Catholic numbers on the rise in Africa, Asia
The number of Catholic priests and believers in the world is on the rise, a Vatican report showed on Monday, with gains in Africa and Asia offsetting a slump in Europe and the Americas.
The number of Catholic priests and believers in the world is on the rise, a Vatican report showed on Monday, with gains in Africa and Asia offsetting a slump in Europe and the Americas.
“One unique gift that Pope Francis will bring (to the papacy) is personal encounter, which is really important for the Church. The Church is, in the end, a communion, a relationship in faith. I think that aspect will become stronger,” Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said.
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle and Cardinals Gaudencio Rosales and Ricardo Vidal arrived on Thursday from the Vatican where they witnessed the inauguration of Pope Francis.
Pope Francis has expressed openness to an invitation to visit the Philippines during the 51st International Eucharistic Congress slated in 2016, Vice President Jejomar Binay said Wednesday.
News that a Jesuit, Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, was chosen to be the next Pope quickly reminded me of another Jesuit and another Pope.
In his first Mass as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis showed a striking liturgical difference with his predecessor by facing the people, not turning his back, as the now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI did in his controversial attempt to fully restore the Latin Mass banished by the Second Vatican Council.
If by the time you read this, the Sistine Chapel spews out white smoke, then we’ll either be in a new era of the Catholic Church or stuck in the translucence of tradition, where the light doesn’t always shine through.
Cardinals moved into the Vatican on Tuesday as the suspense mounted ahead of a secret papal election with no clear frontrunner to steer the Catholic world through troubled waters after Benedict XVI’s historic resignation.
A pastor in Ontario wondered about behind-the-scenes politicking ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope. He could have read news reports or listened to briefings by the Vatican spokesman. Instead, he asked a cardinal. Less than an hour later, the response arrived.
The Vatican on Saturday installed a special chimney on the Sistine Chapel from which white smoke will signal the election of a new pope as cardinals prepare for the historic vote next week after Benedict XVI’s resignation.
Out of the 115-member conclave that will elect the next Pope, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is one of only two cardinals who show “promising” signs of dealing adequately with the sex abuse scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church, according to a US-based group of clergy sex abuse victims.
Asia’s most prominent Roman Catholic leader knows how to reach the masses: He sings on stage, preaches on TV, brings churchgoers to laughter and tears with his homilies. And he’s on Facebook.
