Last March 13 was the ninth anniversary of the election of Pope Francis. The moment Pope Francis came out of the lodge of Blessings and spoke his first words as Pope, a pontificate began that promised a lot and aroused many hopes. Now that we enter the tenth year of the pontificate, what are the [...]

It is unknown if there will be a second meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill. Kazakhstan was initially thought (for two years) as a possible meeting place, taking advantage of the festival of religions and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue having signed a memorandum of understanding on the issues of dialogue with [...]

Pope Francis has called for another day of prayer for peace on 2 March, Ash Wednesday, focusing on the war in Ukraine. Since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has wanted to give prayer a leading role in his diplomatic decisions. From the day of fasting and prayer for Syria in September 2013 [...]

Motu propri are documents that arise from the will of the Pope. They do not come from consultations with the Curia. They may not come from a suggestion but simply from the will of the Pope. Unlike the rescripta ex audientia santissimi, they have a more normative formulation and must be made public. The [...]

The anniversary of Benedict XVI’s historic resignation was overshadowed by accusations of not having handled well the cases of abuse in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising, of which he had been archbishop from 1977 to 1983. And so, Benedict XVI, after having already given an 82-page answer with the assistance of some lawyers, [...]

It is no mystery that one thinks of the succession of a pope when the Pope is still in office. And it is not even a mystery that, after the operation of 4 July, talk on a possible succession of Pope Francis has become more frequent. Pope Francis did not appreciate it. Returning [...]

What is taking place these days around the Order of Malta is not just a power struggle, nor does it concern only the issue of the Order of Malta’s sovereignty being at risk. The situation also says a lot about how Pope Francis conceives his power, the way he views the Holy See, and [...]

In 2013, shortly after the election of Pope Francis, the veteran Vatican watcher John Allen went to Argentina to learn more about the history and life of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio and to sketch his personality profile. From his research, some ambiguous situations emerged on the response by Bergoglio on two cases of [...]

As rumors about the next consistory, the reform of the Curia, and the new appointments to the Vatican spread, Pope Francis has simply slowed down the reform process, leaving everything to be determined. The latest move was to appoint Archbishop Giacomo Morandi, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, [...]

An old juridical principle is that “Prima sede a nemine iudicatur,” i.e., the head seat cannot be prosecuted by anyone. And it is the principle that the Vatican prosecutors seem to invoke when, in the interrogation of Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, whose audio was leaked, they say that no, Monsignor Perlasca would not want [...]