Frances X. Rocca
Frances X. Rocca is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Frances X. Rocca
Pope, Bush hold `cordial’ third meeting in a year
By Frances X. Rocca — June 14, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ President Bush received an especially warm welcome from Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Friday (June 13), as the two leaders met for the third time in little more than a year. Instead of receiving his guest in the papal apartments, as protocol ordinarily dictates, Benedict […]
For Bush and Benedict, a personal and political bond
By Frances X. Rocca — June 6, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ When President Bush pays a visit to Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican next Friday (June 13), it will be his sixth meeting with a pope, and his third meeting with Benedict in just over a year. Never in U.S. history has a president consulted so often […]
COMMENTARY: A missed opportunity
By Frances X. Rocca — May 1, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ The body of Italy’s beloved saint Padre Pio went on display last Thursday (April 24) at his shrine in southern Italy; over the coming months, more than 1 million people are expected to see it. Pilgrims file past a casket with walls of bullet-proof glass, where Pio […]
Pope marks Easter with nod to Muslims, China
By Frances X. Rocca — March 25, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Easter is the most sacred feast in the Christian calendar, when believers of all denominations celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. But for Pope Benedict XVI, this year’s Easter celebrations were fraught with significance for the Catholic Church’s relations with the non-Christian world _ particularly Islam […]
For a papal Mass, no detail is too small
By Frances X. Rocca — March 12, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Next month, Pope Benedict XVI will become the third leader of the Catholic Church to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York, following Pope Paul VI in 1965, and Pope John Paul II in 1979 and 1995. Vatican officials have not indicated what Benedict might […]
Pope carves out a quieter, more deliberate style
By Frances X. Rocca — March 12, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ For more than two decades, Pope Benedict XVI served as one of the closest and most influential subordinates to his predecessor, John Paul II, a relationship built on common priorities, affection and mutual respect. Only weeks after John Paul’s death in 2005, Benedict opened the process that […]
John Paul’s aide sheds private light on a public life
By Frances X. Rocca — March 4, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Nearly three years since his death, Pope John Paul II is on the fast track to sainthood and already acknowledged as one of the monumental figures of the 20th century. Testimony abounds to his holiness and the key role he played in some of the most consequential […]
Vatican says baptisms must use traditional Trinity
By Frances X. Rocca — March 1, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Baptisms performed in the name of a gender-neutral Trinity are not true baptisms, the Catholic Church’s highest doctrinal authority decreed on Friday (Feb. 29). A statement by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explicitly approved by Pope Benedict XVI, declared any baptism performed “in […]
Vatican to tighten rules on making saints
By Frances X. Rocca — February 20, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ In his 26-year reign, Pope John Paul II canonized a record 482 saints and beatified an additional 1,341 Catholics, more than all his predecessors combined since the late 16th century. John Paul’s recognition of holiness among previously underrepresented groups of laypeople and non-Europeans aroused enthusiasm in the […]
Critics unsatisfied after pope tweaks prayer for Jews
By Frances X. Rocca — February 7, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ With his decision last July to liberalize use of the Old Latin Mass, Pope Benedict XVI sought to appease traditionalists disaffected by recent changes to Catholic worship. But in making it easier for priests to celebrate the so-called Tridentine Rite, Benedict also resurrected a controversial prayer used […]
New Jesuit leader confronts internal, external challenges
By Frances X. Rocca — January 23, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Jesuits are famous for efficiency and hard work, so it’s characteristic that their newest leader has lost no time in taking on his job. The Rev. Adolfo Nicolas, who on Saturday (Jan. 19) was elected the 30th superior general in the 468-year history of the Society of […]
Vatican tells missionaries good works aren’t enough
By Frances X. Rocca — December 15, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Roman Catholic missionaries should aim to win souls and not restrict themselves to humanitarian good works, the Vatican said Friday (Dec. 14). A new 19-page document, which was personally approved by Pope Benedict XVI,draws on a controversial Vatican declaration he issued in 2000 that asserted Catholics alone […]
Writer searches for Christianity’s most peculiar relic
By Frances X. Rocca — December 5, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ When freelance writer David Farley first visited Calcata, Italy, five years back, he figured it would make for a colorful article for a travel magazine. The picturesque hill town 30 miles north of Rome featured a medieval castle and narrow cobblestone streets, as well as an international […]
Pope’s second encyclical focuses on hope, critiques Marxism
By Frances X. Rocca — December 1, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ The Vatican on Friday (Nov. 30) published the second encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, a theological reflection on the virtue of Christian hope and a critique of secular faith in scientific and political progress. In Spe Salvi (“Saved by Hope”), Benedict contrasts Christian hope for eternal salvation […]
With pomp and circumstance, pope names 23 new cardinals
By Frances X. Rocca — November 27, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ In two days of ceremony and celebration last weekend (Nov. 24-25), Pope Benedict XVI expanded the highest ranks of the Roman Catholic hierarchy by elevating 23 men _ including two Americans _ to the College of Cardinals. The events drew tens of thousands of Catholic faithful from […]
