to Hungary on April 30, Francis made an intriguing but puzzling comment about the Vatican being involved in a mission to try to end the war.
‘There is a mission in course now but it is not yet public. When it is public, I will reveal it,’ he told reporters during the papal flight home.
Francis has pleaded for peace practically on a weekly basis, and has repeatedly expressed a wish to act as a broker between Kyiv and Moscow.
His offer has so far failed to produce any breakthrough.
The pope has a standing invitation from Mr Zelensky to visit Kyiv but has said previously that he also wants to visit Moscow as part of the same peace mission.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met the pope at the Vatican on April 27 and said he had discussed a ‘peace formula’ put forward by Mr Zelensky.
The president and his team have been vigorously promoting Kyiv’s 10-point peace plan and urging world leaders to hold a Global Peace Summit based on the proposals.
It calls for restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities, and the restoration of Ukraine’s state borders.
Mr Zelensky has repeatedly said the plan is not open to negotiations.
The pope has said the Vatican is willing to do ‘all that is humanly possible’ to help the repatriation of Ukrainian children.
Kyiv estimates nearly 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea since February 2022, in what it condemns as illegal deportations.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is in Rome for a trip where he will meet with dignitaries and see Pope Francis.
“An important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine!” Zelensky tweeted as he landed in the Italian capital.
He will meet Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, President Sergio Mattarella and travel to the Vatican later on Saturday.
A huge security operation has been launched, with over 1,000 police deployed and a no-fly zone over Rome.
Pope Francis has often said that the Vatican stands ready to act as a mediator in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Earlier this month, he stated that the Vatican was working on a peace plan to end the war, saying that the mission was “not yet public. When it is public, I will talk about it.”
But the relationship between Ukraine and the Vatican has sometimes been uneasy.
Last August, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican took the unusual step of criticising the Pope after the pontiff referred to Darya Dugina, the daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist figure, who was killed by a car bomb, as an “innocent” victim of war.
Saturday will be the first time President Zelensky and Pope Francis have met since Russia invaded Ukraine. The pair did meet in 2020.
The visit comes after Russia carried out a new wave of air strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight.
Three people were injured in the southern city of Mykolaiv and in the western city of Khmelnytsky. Critical infrastructure as well as homes and government buildings were also hit.
Explosions were reported on Friday in the Russian-occupied city of Luhansk, about 90km (55.9 miles) behind the front line in eastern Ukraine. Russian-backed separatist forces in the region accused Kyiv of using Storm Shadow missiles, which the UK said it had supplied Ukraine with earlier this week.
There were also more reports of blasts in Luhansk on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces say they have made progress near the eastern city of Bakhmut.
Pope Francis has sacked a Rwandan-born man from the priesthood after it emerged that he has legally acknowledged being a father of a 10-year-old boy
Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, 64, was serving as a clergyman in northern France for almost three decades prior to his dismissal.
According to a BBC.com report, a communiqué circulating online signed by the bishop of Évreux indicated that Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, “automatically loses clerical rights” and “is excluded” from serving “anywhere else” as a priest.
“The Office of the Diocese of Évreux has confirmed to the BBC the authenticity of the communiqué, which says it is based on a papal decree dated in March.
“Mr Munyeshyaka, who fled to France after the Rwandan genocide in 1994, hasn’t commented on the decision.” BBC.com report added
Mr Munyeshyaka was ordained a priest in Rwanda in 1992, where he is accused of playing a role in the killing of hundreds of Tutsis who had fled to his church in the capital, Kigali, during the genocide but was later cleared of genocide charges by Courts in France.
He was however suspended by his diocese in December 2021 after it emerged that he has legally acknowledged being a father of a 10-year-old boy.
Pope Francis has expressed gratitude to Hungarians for accepting Ukrainian refugees during the war and encouraged them to aid anyone in need.
On his second day of a visit to Hungary, the pontiff met refugees at a church in Budapest and praised Hungary’s Catholic Church for providing aid to people fleeing war.
He also urged Europe to find again its founding values of peaceful unity as he denounced the “adolescent belligerence” of Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine.
Hungary’s nationalist government has implemented firm anti immigration policies and refused to accept many asylum seekers trying to enter the country through its southern border, leading to prolonged legal disputes with the European Union.
However, some 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing war in their country have found open doors in the country.
Around 35,000 of the refugees remain in Hungary and have registered for temporary protection there, according to the UN.
At a forthcoming gathering of Catholic bishops in October, Pope Francis will grant women the right to join and cast a ballot for the first time.
Ordinarily, only bishops are permitted to cast ballots at the synodal gathering.
On Wednesday, Pope Francis approved regulations that will allow women and laypeople to participate in politics.
The Vatican’s synod office stated that 50% of the 70 non-bishop members who can participate under the amendments should be women.
A synod is a meeting of bishops called at the pope’s request to debate a particular subject. It is a consultative council that makes recommendations to the pope; it lacks the power to impose rules or alter church doctrine.
At a forthcoming gathering of Catholic bishops in October, Pope Francis will grant women the right to join and cast a ballot for the first time.
Ordinarily, only bishops are permitted to cast ballots at the synodal gathering.
On Wednesday, Pope Francis approved regulations that will allow women and laypeople to participate in politics.
The Vatican’s synod office stated that 50% of the 70 non-bishop members who can participate under the amendments should be women.
A synod is a meeting of bishops called at the pope’s request to debate a particular subject. It is a consultative council that makes recommendations to the pope; it lacks the power to impose rules or alter church doctrine.
The disappearance of an adolescent who became known as the “Vatican Girl,” one of Italy’s longest-running mysteries, has Pope Francis determined to solve it, according to the chief prosecutor of the Vatican.
Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old who was headed home from a flute lesson in Rome in 1983, was the daughter of an usher who resided inside the city-state.
The family’s search for answers has taken several turns over the past four decades as a result of the countless conspiracy theories that have been sparked by her case.
After the Netflix series “Vatican Girl” debuted, it attracted new interest on a global scale last year.
And in January this year, Pope Francis launched the Vatican’s first formal investigation into the disappearance.
His top prosecutor, Alessandro Diddi, said his office would try to ‘give answers’ to the family.
Emanuela Orlandi is the daughter of a Vatican employee and vanished in 1983 (Picture: AP)
Speaking to Italy’s Corriere della Sera ahead of a meeting with Emanuela’s brother, Diddi said Francis has an ‘iron will’ regarding the case and wants ‘the truth to emerge without any reservations’.
Family lawyer Laura Sgro told reporters afterwards: ‘We hope this can shed light on this episode and write a page of history.’
She said the Vatican’s openness and the pope’s determination was ‘absolutely positive’.
There have been countless theories about what happened to Emanuela.
In the 1980s, reports emerged in the Italian media that she had been kidnapped as part of a bid to free Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk jailed two years earlier for trying to assassinate Pope John Paul II.
Others linked her to the grave of infamous Italian gangster, Enrico De Pedis, who was a leading figure in Rome’s underworld when she vanished.
His remains were exhumed in 2012 but nothing was revealed.
In 2019, the Orlandi family received an anonymous letter saying Emanuela’s body might be hidden in the Vatican’s Teutonic Cemetery, where a statue of an angel holding a book reads ‘Requiescat in Pace’, Latin for ‘Rest in Peace’.
Two tombs were prised open but nothing was found – not even the bones of the two 19th century princesses said to have been buried there.
The most encouraging find came in 2018, when reports suggested bones found during work at the Vatican embassy in Rome could be those of Emanuela or another missing teen Mirella Gregori.
But DNA tests quickly put paid to those hopes.
Last month, Italy’s lower house approved the establishment of a parliamentary commission to investigate the disappearances of both girls.
Police have never excluded the possibility that Emanuela may have been abducted and possibly killed for reasons with no connection to the Vatican, or been a victim of human trafficking.
Pope Francis presided over his first mass after leaving the hospital while bundled up in a heavy coat.
Tens of thousands of people attended the Palm Sunday Service that the Pope celebrated in St. Peter’s Square.
After a three-day hospital visit to receive bronchitis treatment, he battled a hoarse voice during the ceremony.
During his time at the Gemelli Policlinic in Rome he received antibiotics intravenously.
Pope Francis presides over the Palm Sunday mass at St. Peter’s square in The Vatican (Picture: AFP/Getty)
As he left hospital on Saturday, he quipped ‘I’m still alive, you know’ to reporters who asked how he was feeling.
He then paid a visit to Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, one of Rome’s most famous churches, to pray for the sick children he met while in hospital, the Vatican said.
The Pope’s red vestments were placed over his coat as he sat in a chair under a canopy in the square.
Before this, he held a braided palm branch in a Pope mobile which drove at the tail end of a long procession of cardinals, other prelates and Catholics, carrying palm fronds or olive branches.
Pope Francis baptises newborns as he waits to be discharged from hospital
His voice sounded strong during the Mass opening, but later began to sound strained.
Despite the struggle, the 86-year-old read a 15-minute speech, also adding off-the-cuff remarks and making hand gestures for emphasis.
He focused on moments when someone feel ‘extreme pain, love that fails, or is rejected or betrayed’.
He cited ‘children who are rejected or aborted’, as well as broken marriages, ‘forms of social exclusion, injustice and oppression, (and) the solitude of sickness’.
Francis also spoke about a homeless German man who died, ‘alone, abandoned’, under the colonnade circling St Peter’s Square.
‘I, too, need Jesus to caress me,’ Francis said.
Palm Sunday marks Jesus’s entrance into Jerusalem in the time leading up to his crucifixion, which Christians observe on Good Friday.
Sunday’s Mass opened a heavy schedule of Holy Week appointments for the pontiff.
The Vatican said Francis would preside at the Holy Week ceremonies, which culminate with Easter Sunday Mass in the square on April 9.
Pope Francis made light of his three-day hospital stay by joking that he is “still alive.”
He had trouble breathing when he was admitted to Gemelli Hospital on Wednesday, and bronchitis was later determined to be the cause.
If the findings of his most recent test permitted it, the Vatican had earlier declared that the pontiff would be discharged on Saturday.
Before being transported away, the 86-year-old Pope told reporters outside the hospital, “I wasn’t frightened, I’m still alive.”
Before stepping out to address the crowd, he was spotted smiling and waving from the automobile. Afterwards, he started toward the Vatican.
Prior to the busiest week in the Christian calendar, which is Easter week, the Pope was admitted to the hospital.
Holy Week, as it is known, includes a busy schedule of events and services that can be physically demanding.
The Argentine pontiff, who marked 10 years as head of the Catholic Church earlier this month, has suffered a number of health issues throughout his life, including having part of one of his lungs removed at age 21.
Pope Francis has contracted a respiratory infection and will need to spend “a few days” in hospital in Rome, the Vatican has said.
The pontiff had breathing difficulties in recent days but does not have COVID, the statement added.
His closest staff, including security, were expected to stay the night at the Gemelli Hospital, a person with direct knowledge told the BBC earlier.
A source earlier said medical checks would continue as long as necessary.
Previously, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the Pope was taken to hospital for “some previously scheduled checks”.
The updated statement said the infection would “require a few days of appropriate hospital medical therapy”.
“Pope Francis is touched by the many messages received and expresses his gratitude for the closeness and prayer,” it added.
This is the busiest time of the year for Pope Francis, 86, with many events and services scheduled ahead of Easter weekend.
A Palm Sunday Mass is scheduled this weekend, and Holy Week and Easter celebrations next week.
He is also scheduled to visit Hungary at the end of April.
On Wednesday morning, he presided over his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square. Though he looked to be in good spirits, he was seen grimacing as he was helped with getting into his vehicle, AFP news agency reports.
The pontiff has suffered from mobility problems related to his knee in recent months, forcing him to use a wheelchair.
He also underwent surgery to treat a colon problem at the same hospital in Rome in 2021. In January he said the condition had returned.
Despite his ailments, the Pope has remained active and has undertaken trips abroad this year. He visited the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan in February.
In January, the Pope led the funeral of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI – who was the first pope to step down voluntarily for centuries. He said this was due to ill health.
Pope Francis has previously indicated that he may also wish to follow in Benedict’s footsteps in the event that his health deteriorated.Media caption,
From February: BBC religion editor Aleem Maqbool witnesses the Pope’s visit to Kinshasa
According to the Vatican press office, Pope Francis was brought to the hospital for a series of scheduled examinations.
In the Gemelli hospital in Rome this afternoon, the 86-year-old pope was having the examinations.
The press office did not provide any additional information on what the tests entailed.
During the process of being carried from his wheelchair to the Popemobile, Francis is seen in photos from today’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square looking rather uncomfortable.
Francis previously visited Gemelli, the largest hospital in the Italian capital, in 2021 for major surgery on his intestine.
It was the first time he had been admitted to hospital since becoming pope in 2013, but a day after the three-hour operation he was said to be ‘in good condition, alert and breathing on his own’.
The pontiff appeared to be in some discomfort after leaving his wheelchair at today’s event (Picture: AFP)
The pope has used a wheelchair, walker and cane as mobility aids in recent years.
He marked his 10th anniversary in the role last month.
Easter Sunday and there are no people inside St. Peter’s Basilica.
The guy with the most important position in the Catholic Church approaches a straightforward glass platform and begins speaking to no one on the most significant day of the Catholic calendar in the most significant location in the Catholic world.
Because the problem we face is a common one, adds Pope Francis, “now is not the moment for self-centredness.”
As he speaks, he occasionally glances up from his pulpit and looks around, as if he is addressing a congregation. But he isn’t – not physically, at least.
The pontiff’s address on April 12 2020, in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, provided one of the most indelible and extraordinary images so far in his papacy.
Videos of him speaking to the vast, deserted space were shown around the world, meaning his words probably reached more people than they otherwise would have done.
But ahead of the 10th anniversary of Francis’s appointment to the role on Monday, it is tempting to ask how well his 2020 Easter address works as a metaphor for his papacy.
Has the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics – criticised by some for moving away from the conservative stance of his two predecessors, and by others for not going further in the opposite direction – actually made an impact during his time in the office?
Or has he just been speaking to an empty basilica?
Pope Francis, visible in white to the left of the picture, gives his Easter Sunday address to an empty St Peter’s Basilica in April 2020 (Picture: AP)
Dr Gregory Ryan from the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University said Francis wields an almost unique form of power just by virtue of his position.
‘When the pope speaks, by and large people listen, even if it’s not what they want to hear,’ he said.
‘There’s never been a shortage of people listening and criticising.
‘But in a way that’s not true of any other religious leader – with the possible exception of the Dalai Lama – he’s got a global audience and there’s a certain degree of moral authority.’
Despite that, the ways in which the world reacts to what this pope says marks him apart from those who came immediately before him.
The backlash to Francis is unlike anything seen before in modern times – not necessarily for its ferocity, said Dr Ryan, but for its source.
Pope Francis speaks with his predecessor Benedict XVI, who retired in 2013 and died at the end of last year (Picture: AP)
He said: ‘Several of the voices who are now vociferously exercising their right to criticise the pope are the same people who, in a previous generation, were trying to emphasise that the role of Catholic clergy and Catholic bishops was to be in line and not to dissent from papal teaching.
‘That’s one of the things that’s turned around.
‘There was criticism of Benedict and John Paul II, but it tended to come from theologians, academics and activists.
‘What’s unique here is that some of it is coming from the bishops as well.’
That partially stems from his remarks on some of the most contentious topics in the church, and particularly LGBTQ+ issues.
Francis made his most famous comment on that subject a little more than four months after his election when, on a flight back from Rio de Janeiro, a journalist asked him about gay priests.
‘If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will,’ the pope asked, ‘who am I to judge?’
It was the first time a pontiff had ever used the word ‘gay’ in reference to sexuality.
Since then, he has made a number of statements that appear to contradict Vatican teachings which say ‘homosexual acts’ are ‘acts of grave depravity’.
In 2020, he voiced support for civil unions for same-sex couples, and in January he described laws criminalising homosexuality as ‘unjust’.
But despite his open calls for understanding and acceptance of people in the LGBTQ+ community, Francis hasn’t attempted to make any bold doctrinal changes – an approach typical of his papacy, according to Dr Ryan.
He said: ‘The two straightforward positions you might expect someone to take would be to simply reinforce church teaching, or to overturn that and say something new, something definitive and concrete.
‘What Francis has done is he’s changed the language that’s being used, and seen the question in a different way.
‘He takes an indirect approach, which I think has a potentially more transformative power on the church.’
According to Dr Ryan, the pope prefers to use the power of his position to set a process in motion, ‘aware it will take time to come to fruition’. As the saying goes, the church thinks in centuries.
The pope received a gift of a mask from a man dressed as Spider-Man in 2021 (Picture: Reuters)
That has led to some organisations expressing frustration that the church continues to use such offensive language to describe same-sex relationships, while still seeing positives.
At an event for LGBT Catholics in 2017, the gay priest Bryan Massingale paraphrased Martin Luther King Jr. to make the point, saying: ‘We ain’t where we wanna be, but we ain’t where we used to be.’
The same approach applies to Francis’s headline-grabbing attitude to environmentalism – though he’s made more of an effort to deliberately place the planet at the centre of the church’s attention.
In June 2015, the pontiff published Laudato Si’, an encyclical – meaning a letter essentially addressed to the entire Roman Catholic church – giving his thoughts on humanity’s attitude towards the Earth.
Scathingly, he describes the planet as being ‘among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor’, and condemns ‘our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her’.
Landing less than a month before the start of the negotiations that would eventually lead to the Paris Climate Agreement, it was praised by leaders including Barack Obama and Francoise Hollande for presenting a strong moral argument for fighting the climate crisis.
And in a pre-Greta Thunberg age, the editor of the academic journal Science declared Francis ‘our most visible champion for mitigating climate change’.
However, within his own church, reaction was more mixed.
A 2021 study that analysed 12,077 columns written by Catholic bishops between 2014 and 2019 found they were, as a group, ‘generally silent about climate change’ – and when they did discuss it, they often distanced themselves from teachings like Laudato Si’.
Some of this rejection can be blamed on ideological opposition from conservatives, but Dr Ryan said it’s also a reaction to a change in inertia and a ‘cultural shift’.
‘His style is very much, in a sense, trying to get the church to deepen its understanding of these issues and then for the church to change,’ he said.
‘It’s good psychology, we do it with our children all the time.
‘It’s trying to get them to think they’re wanting to do something rather than they’re just doing it because they’re told to – you try to make it seem like it’s their idea.’
Pope Francis prays in front of a candle lit to remember victims of abuse by the church during his visit to Dublin in 2018 (Picture: Reuters)
A decade ago, as people around the world marvelled at the new head of the Vatican and his distaste for the more extravagant elements of his role, commentators wondered how the Catholic church would cope with such radical change.
But to Dr Ryan, the most dramatic thing Francis has done is take the drama out of the papacy, recasting it as just one part of the church which is constantly in conversation with the other parts.
He said: ‘I think he is trying to initiate a cultural change, and cultural changes are much more difficult to undo.
‘So there is a risk that without Francis constantly initiating things, the momentum will run out and we’ll go back to a more top-down approach.
‘But the other possibility is that precisely by doing all this work, it decentres it and puts it out of a single point of control, into the people, and you can’t get it back.’
Pope Francis has acknowledged that he might resign if he gets too worn out to perform his duties.
The Pope, 86, warned of “a tiredness that causes him not see things properly” when asked by Italian media, what would cause him to leave
Because of a knee injury, he admitted that he felt “a little humiliated” to use a wheelchair.
‘I am old. I have less physical resistance, the knee [problem] was a physical humiliation, even if the recovery is going well now.’
Last month, the Pope said that papal resignations should happen in exceptional circumstances, and said quitting was not ‘on [his] agenda’.
Pope Francis has been head of the Catholic Church since March 2013, on Monday marking 10 years of his papacy.
In an interview with Italian Swiss television RSI, with extracts published in La Repubblica, La Stampa, and Corriere della Sera, he also said that the war in Ukraine had been driven by the interests of several empires.
He said the conflict was fuelled by ‘imperial interests, not just of the Russian empire, but of empires from elsewhere.’
While the Pope has repeatedly called for an end to the war and denied being pro-Putin he has previously suggested the invasion of Ukraine was ‘perhaps in some way provoked’.
Asking himself in June last year whether this made him a supporter of Putin, he said: ‘No, I am not. It would be simplistic and wrong to say such a thing.’ He added: ‘I am simply opposed to reducing complexity to distinction between good and bad’.
The Pope denounced the injustice of war at the Christmas Eve mass last year from a wheelchair.
The congregation was there warned that the Pope was unable to stand for long periods of time due to pain in his knee.
The leader of the Catholic Church has for over a year suffered with pain in his right knee.
Despite last month saying quitting was not on the agenda, the Pope has progressively added to speculation that he would at some point stand down from his position should his health worsen.
He previously claimed to have signed a resignation letter in case of a deterioration of his health: ‘In practice, there is already a rule. I have already signed my renunciation.’
‘I signed it and said, “If I should become impaired for medical reasons or whatever, here is my resignation. Here you have it,”‘ he said, referring to Cardinal Bertone, to whom the letter was given.
In January, he gave a sermon on the ‘virtue of stepping aside at the right time’.
He said: ‘It is easy to become attached to roles and positions, to the need to be esteemed, recognised and rewarded.’
He continued: ‘It is good for us too to cultivate, like [Saint] John [the Baptist], the virtue of setting ourselves aside at the right moment, bearing witness that the point of reference of life is Jesus.
Pope Francis has made clear in comments published Thursday by a Jesuit journal that he believes being pope is a lifetime position and that Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation was an exception.
“I for the moment do not have that on my agenda,” Francis told Civita Cattolica, in the clearest statement he has made on the issue.
The pope also said the resignation letter he wrote two months after his elections was precautionary.
“I did it in case I had some health problem that would prevent me from exercising my ministry and I am not fully conscious and able to resign,” the pope told Civita Cattolica. “However, this does not at all mean that resigning popes should become, let’s say, a ‘fashion,’ a normal thing.”
He added that a papal ministry should be “ad vitam” — for life — adding “I see no reason why it should not be so.”
The pope made the comments during his recent trip to Africa.
In previous remarks, Francis has hailed the decision of his predecessor, Pope Benedict, to resign because he felt due to advancing age he wouldn’t be best able to carry out his duties. Benedict died in January, nearly a decade after he resigned the papacy.
Francis, 86, had surgery in 2021 to repair a bowel narrowing and has been hobbled by knee pain that for months saw him use a wheelchair.
After visiting South Sudan, the Pope told reporters that such laws were “an injustice” and a sin.
People who exhibit “homosexual tendencies,” he continued, are God’s children and ought to be accepted by their churches.
The Moderator of the Church of Scotland and the Archbishop of Canterbury both supported his remarks.
Along with the Pope, Archbishop Justin Welby and Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, visited the war-torn nation of South Sudan to call for peace there.
It is the first time the leaders of the three traditions have come together for such a journey in 500 years
Archbishop Welby and Dr Greenshields praised the Pope’s comments during a news conference with reporters on board the papal plane as they travelled from Juba to Rome.
“I entirely agree with every word he said there,” said Archbishop Welby, noting that the Anglican church had its own internal divisions over gay rights.
Last month the Church of England said it would refuse to allow same-sex couples to be married in its churches.
Expressing his own support, Dr Greenshields referred to the Bible, saying: “There is nowhere in the four Gospels that I see anything other than Jesus expressing love to whoever he meets, and as Christians that is the only expression that we can give to any human being in any circumstance”.
Image caption,Archbishop Justin Welby (right) and the Rt Rev Iain Greenshields (left) expressed their support for the Pope’s comments in a press conference
But he said he supported so-called civil union legislation, and stressed that laws banning homosexuality were “a problem that cannot be ignored”.
He suggested that 50 countries criminalise LGBT people “in one way or another”, and about 10 have laws carrying the death penalty.
Currently 66 UN member states criminalise consensual same-sex relations, according to ILGA World – the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.
“This is not right. Persons with homosexual tendencies are children of God,” said the Pope.
“God loves them. God accompanies them… condemning a person like this is a sin.”
Under current Catholic doctrine, gay relationships are referred to as “deviant behaviour” and Pope Francis has previously said he was “worried” about the “serious matter” of homosexuality in the clergy.
But some conservative Catholics have criticised him for making comments they say are ambiguous about sexual morality.
In 2013, soon after becoming Pope, he reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s position that homosexual acts were sinful, but added that homosexual orientation was not.
Five years later, during a visit to Ireland, Pope Francis stressed that parents could not disown their LGBT children and had to keep them in a loving family.
Pope Francis made a plea for peace in South Sudan while speaking at event sitting side-by-side with the country’s president on Friday.
Francis, on a novel ecumenical peace mission to the world’s youngest country, warned South Sudan’s political leaders on Friday that history will judge them harshly if they continue to drag their feet implementing a 2018 peace accord.
Accompanying him to the overwhelmingly Christian country were the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt. Rev. Iain Greenshields.
They hope to cast a spotlight on what Francis has called a “forgotten crisis.”
South Sudan gained independence from the majority Muslim Sudan in 2011, but has been beset by civil war and conflict.
The Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian leaders have called for the country’s political leaders to put aside their differences and work for the good of their people.
In his first address on South Sudanese soil, Francis addressed former rivals Kiir and deputy Riek Machar, who were gathered in the garden of the presidential palace.
“Dear President and Vice-Presidents, in the name of God, of the God to whom we prayed together in Rome, of the God who is gentle and humble in heart, the God in whom so many people of this beloved country believe, now is the time to say, ‘no more of this,’ without ifs or buts. No more bloodshed,” Francis said.
Kiir, Machar and other opposition groups signed the peace agreement in 2018 ending five years of civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people.
But the deal’s provisions, including the formation of a national unified army, remain largely unimplemented. The delays have forced the postponement of the country’s first presidential election for another two years.
Meanwhile, clashes have continued, including attacks this week in the south that killed 27 people.
Combined with flooding last year, the number of internally displaced people has topped 2 million and the U.N. has warned that humanitarian needs are soaring.
Francis and Welby first announced plans to visit South Sudan in 2017, but security concerns repeatedly thwarted the trip.
In an effort to move the process forward, Francis presided in 2019 over a joint prayer in the Vatican, and famously got down on hands and knees and kissed the feet of South Sudan’s rival leaders, begging them to make peace.
A group of about 60 Catholic pilgrims are recovering after spending nine days trekking through war-torn South Sudan to see Pope Francis in the capital, Juba.
“My feet are sore, but I am not so tired. When the spirit is with you, you do not get tired,” NightRose Falea said as she licked her cracked, dry lips.
“I would not have missed coming to Juba for anything. We are here to get the Pope’s blessings. I am confident that with his blessings things will change for this country,” she told the BBC.
Driven by faith and a sense of patriotism, the women had set off from Rumbek – some 300km (190 miles) north-west of Juba.
Their mission: to join the Pope in prayer for the world’s youngest nation, which has been beset by conflict since its independence in 2011 – a situation that has brought untold misery to millions of its people.
“We walked for a couple of hours each day and then we would spend the night in the parishes at the centres where we were. It was tiring but worth it,” said Faith Biel.
As they walked for the last few miles, dust and joyful songs filled the air as a caravan of people sang and stamped their feet.
The spectacle attracted crowds of onlookers. Some joined in as the dancing became more vigorous. Others, unsure, stood at a safe distance to make way for the group of women dressed in white and wearing headscarves with a print of Pope Francis’s face.
Their besmirched clothes, blistered feet and cracked lips attested to the ordeal of the nine-day trek, but they still danced and jumped to celebrate their accomplishment.
Refreshments awaited them at Juba’s St Theresa’s Catholic Church, where a welcoming party had also started singing and dancing.
One pilgrim, who was shedding tears as she arrived, hinted at the trauma the years of fighting have brought to this country.
“When you have smelled and seen death and hopelessness, then you will search for peace with all the might that you have,” said the woman, who did not want to give her name.
“I have lost enough, but along the way I saw love and we all spoke one language – that of peace. I really pray that even after the Pope leaves, we will still be like that,” she continued.
“He is a prophet and whatever he prays in the next few days, while on our soil, will come to pass. Things will be different. We are going to be one people.”
Image caption,A banner marking the 300km walk was unveiled to welcome the pilgrims
The church is seen as a symbol of hope for many in South Sudan. It is where many displaced by the country’s conflicts seek refuge.
It has also continued to take a leading role in the social welfare of the people and given most of them a sense of belonging.
Pope Francis is spending three days in the country and will hold a Mass on Sunday.
In a historic first, he travelled with two other Christian leaders – Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland Rev Iain Greenshields.
In 2019 Pope Francis kissed the feet of South Sudan’s bitter political rivals, President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar, when they met at the Vatican.
This was an act that shocked many, even if it did not immediately end the fighting.
Although that conflict has now subsided, many local disputes still turn deadly on a regular basis – on the eve of the Pope’s arrival, more than 20 people were killed in a cattle raid.
Millions of South Sudanese will be hoping – and praying – that the visit of the three religious leaders will mark a new beginning for this troubled country.
Pope Francis’ strong words against the suffering they are enduring have warmed the hearts of people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but his visit to Kinshasa has not marked a truce in the fighting and violence.
Throughout the papal visit, from Tuesday to Friday, fighting continued in North Kivu province, where M23 rebels captured new villages, sources in the province said.
Diplomacy had been activated in recent months to try to silence the guns and bring the DRC closer to Rwanda , accused of supporting this rebellion on the offensive since the end of 2021. In vain so far.
It was because of this insecurity that the pope canceled the visit he was initially to make to Goma , capital of North Kivu, replacing this trip with a meeting in Kinshasa with victims of atrocities committed for nearly 30 years in this province and those neighbouring Ituri and South Kivu.
With their testimonies in front of the cameras, the presence of women with severed arms, the pope’s indignation at the “bloody and illegal exploitation” of the country’s wealth, “the whole world” is now “aware” of what is passes here, believes Théoneste Bahati Gakuru, 34, Goma resident and human rights defender.
Théoneste now hopes that the international community will “take measures to put an end to this disastrous situation”.
Johnson Ishara, 30, a shopkeeper in Goma, and Calvin Maliro, a youth representative from a commune in Beni, another town in North Kivu affected by the violence, believe that the pope “will continue his plea” for an end to the misfortunes from eastern Congo.
“We are innocent, we don’t know anything about politics,” says Kathungu Matumaini, a nurse in Beni, asking that her “tears and prayers” be heard.
“Your tears are my tears, your suffering is my suffering,” the pope said on Wednesday before the dramas that were described to him. The next day, he called on young people, gathered by the thousands in a stadium, to reject tribalism , corruption, and to act for the future of their country.
“We must take ownership of his message… It is time for young people to stop living in the bush to orchestrate massacres,” analyzes Jean-Marie Ndjaza, spokesperson for the Lendu community in Ituri. “We must avoid making more victims” in the province, pleaded the official.
But in Ituri either, the violence did not let up during the visit of the sovereign pontiff.
On Wednesday, a new incursion by armed men killed at least seven people there, in the “chiefdom” (grouping of villages) of Walese Vonkutu. The attack is attributed to the ADF rebels, which the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) presents as its branch in central Africa, but apparently associated with a local militia.
A particular community was targeted. “We do not understand this new modus operandi”, notes, helpless, Dieudonné Malangai, a member of local civil society.
The ADF is accused of repeated massacres of civilian populations in Ituri and North Kivu as well as attacks, including one in January against a Pentecostal church in North Kivu, claimed by IS.
In South Kivu, the words of the pope echo for some residents of Bukavu the fight led by Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize 2018 for his action in favour of women victims of rape.
For Furaha Citera, head of a women’s organization, François reinforces the Congolese doctor in his fight for “the establishment of a special tribunal for the Congo, to fight against atrocities”.
The pope’s words “arouse hope in the hearts of the victims, because the sovereign pontiff will be their ambassador”, also wants to believe in Bukavu Paulin Mulume , 30, an activist in a citizens’ movement.
In the meantime, South Kivu continues to grapple with a noria of militias, an infernal cycle of reprisals between communities and persistent obscurantist practices. This week, a 5-year-old albino boy was killed and his body found without a head or legs.
Pope Francis met with young people and catechists at the Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa on the third day of his trip to the DRC.
Young people from every Catholic movement in the nation greeted the Pontiff with enthusiasm.
In a nation of roughly 95 million people, where more than 65 percent of Congolese are under 25, this was a significant meeting for the pope.
It ranks among the top nations in the world for having the youngest population.
A young person struggling with unemployment, school gaps, moral decay, drug and alcohol abuse, starvation, and neglect.
“The pope is a model. It’s an opportunity for us to see a change,” said one congregant.
Another congregant said, “It’s not just the pope. It’s us young people first. We need to be at the center of our lives and at the center of our organizations. We need to take charge of ourselves.”
Francis delivered a speech with an encouraging tone. The Pope urged his audience to consider prayer as the most powerful weapon available.
My friends, do not let your youth be spoiled by solitude and closure. Always think of yourselves together and you will be happy because the community is the way to live in harmony with yourself and to be faithful to your vocation. On the contrary, individualistic choices seem attractive at first, but then they leave only a great inner emptiness. Think of drugs; you hide from others, from real life, to feel all-powerful; and in the end, you find yourself deprived of everything,” said Pope Francis.
Floribert Bwana Chui, a 25-year-old customs officer who was kidnapped, tortured, and assassinated in Goma, in the east of the DRC, in July 2007, was singled out by the pope. Due to his Catholic beliefs, he had chosen to abstain from joining the region’s extensive corruption network.
“Don’t let your life be carried away by the polluted current, be strong without ever giving in to the seductive but poisonous flattery of corruption,” concluded the Holy Father.
The papal visit to the DRC ends this Friday. He is expected in South Sudan on the same day.
Cardinal George Pell’s funeral on Thursday in Australia, mourners murmured prayers and sang hymns; however, hecklers kept shouting his damnation.
The Catholic priest, who passed away last month at the age of 81 due to complications from surgery, leaves behind a difficult legacy.
He was once the top assistant to the Pope and the top Catholic in Australia.
But unsubstantiated claims that he committed child sexual abuse and covered it up damaged his reputation.
These accusations dominated Thursday’s events in Sydney. Police outside St. Mary’s Cathedral took action at one point to separate irate mourners from chanting protesters. One protester was earlier detained.
Inside the church, where Cardinal Pell served as the city’s archbishop for over a decade, dignitaries including former Prime Ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott filled pews. Hundreds more gathered in a forecourt to watch the requiem Mass on big screens.
Noticeably absent were Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet – himself a devout Catholic. Both sent delegates.
In a message read to the congregation, Pope Francis praised Cardinal Pell’s “dedication to the gospel and to the Church”, while Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher lauded him as “giant of the Catholic Church in Australia” who had been wrongly demonised.
Over six decades, Cardinal Pell rose to prominence in the Church as a strong supporter of traditional Catholic values.
He took on the role of Vatican treasurer in 2014 but left in 2017, returning to Australia to face trial on child sexual abuse charges. He was convicted, then later acquitted on appeal.
Many of Cardinal Pell’s supporters believe he was unfairly persecuted, and that his record on the issue of child sexual abuse is part of what made him great.
Mr Abbott, who spoke at the funeral, claimed Cardinal Pell had been the first Australian Catholic to sack child abusers and report them to police. Others pointed to the landmark – but controversial – compensation scheme he set up.
“He was greatest man I’ve ever known,” Mr Abbott said.
Image caption,Cardinal George Pell was Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic
Others who gathered to pay their respects said he was a kind man, quick to offer support and encouragement to those going through challenging times.
One mourner told the BBC he hopes the cardinal will be remembered “for the things he did and not for the things that he was accused of”.
“He was a good man,” Nathan, 33, added. “He fought for the rights of many people, contrary to popular belief.”
But outside the cathedral square, child abuse survivors remembered him as someone who had failed to protect them.
Some travelled from other states to tie ribbons to the church fence – a gesture seen in Australia as a tribute to victims of the Church abuse crisis. Most were cut down overnight on Wednesday by supporters of Cardinal Pell.
A landmark inquiry into Australian child sexual abuse found Cardinal Pell had personally known of abuse by priests as early as the 1970s and had failed to act. Cardinal Pell disputed the findings, saying they were “not supported by evidence”.
“I can’t let today pass without standing for him. He is not well enough to stand for himself,” she told the BBC.
Image caption,Maureen was among those who left hundreds of ribbon tributes for child sexual abuse survivors
Protesters gathering in parkland opposite the cathedral remembered Cardinal Pell as a “monstrous bigot”.
“Pell stood for blatant homophobia, misogyny… covering up abuse within the Catholic Church,” organiser Kim Stern told the BBC.
“We think it’s pretty disgusting he’s getting a send-off like this.”
Also out in force were police, trying to temper simmering tensions.
Thursday’s funeral follows weeks of tense debate in Australia about Cardinal Pell’s legacy.
Mourner Louisa Pastoois personally admired the cardinal, but she told the BBC she has accepted his legacy will be mixed.
“The legacy he leaves behind in the Church, and the world… is something different,” Louisa said.
“I think there needed to be someone to take the blame for all that’s happened in the church… there needs to be a face to the sins and unfortunately, it was his.”
