Tag: Vatican

• Tuesday, September 2nd 2014 - 06:57 UTC

  Interreligious soccer match had Maradona as one of the outstanding stars

  

  Diego Maradona and Roberto Baggio were among a host of former soccer stars who played in an interreligious charity match backed by Pope Francis on Monday night. The Argentine pope, an avid soccer fan, did not attend the match but had an audience with both teams earlier in the day and also broadcast a message on the big screens at Rome's Olympic Stadium ahead of kickoff.

• Tuesday, August 26th 2014 - 07:18 UTC

  Vatican downplays threats on the life of Francis: avoid creating “a climate of terror”

  

  Speaking with Argentina TV stations, Vatican Chief of Ceremonial, Guillermo Karcher played down the threats against Francis saying that “the Pope is not giving substance” to the reports. He explained that the Vatican security measures have not been increased since there has been “no official” threat.

• Thursday, August 21st 2014 - 06:26 UTC

  Soccer fan Pope Francis receives San Lorenzo, South America's best team

  

  Soccer took center stage at the Vatican Wednesday morning when members of Argentina's San Lorenzo visited their most famous fan, Pope Francis, to share the joy of winning the Copa Libertadores last week.

• Tuesday, August 19th 2014 - 08:20 UTC

  South Korea was a feast, but more important China warmed up to Pope Francis

  

  Pope Francis ended his first official visit to Asia on Monday with a fresh overture to China and a call for reconciliation between South Korea and its totalitarian neighbor, North Korea. As the pope flew across Chinese airspace on his return flight to Rome, he sent a telegram — his second during the trip — to President Xi Jinping, expressing his “divine blessings” for the powerful leader and the Chinese people.

• Wednesday, July 9th 2014 - 07:35 UTC

  Clean-up process and 'zero tolerance' in Vatican bank plummets profits

  

  The Vatican bank has blocked the accounts of more than 2,000 clients and ended some 3,000 “customer relationships” as part of a clean-up process that nearly wiped out its profit, its 2013 financial statement showed on Tuesday.

• Monday, July 7th 2014 - 22:31 UTC

  Francis 'humbly' asks for forgiveness from victims of 'clerical sexual abuse'

  

  Pope Francis on Monday morning “humbly” asked six clerical sex abuse victims for forgiveness for the “grave crimes of clerical sex abuse” committed against them. The Pope made his comment to the victims in a homily delivered at mass in the Domus Santa Marta, his Vatican residence.

• Tuesday, June 17th 2014 - 06:37 UTC

  Argentina pressing Francis over Falklands' dispute, says Vatican expert

  

  Vatican officials are becoming increasingly irritated with the Argentine government after its ambassador to Britain, who is a vocal critic of the UK policy regarding the Falkland Islands, requested a private audience with the Argentine born pontiff, reports a piece by Edward Pentin, published by Newsmax.com.

• Friday, June 6th 2014 - 08:21 UTC

  Pope's broom again active: names four experts to watchdog Vatican finances

  

  Pope Francis sacked on Thursday the five-man board of the Vatican's financial watchdog, all Italians, in the latest move to break with an old guard associated with a murky past under his predecessor.

• Saturday, May 24th 2014 - 10:13 UTC

  UN urges Vatican to live up to Pope's Francis vow to stamp out child sex abuse

  

  A UN watchdog urged the Vatican on Friday to live up to Pope Francis' vow to stamp out child sex abuse by priests, calling on the Church to ensure violators face justice. Three weeks after grilling the Vatican at a public hearing, the UN Committee Against Torture said the Roman Catholic Church had made progress, but said there are still failings of major concern.

• Saturday, May 24th 2014 - 10:05 UTC

  Vatican-Casa Rosada controversy: the Pope's missive, a letter or a telegram?

  

  Argentina's Secretary to the Presidency Oscar Parrilli said on Friday that the letter sent to President Cristina Fernandez and which caused a controversy with local Church officials, is “authentic”. Argentine ambassador to the Vatican Juan Pablo Cafiero was contacted by Pope Francis to confirm the situation.