Vatican confirms details of Francis's trip to Mexico; Francesca Chaouqui claims some cardinals want the pope dead; and globalization brings Christmas trees to Rome.
Pope Francis opened the Jubilee Year of Mercy heralding "mercy before judgment" in the spirit of Vatican II. But did the liturgy symbolically contradict the message?
Vatican translators edit piety into pope's speeches; Francis plans 'twelve big gestures to demonstrate God’s mercy' for Jubilee Year; More on 'Vatileaks II' scandal.
What Pope Francis is doing during his first trip to Africa, despite security threats; who among the cardinals thinks the pope is "wobbly" on church teaching, again.
Selected articles, interviews, and video from our coverage of the Synod on the Family—and the continuing dialogue about sex, marriage, and Catholic family life.
Pope sows "confusion" by inviting Muslims take part in upcoming Jubilee Year, giving a Eucharistic chalice to a Lutheran pastor, and remaining the Bishop of Rome.
So this, I realized as I watched, was still a church of surprises. Vatican II lived on. A weight accumulated over thirty-five years dropped from from my shoulders.
Pope Francis to everyone: reread Evangelii Gaudium; to bishops: be pastors, nothing more; to St. Peter's square audience: I need your help in reforming the church.
Process, papacy, and accompaniment: It may not be too early to wonder how Pope Francis's handling of the Synod on the Family fared on these three considerations.
Francis has introduced the possibility that the spotlight of moral judgment can can be shone back on those who make the judgments, and on their very act of judging.
Francis to ordain bishop at the Lateran, not the Vatican; Two new books based on Vatican-insider leaks to be published this week; The Dominicans turn 800 years old
John Henry Newman once said of the laity that the church would look foolish without them, and from the beginning the synod did indeed look foolish without us.
Aside from restatements of the teaching on sexual morality, there were glimpses of how a spirituality of discernment could infuse the church in its mission of mercy.
Pope Francis made two surprising announcements in Italian archdioceses—steps to change "the mentality and complexion" of church hierarchy. He’s run into opposition.
Engagement rather than denunciation marked the synod’s formal pronouncements, a pastoral style deeply rooted in Vatican II, and embodied in everything Francis does.
Synod Fathers prepare to vote on final document; Pope reminds bishops of Vatican-II hope for episcopal collegiality; More "servant-leader" pastors appointed bishops
While several cardinals in his own curia voice opposition, Pope Francis apologizes to church for "scandals that have occurred recently both in Rome and the Vatican."
Standing in that endless, pointless line, I realized, wasn’t communicating our affection for the pope but our acceptance of the authority of the security state.
Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics was debated, and dismissed, at Vatican II. Fifty years later, the debate continues, but with a difference.
U.S. Paulist Fathers give moral prescription for Synod; Priest fired for announcing gay partnership reveals more in upcoming book; Families in Rome welcome migrants.
Francis knows there's no such thing as a perfect family. Yet he also knows it's within families where we learn what it means to be responsible for one another.
After news of secret visit with Kim Davis, could the affection that Pope Francis generated with his visit to the United States last week vanish in a cloud of smoke?
Are Catholics still obligated “under pain of mortal sin” to follow what the church teaches? It seems nowadays most believers prefer to focus on grace and Eucharist.
The bishops and the church as a whole are about to take an honest look at the gap between that which cannot be changed and that which can and sometimes ought to be.
