Tag: Pope Francis

• Thursday, February 6th 2014 - 01:21 UTC

  Queen Elizabeth II to meet Pope Francis in April during her visit to Italy

  

  The Queen of England will meet Pope Francis at the Vatican in April during a visit to Italy. Queen Elizabeth II, the formal head of the Church of England, will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on April 3 during the one-day visit to Italy.

• Wednesday, January 22nd 2014 - 11:36 UTC

  Obama will visit Francis March 27; both leaders have pledged to tackle gap between rich and poor

  

  US President Barack Obama plans to visit with Pope Francis at the Vatican in March during a trip to Europe, the White House has announced. Obama is scheduled to meet with the pope on March 27 in a trip that will include stops in the Netherlands, Belgium and other parts of Italy, it said in a statement.

• Friday, January 17th 2014 - 07:41 UTC

  Vatican questioned by UN child rights watchdog on child sex abuse by priests

  

  The Vatican was Thursday pushed for the first time to provide answers to the UN over its commitment to stamp out child sex abuse by priests. The landmark question-and-answer session before the UN's child rights watchdog in Geneva came as Pope Francis said Catholics should feel “shame”, in an apparent reference to the scandals that have rocked the Church.

• Friday, January 17th 2014 - 07:34 UTC

  Pope reshuffles the Vatican bank and sacks four cardinals from oversight commission

  

  Pope Francis shook up the scandal-plagued Vatican bank, removing four of five cardinals from an oversight body in a break with the clerical financial establishment he inherited from his predecessor. It was his latest move to get to grips with an institution that has often been an embarrassment for the Holy See and which he has vowed to either reform or close.

• Thursday, January 16th 2014 - 09:28 UTC

  Malvinas war veteran plans to visit Falklands cemeteries with a message from Francis

  

  Pope Francis blessed crucifixes and rosaries which will be taken to the Argentine and British cemeteries in the Falkland Islands by an Argentine war veteran. The Pope during the blessings called for peace “among the peoples” of the world.

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 00:00 UTC

  Francis surprises conservatives with strong mention against the 'horrific' practice of abortion

  

  Pope Francis, whom conservatives in the Roman Catholic Church have accused of not speaking out forcefully enough against abortion, has called the practice “horrific.” The pope made his toughest remarks to date on abortion in his yearly address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, a speech known as his “State of the World” address.

• Monday, January 13th 2014 - 06:55 UTC

  Pope puts his stamp as he names 19 new cardinals, including his Buenos Aires successor

  

  Pope Francis put his first stamp on the group at the top of the Roman Catholic hierarchy naming 19 new cardinals from around the world. Sixteen of them are “cardinal electors” under 80 and thus eligible to enter a conclave to elect a pope. They come from Italy, Germany, Britain, Nicaragua, Canada, Ivory Coast, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Chile, Burkina Faso, the Philippines and Haiti.

• Monday, January 13th 2014 - 06:49 UTC

  Francis baptizes children of an unmarried couple and a from a single mother

  

  Pope Francis has baptized 32 babies in the Sistine Chapel and told their mothers to have no qualms about feeding them there. Two of the infants are the daughter of a couple that did not get married in the Catholic Church and a single mother's son.

• Friday, January 3rd 2014 - 00:24 UTC

  Record breaking Pope: Francis drew more than 6.6 million people to his audiences

  

  Pope Francis drew more than 6.6 million people to his audiences, Masses and other events in Vatican City during his first year in office, figures show. The statistics cover the period from the Argentine's election in March to the end of 2013, the Vatican said.

• Friday, December 13th 2013 - 12:30 UTC

  Francis calls for more wealth-sharing among people and nations to narrow rich/poor gap

  

  Pope Francis attacked mega-salaries and big bonuses saying in the first peace message of his pontificate that they are symptoms of an economy based on greed and inequality