Vatican
Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew may join Vatican prayer summit
By Josephine McKenna — June 3, 2014
VATICAN CITY (RNS) A formal announcement may be made Wednesday (June 4).
Clergy abuse victims are divided over Pope Francis’ offer to meet
By David Gibson — May 28, 2014
(RNS) Some victims of clergy sex abuse say Pope Francis' first-ever encounter with victims is simply stagecraft aimed at distracting the public from what they say are the pope’s larger failures to address the abuse crisis.
No date set for historic Vatican meeting of Israeli, Palestinian presidents
By Josephine McKenna — May 26, 2014
ROME (RNS) While some media reports have the leaders meeting as early as June 6, the Vatican’s chief spokesman said Monday (May 26) that a “precise date” had not been set.
Vatican media chief says the church can’t ignore social media
By David Gibson — May 23, 2014
NEW YORK (RNS) “In our church we are always fishing inside the aquarium,” Archbishop Claudio Celli, head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said. “And we forget that most fish are outside the aquarium.”
UN criticizes Vatican on sexual abuse but stops short of calling it torture
By Josephine McKenna — May 23, 2014
ROME (RNS) The panel’s criticism was far more muted than a scathing February report from the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child that asserted that the Vatican had fostered “impunity” for abusers.
U.S. nuns haunted by dead Jesuit: the ghost of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
By David Gibson — May 22, 2014
(RNS) A French Jesuit's ideas of "conscious evolution" may be at the heart of the showdown between American nuns and Vatican hard-liners.
Former Vatican No. 2 Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone denies financial wrongdoing
By Josephine McKenna — May 21, 2014
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican's chief spokesman says there's no criminal investigation targeting former Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, but that doesn't mean an oversight panel isn't conducting its own examination.
Site of Jesus’ Last Supper a point of contention for some Israeli Jews
By Michele Chabin — May 20, 2014
JERUSALEM (RNS) Located on Mount Zion, the Cenacle is where Jesus held the Last Supper. It sits directly above David’s Tomb, the place many Jews believe the biblical King David is buried.
Cardinal seeks a truce in fight between U.S. nuns and Vatican’s doctrinal office
By Josephine McKenna — May 20, 2014
VATICAN CITY (RNS) While the Vatican's investigation into American nuns falls under the doctrinal office, Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz's congregation on religious orders is seen as more sympathetic to the sisters and has tried to serve as a peace broker in the standoff.
Vatican’s financial watchdog reports ‘notable’ spike in shady transactions
By Josephine McKenna — May 19, 2014
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The numbers, while intriguing, are more notable for the fact that they are being released at all.
Cardinal Kasper is enjoying the spotlight, and taking heat, as the ‘pope’s theologian’
By David Gibson — May 15, 2014
(RNS) Cardinal Walter Kasper has been enjoying the kind of influence that a short time ago would have been as unimaginable as, well, the kinds of reforms that Pope Francis has been promoting.
Vatican threatens Jesuit theologian in India with censure
By David Gibson — May 12, 2014
(RNS) The process of engaging cultures is especially advanced in Asia, where Jesuits have established a beachhead. But it also means that theologians often use nontraditional formulations to try to communicate the faith to Hindu or Buddhist audiences.
Nuns say they will continue dialogue despite Vatican criticisms
By David Gibson — May 9, 2014
(RNS) Representatives of most of the 50,000 sisters in the U.S. flatly rejected the charges by Cardinal Gerhard Mueller but said their conversation “was constructive in its frankness and lack of ambiguity.”
Vatican calls for release of kidnapped Nigerian girls
By Josephine McKenna — May 8, 2014
VATICAN CITY (RNS) “The denial of any kind of respect for life and for the dignity of human beings, even the most innocent, vulnerable and defenseless, calls for the strongest condemnation,” the Vatican's chief spokesman said.
Cardinal Kasper, the ‘pope’s theologian,’ downplays Vatican blast at U.S. nuns
By David Gibson — May 6, 2014
NEW YORK (RNS) Just as Pope Francis has downplayed rules and hot-button issues in an effort to widen the church's appeal, Cardinal Walter Kasper has pushed the importance of pastoral flexibility and realism in walking with Catholics throughout their imperfect lives.
