Nicole Winfield
Nicole Winfield is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Nicole Winfield
Case of Jewish boy taken by pope flares over doctored memoir
By Nicole Winfield — April 20, 2018
(AP) — It’s an incident that has stained the Vatican for 160 years: a 6-year-old Jewish boy taken from his family by papal police and brought to Rome to be raised Catholic after church authorities learned his housekeeper had secretly had him baptized.
Pope seeks ‘saints next door,’ not doctrinaire perfectionists
By Nicole Winfield — April 9, 2018
VATICAN CITY (AP) — In a new document, Pope Francis says defending the poor and migrants is "equally sacred" to defending the unborn — a not-so-veiled critique of the conservative right in the U.S. for whom opposition to abortion trumps the Gospel mandate to love and welcome the stranger.
Pope presides over Good Friday amid security, controversy
By Nicole Winfield — March 30, 2018
ROME (AP) — The services come amid a new communications controversy at home over the existence of hell.
Pope washes the feet of inmates, reveals he has cataracts
By Nicole Winfield — March 29, 2018
ROME (AP) — Francis, 81, disclosed the news as he bid farewell to inmates and staff at the Regina Coeli prison, where he washed the feet of 12 prisoners in a Holy Thursday ritual.
Pope on Holy Thursday urges priests to be close to sinners
By Nicole Winfield — March 29, 2018
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The admonition came as conservatives have complained that Francis is dividing the church with his opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion.
Report: Key unofficial bishop in Vatican-China deal detained
By Nicole Winfield — March 27, 2018
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The AsiaNews agency, which closely covers the Catholic Church in China, said Mindong Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin and his chancellor were taken away Monday (March 26).
Vatican media chief resigns over doctored letter scandal
By Nicole Winfield — March 21, 2018
VATICAN (AP) — The so-called 'Lettergate' scandal erupted last week after Vigano read aloud part of a private letter from retired Pope Benedict XVI at a book launch for a Vatican-published, 11-volume set of books about Francis' theology.
Vatican bows to pressure, releases retired pope’s letter
By Nicole Winfield — March 18, 2018
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The 'Lettergate' scandal has embarrassed the Vatican's communications operations and fueled the growing chasm between supporters of Francis' pastoral-focused papacy and conservatives who long for the doctrine-minded tenure of Benedict.
Vatican doctors photo of Benedict’s praise for Francis
By Nicole Winfield — March 15, 2018
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The letter was cited by Monsignor Dario Vigano, chief of communications, to rebut critics of Francis who question his theological and philosophical heft and say he represents a rupture from Benedict's doctrine-minded papacy.
Pope Francis at 5: Paradigm shift on mercy, migrants and marriage
By Nicole Winfield — March 13, 2018
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Francis' first five years have been a dizzying introduction to a new kind of pope, one who prizes straight talk over theology and mercy over morals — all for the sake of making the church a more welcoming place for those who have felt excluded.
Chile cardinal seeks to deflect criticism for pope’s trip
By Nicole Winfield — March 10, 2018
(AP) — Cardinal Javier Errazuriz, a top papal adviser, wrote an extraordinary letter to the bishops of Latin America that insists the pope’s trip wasn’t a failure, but was “highly positive.”
Pope approves sainthood for slain Salvadoran Archbishop Romero
By Nicole Winfield — March 7, 2018
(AP) — Francis unblocked Romero’s stalled sainthood case at the start of his pontificate and declared him a martyr in 2015.
Vatican magazine denounces nuns’ servitude
By Nicole Winfield — March 1, 2018
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The monthly women's magazine of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano features an expose on the underpaid labor and unappreciated intellect of religious sisters, confirming that the magazine is increasingly becoming the imprint of the Catholic Church's #MeToo movement.
Vatican, Versace and Vogue team up for Met’s spring exhibit
By Nicole Winfield — February 26, 2018
ROME (AP) — The Vatican's culture minister joined Donatella Versace and Vogue's Anna Wintour for a sneak peek of the gorgeous Vatican liturgical vestments, jeweled miters and papal tiaras that will star in a spring exhibit at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Pope revives lapsed sex abuse commission amid skepticism
By Nicole Winfield — February 19, 2018
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The announcement of the new members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors came on the same day that a Vatican investigator will take the testimony in New York of one of the main whistleblowers in the Chilean cover-up scandal.
