Tag: Vatican

• Tuesday, February 25th 2014 - 04:13 UTC

  Pope overhauls Vatican finances and names Secretariat for the Economy

  

  Pope Francis has taken his boldest step yet to overhaul the Vatican's scandal-plagued finances, creating a new department with broad powers to oversee all of its economic and administrative affairs, the Vatican announced on Monday. The Secretariat for the Economy will answer directly to the pope and will be headed by Australian Cardinal George Pell, currently the archbishop of Sydney.

• 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.

• 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.

• Saturday, November 23rd 2013 - 06:17 UTC

  Pope asked Blatter to use football to promote peace in the world and help the poor

  

  FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter was granted a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican at lunchtime on Friday. During the discussions, the Holy Father asked FIFA to use football to promote peace in the world and to help the poor.

• Tuesday, October 22nd 2013 - 16:34 UTC

  Cartes and Mujica will address Mercosur and port facilities in Friday's meeting in Montevideo

  

  Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes will be visiting Uruguay next 25 October to meet with his peer Jose Mujica and a month later will be flying to the Vatican to visit Pope Francis, November 25, announced Foreign minister Eladio Loizaga.

• Thursday, October 10th 2013 - 05:21 UTC

  Pope Francis sends his blessings to President Cristina Fernandez

  

  Pope Francis has wished President Cristina Fernández a “full health recovery” following the surgery she underwent on Monday at the Fundación Favaloro clinic in Buenos Aires. “I beg you to feel my presence. I guarantee my nearness and prayer,” the ex Argentine cardinal said.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 10:04 UTC

  Francis calls for transparency and says too many popes had been ‘narcissists’

  

  Pope Francis began landmark meetings this week to reform the Vatican, promising to do all he could to change the mentality of an institution he said was too focused on its own interests. Francis and eight cardinals from around the world are holding three days of closed-door meetings to discuss the Vatican's troubled administration and to map out possible changes in the worldwide Church.