Vatican restorers set to work on St Peter’s centrepiece
Vatican City Reuters The giant bronze-and-wood canopy in the middle of St Peter’s Basilica is being gradually engulfed by scaffolding as Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s masterpiece gets its first major restoration since the mid-1700s. The almost 30-metre-high canopy covers the high altar of the basilica, and was built on the spot where St Peter, the first […]
Pope and Argentine President Milei embrace after pontiff canonises Argentina’s first female saint
Vatican City AP Pope Francis and Argentine President Javier Milei embraced Sunday in St Peter’s Basilica, as Argentine faith and politics came together during a Mass to canonise the country’s first female saint. The ceremony to declare Mama Antula a saint marked the first meeting between the Argentine pope and Milei, who once called Francis […]
Wow!: Vatican launches massive restoration effort of baldachin in St Peter’s Basilica
CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ, of Religion News Service, reports that restorers plan to complete the work in time for the start of the Jubilee of 2025…
Cardinal performs rite to restore Vatican altar desecrated by man’s naked protest
Vatican CityAP The head of St Peter’s Basilica performed a special rite Saturday after a man stripped naked and hopped on the main altar with the words “Save children of Ukraina” written on his back. Cardinal Mauro Gambetti performed the penitential rite following the desecration of the altar with other priests and members of the […]
At Easter vigil, Pope Francis encourages hope amid “icy winds of war”
Vatican City Reuters Pope Francis led the world’s Roman Catholics into Easter at a Saturday night vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, decrying the “icy winds of war” and other injustices. The 86-year-old Francis skipped an outdoor event on Friday night because of unseasonably cold temperatures in Rome. His doctors ordered prudence after he was […]
After bronchitis, cold weather forces Pope to skip outdoor service
Rome, ItalyReuters Pope Francis presided at one indoor service on Good Friday, but doctors ordered him to skip an outdoor evening “Way of the Cross” procession at Rome’s Colosseum after being hospitalised last week for bronchitis. Francis was following the service from his residence in the Vatican as a precaution after the temperature fell in […]
Pell’s secret memo casts shadow at cardinal’s funeral
Vatican CityAP The Australian cardinal who decried the papacy of Pope Francis as a “catastrophe” was given a funeral Saturday and hailed by some fellow churchmen at St Peter’s Basilica, with the pontiff imparting a final blessing for the once high-ranking Vatican prelate. Cardinal George Pell, 81, died on 10th January, shortly after undergoing hip surgery in a Rome […]
Pope praises Pell for persevering in times of personal trials
Vatican City Reuters Pope Francis on Wednesday praised late Australian Cardinal George Pell for persevering in trying times, a reference to when he spent more than a year in prison on child sexual abuse accusations before he was fully acquitted. Francis, in an Italian-language message sent to the dean of the College of Cardinals, also […]
Public now can see Benedict’s tomb at St Peter’s Basilica
Vatican CityAP The public can now visit the tomb of Pope Benedict XVI in the grottoes under St Peter’s Basilica. The pontiff was buried on 5th January immediately following a funeral in St Peter’s Square. Benedict’s tomb lies in the grottoes under the basilica’s main floor. Faithful visit the tomb of late Pope Emeritus Benedict […]
Tens of thousands view body of former Pope Benedict
Vatican CityReuters A steady stream of tens of thousands of people filed into St Peter’s Basilica on Monday to pay their respects to former Pope Benedict XVI, whose body was laying in state without any papal paraphernalia ahead of his funeral this week. Benedict, a hero to conservative Catholics who yearned for a return to […]