VATICAN CITY (RNS) In his first general audience since his election to the papacy, Pope Francis on Wednesday (March 27) urged Catholics to leave their comfort zone to search for “lost sheep.”
VATICAN CITY (RNS) With his move to a Vatican guesthouse, Pope Francis becomes the first pope since 1903 not to live in the regal papal apartment that overlooks St. Peter’s Square.
(RNS) Since the moment of his election on March 13, Pope Francis has been warmly embraced by his own flock and even the media. But some constituencies in the church are decidedly cautious or even unhappy with Francis, and their grumbling may portend future troubles for the pope.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Just minutes after Pope Francis finished introducing himself to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square on March 13, a woman perusing the shelves of a tourist shop just outside the squared asked the storekeeper, “When will you have souvenirs of the new pope?”
ROME (RNS) “With each conclave, fewer and fewer people will even remember when there was an Italian pope,” says La Stampa’s Giacomo Galeazzi.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Ahead of his formal installation on Tuesday, Pope Francis is continuing to send clear signals that he intends to lead a papacy markedly different from his predecessor’s reign — and perhaps different from that of any other pope in modern times.
The new pontiff explains his choice of name in off-the-cuff remarks to journalists on Saturday, and emphasizes care of the environment. He also gives them only a silent blessing in respect for non-Catholics and nonbelievers, potentially a controversial move.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Everything about a conclave is supposed to be secret, but there are always leaks afterwards, and even broad hints from the cardinals about how a pope was elected. This time is no different.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Naming yourself after St. Francis of Assisi is one thing. Running the Vatican is another. And taming the Vatican bureaucracy is likely to be one of Pope Francis’ most difficult assignments.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) A hierarchy looking to make a clear statement about where the troubled church is headed chose on Wednesday (March 13) the first member of the influential Jesuit order to be the next pope. Yet they also chose a humble man who lives simply and took the name Francis (also a first) that evokes the founder of another great religious order.
