After approving blessings for same-sex couples, Pope asks Vatican staff to avoid “rigid ideologies”
Rome, ItalyAP Pope Francis urged Vatican bureaucrats Thursday to avoid “rigid ideological positions” that prevent them from understanding today’s reality, an appeal made days after he formally allowed priests to bless same-sex couples in a radical change of Vatican policy. Francis used his annual Christmas greeting to the Holy See hierarchy to encourage the cardinals, bishops and […]
Pope demands humility in new zinger-filled Christmas speech
Rome, ItalyAP Pope Francis urged Vatican cardinals, bishops and bureaucrats Thursday to embrace humility this Christmas season, saying their pride, self-interest and the “glitter of our armor” was perverting their spiritual lives and corrupting the church’s mission. As he has in the past, Francis used his annual Christmas address to take Vatican administrators to task […]
The Christmas story invites us to “meditate about Christian life in today’s world” – WCC Christmas message
The Christmas story invites us to “meditate about Christian life in today’s world”, the acting head of the World Council of Churches has said in a Christmas message. “Ours are times in which the pandemic has catalysed the risks of the climate emergency, the systemic inequalities between rich and poor, and widespread gender-based violence,” said Rev […]
Pope tells Vatican bureaucrats to stop gossipy conflicts
Rome, ItalyAP Pope Francis urged Vatican bureaucrats on Monday to stop their gossipy, self-absorbed conflicts, issuing another tough-love Christmas message at the end of a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic and a financial scandal at the Holy See. Francis gathered his cardinals, bishops and Vatican prelates for his annual Christmas greeting in the Apostolic […]
Pope defends migrants, calls for peace in Christmas message
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis urged the world to let the light of Christmas pierce the “darkness in human hearts” that leads to religious persecution, social injustice, armed conflicts and fear of migrants. In his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) Christmas Day message, the 83-year-old Pope called for peace in the Holy […]
UK Queen stresses reconciliation after bruising Brexit year
London, UKReuters Queen Elizabeth will stress the value of harmony and reconciliation in her Christmas message this year, Buckingham Palace said on Tuesday, after a year in which the tortuous Brexit process aggravated deep divisions in Britain. The palace released two short extracts from the 93-year-old monarch’s televised Christmas Day message, one on the 75th […]
In Christmas message, Pope Francis calls on Vatican officials to embrace change
Vatican CityRNS As the decade comes to an end, Pope Francis focused on change – of all sorts – during his 21st December Christmas speech to the cardinals and heads of the Vatican departments that make up the Roman Curia. “Christian life is a journey, a pilgrimage. The history of the Bible is a journey, marked by […]