Tag: Pope Francis

• Saturday, July 20th 2013 - 05:31 UTC

  Brazil Catholic church losing ground to Protestants and Pentecostals

  

  Brazil's Catholic population has declined since 2000 while its Protestant population has grown during the past two decades, a Pew survey fund.

• Friday, July 19th 2013 - 06:29 UTC

  Pope Francis wants direct contact with the crowds when he visits Brazil next week

  

  Pope Francis will not use bullet-proof ‘Pope-mobiles’ on his visit to Brazil next week to allow him more direct contact with crowds despite the security risks, according to a Vatican release.

• Saturday, July 13th 2013 - 15:57 UTC

  Francis sweeping reforms to Vatican legal system include from child abuse to money laundering

  

  Pope Francis is introducing changes to the Vatican legal system and has announced reforms on laws governing child abuse to penalties for staff who leak confidential information. The latest overhaul of the Holy See comes after years of scandals which have damaged the image of the Catholic Church.

• Tuesday, July 9th 2013 - 06:08 UTC

  Francis pays tribute to deceased migrants and slams “globalization of indifference”

  

  Pope Francis has visited Lampedusa in the extreme south of Italy to pay tribute to the thousands of migrants who have lost their lives trying to reach the European Union and criticized what he called the “globalization of indifference.”

• Wednesday, June 26th 2013 - 17:39 UTC

  Santos wants Mujica in Colombia to help with the peace reconciliation process

  

  President Juan Manuel Santos wants his Uruguayan peer Jose Mujica “much closer” to the Colombian peace process which is currently taking place in Cuba and has invited him to the country, said Foreign minister Maria Angela Holguin during a visit to Montevideo.

• Wednesday, June 26th 2013 - 16:02 UTC

  Francis names special commission to review activities of scandal-plagued Vatican bank

  

  Pope Francis has set up a special commission to review the activities of the scandal-plagued Vatican bank to ensure that it operated in “harmony” with the mission of the Catholic Church, the Vatican confirmed.

• Tuesday, June 25th 2013 - 17:08 UTC

  Argentine indigenous people ask Francis to intercede before Cristina Fernandez

  

  Leaders of an Argentine indigenous community together with Nobel Peace Prize Adolfo Perez Esquivel met on Monday with Pope Francis and requested he intercedes before Argentine president Cristina Fernandez so that she receives a delegation from the Qom community.

• Tuesday, June 25th 2013 - 06:14 UTC

  Francis sends strong message to the Curia and the Vatican high life

  

  A last-minute no-show by Pope Francis at a concert where he was to have been the guest of honor has sent another clear signal that he is going to do things his way and does not like the Vatican high life.

• Saturday, June 22nd 2013 - 05:58 UTC

  Brazil bishops support massive demonstrations, “as long as they are peaceful”

  

  Leaders of the Brazilian bishops' conference announced their support for the massive demonstrations sweeping across the country but declined to say how they might affect World Youth Day activities and the visit of Pope Francis in July.

• Friday, June 21st 2013 - 06:26 UTC

  Falklands: “last thing we want is religion inserted in the dispute”

  

  A top Falkland Islands’ politician and Britain's UN envoy shrugged off the idea of the Pope intervening in the long-running sovereignty dispute over the Falklands/Malvinas and South Atlantic islands, as was suggested at one point by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez.