With the new motu proprio Vos estis Lux Mundi, Pope Francis has clarified the procedures of reporting cases of abuse, establishing clear rules for the procedures to follow and including every kind of abuse, even the possible reporting on matters of omissions and mishandling by bishops.

Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna, adjunct secretary of [...]

There is a high symbolic weight in the decision to move the office of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano out of the Leonine Walls, to a building located in Italy, although in an extraterritorial site.

It is not the decision itself. Unifying in a single location the full Vatican media department, from the [...]

How will the new Curia by Pope Francis be? According to the first leaks, the new Curia should include a great dicastery on the mission and a great dicastery on charity; it would abolish the distinction between Congregations and Pontifical Councils; and will put a strong emphasis on the notion of collegiality.

The [...]

The Holy Week began with the impressive scene of the Notre Dame Basilica in Paris on fire. It was even thought that the structure of the Church would not hold. In the end, only the 13th-century wooden roof was lost, along with the 19th-century spire designed by Violle Le Duc, that came down because [...]

Pope Francis said it many times: if there is someone who fought particularly hard against sexual abuse by the clergy, that was Benedict XVI. Both as prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and as Pope.

Benedict XVI put once again pen into the paper to write down his reflections [...]

With the post-Synod exhortation Christus Vivit, Pope Francis finally issued a document to wrap up the discussions of the Synod on Young People. Unlike Amoris Laetitia, Christus Vivit is not a document that leaves open issues. It is rather a snapshot of reality, that provides some general pragmatic suggestions and provide many [...]

The Osservatore Romano supplement “Donne, Chiesa, Mondo” (Women, Church, World) lost in one swipe its editor and board of directors: all of them rendered their resignations, in protest against Andrea Monda, recently appointed the editor of the Vatican newspaper, and the new editorial line. The change of the guard is not striking per [...]

The German Bishops’ Conference latest decision to convoke a local Synod that will lead to binding decisions on sexuality, priestly celibacy and reduction of clerical power was not a surprise. It is part of a debate that the German Church has always carried forward. Rather than a surprise, the decision shed light once [...]

There is one striking figure in the 2017 Church Stats presented to the Pope on March 6: for the first time since 2010, the number of priests decreases, while bishops and deacons are more.

This clue must not be underestimated. It means there are no vocations.

Old bishops retire, other priests are appointed [...]

The eve of Pope Francis’ sixth anniversary of Pontificate was shocked by the news that Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, was sentenced on first grade to six months of prison for covering up abuse. It was likely a clue: this year will not be easy to Pope Francis.

Cardinal Barbarin’s sentence goes [...]