(ANALYSIS) Italy expects 35 million pilgrims to visit Rome during the Catholic Church’s current “Holy Year” or “Jubilee” that runs through January 6, 2026. In modern times, Holy Years usually occur in 25-year intervals, though Pope Francis called an “extraordinary” one in 2015 and has announced a 2033 Jubilee to commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of the redemption won in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Read MoreThe book, six years in the making, vividly recreates Pope Francis’ childhood in Buenos Aires and offers few new insights into his papacy. The book is enhanced by remarkable photographs, including private and unpublished material made personally available by Francis himself. He tackles a series of topics, including the future of the church, social policy, migration and the environmental crisis.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Could it possibly have been coincidence? The very day Congress certified Donald Trump’s election as the next U.S. president, the Vatican announced the transfer of San Diego’s Cardinal Robert McElroy to become the politically significant archbishop of Washington, D.C. There’s no doubt Pope Francis wants McElroy to keep an eye on Trump.
Read MoreIn a historic first for the Vatican, Pope Francis on Monday named a woman to head a major Vatican office. The pope appointed Sister Simona Brambilla, an Italian nun, to become prefect of the department responsible for all the Catholic Church’s religious orders. The decision marks a major step in the pope’s plan to give women more leadership roles within the male-dominated Catholic clergy.
Read MoreThe scandals surrounding the life and work of the former (and now disgraced) cardinal Theodore McCarrick rumbled in the background of Roman Catholic life for decades — starting in the early 1980s. Insiders whispered, but nothing was done.
Read More(ANALYSIS) For over 40 years, six people from Medjugorje, a small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina, have claimed to see and speak with the Virgin Mary. For almost as long, hordes of pilgrims have traveled to visit sites of the virgin’s alleged appearance and to observe the seers’ daily trances. The Vatican has never approved the pilgrimage or issued official judgment of the visionaries — until now.
Read MoreScience and faith intersect at this special place. While some may find it strange that the Vatican has an observatory, the Catholic Church has been involved with science since the Jesuit order was founded in 1540. Saint Ignatius, for example, would spend hours on his balcony gazing at the night sky.
Read More(REVIEW) “Conclave,” the fictional thriller that outlines the Catholic process of selecting a new pope, does the audience the service of stating its intended message outright. In a controversial homily that begins the proceedings, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence declares that “certainty is the great enemy of unity.” The movie also goes on to demonstrate that lesson in a variety of ways, as conspiracy abounds and tension grows.
Read MoreAhead of the beginning of the Jubilee of Hope in 2025, the Dicastery for Evangelization is hosting various events, including concerts and exhibitions. In a press conference, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, Pro-prefect of the Dicastery, outlined the itinerary for some of the upcoming events. Another major event ahead of the Jubilee is the exhibition of various rare icons from the Vatican Museums.
Read MoreAddressing the Synod Assembly on Saturday evening, Pope Francis highlighted how the Final Document, written over the course of the 2nd Session of the Synod on Synodality that began on Oct. 2 following a process of listening and dialogue, is the fruit of over three years of listening to the People of God.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Before the final session of a Synod of Bishops that concludes at the Vatican October 27, much printer’s ink was spilled because Pope Francis removed the issue of allowing women deacons from the agenda.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Before this month’s synod at the Vatican, Pope Francis took the question of allowing women deacons off the agenda, referring this and other hot-button issues to study groups. That distressed many Catholic activists. Leaving aside this matter of ordained ministry, sisters in religious orders and lay women could fill many influential church posts monopolized by male priests.
Read More(ANALYSIS) At the current synod, whose purpose is to address “communion, participation, and mission” in the church, women’s role is on the agenda. But Catholic women have historically found ways to speak to and about their church leadership, even when they have been excluded from its proceedings.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Earlier this year, “God Versus Aliens" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The documentary, directed by award-winning filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee, shines a light on the Vatican's secretive investigations into UFOs. It suggests, in no uncertain terms, that the Vatican has been quietly exploring extraterrestrial phenomena for years.
Read MoreThe Vatican’s doctrinal summit opened this week with one issue deemed to be out of bounds: female deacons. Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernandez, the Vatican’s prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that the church was not “rushing” on the issue.
Read MorePope Francis — following his historic 12-day trip to Southeast Asia — chimed in on the upcoming U.S. presidential election, instructing U.S. Catholics to use their “conscience” when voting and to choose the “lesser evil.” The pope’s remarks came days after the very first debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Read More(PHOTO ESSAY) The U.S. president has the Secret Service as protection. The pope has the Swiss Guard. Who are these men donning multi-colored uniforms designed during the Middle Ages who march around St. Peter’s Square? Religion Unplugged takes you behind the Vatican walls for a closer look at the military unit.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In the heated environs of Catholic cyberspace, that kind of reporting being done by The Pillar has drawn fierce criticism from partisans on the other side of all doctrinal debates with political, moral and cultural implications. At the moment, The Pillar is taking heat from conservatives for coverage raising questions about remarks by Sen. J.D. Vance.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Italian teenager Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 of a rare form of leukemia at age 15, will soon become the Catholic Church’s first “millennial saint.” Acutis’ upcoming canonization reflects the Vatican’s interest in making a more modern church that appeals to a new generation of faithful.
Read More(ANALYSIS) These debates raged on and on because few combatants could agree on what took place, in part because that scene in the opening ceremonies were quickly removed from the official Olympics YouTube and NBC Universal accounts.
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