(RNS) Is Pope Francis endorsing heresy? It might look that way from headlines that made it seem as though the pontiff had said that everyone – even atheists! – were destined for heaven. What he actually said was boilerplate Catholic doctrine.
(RNS) When Pope Francis said believers and atheists can agree on the goal of doing good, and that even atheists were part of Christ’s redemption, atheist leaders say this is the kind of pope they can work with.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis on Friday (May 10) met with Pope Tawadros II, head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, an encounter that brought the number of popes residing within the Vatican walls to three this week. It also put a spotlight on the suffering of Christians in Egypt.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) When the Vatican’s doctrinal office informed the office that oversees religious orders about a probe of American nuns, the cardinal who heads the office was told the investigation was already completed.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) While some church observers worry that Benedict XVI could overshadow Pope Francis and his course of reforms, one veteran commentator said the side-by-side popes shouldn’t cause a “crisis in the church.”
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Benedict XVI’s return to Vatican City will present church leaders with the unprecedented situation of a reigning pope and a retired pope living a short distance from each other, both sharing the same top aide.
SHREWSBURY, Mo. (RNS) About 125 Catholics packed a basement conference room — most of them lay people, many of them older. They gathered to learn how to spread the faith, a concept that is both fundamental to Christianity and nearly foreign to modern Roman Catholics.
(RNS) Reports this week that the late John Paul II may be on the verge on canonization isn’t a huge surprise, but Pope Francis’ decision to take a second look at martyred Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero shows that the process of making saints is as much about politics as anything else.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis apparently meant what he said when he spoke of a “poor church, for the poor”: Vatican employees won’t get the $1,300 bonus many were expecting with the election of a new pope.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The decision to continue a Vatican overhaul of U.S. nuns, while not entirely unexpected, could nonetheless bring an end to Pope Francis’ honeymoon with the many American Catholics who had viewed the crackdown on nuns as heavy-handed and unnecessary.
