Vatican

• Vatican, Rome gear up for canonizations of John XXIII, John Paul II

  Mar 27, 2014

  Just over five weeks before the canonizations of Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II, Rome hotels are reporting they are almost fully booked and the Vatican has confirmed the Mass will take place in St Peter’s Square, despite knowing that hundreds of thousands of people will have to watch the ceremony on large video screens.

  

• Pope to Mafia: Blood money will lead you to hell

  Mar 27, 2014

  Pope Francis, in an annual ceremony held to remember the hundreds of innocent people murdered by the Italian Mafia, made a solemn plea for mobsters to change or else ‘end up in hell,’ reports Reuters in The Sydney Morning Herald.

  

• Interfaith leaders launch effort against human trafficking

  Mar 27, 2014

  Catholic, Anglican, and Muslim leaders have launched an anti-human trafficking network that hopes to eradicate the crime by 2020 through the mobilization of religious communities.

  
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  President Obama, Pope Francis to Meet for First Time

  Mar 27, 2014

  The world’s most powerful political leader and the world’s most powerful religious leader will meet for the first time Today,when President Barack Obama visits Pope Francis at the Vatican.

  
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  Pope: without prayer, Mass, and confession, a priest becomes a ‘mediocrity’

  Mar 27, 2014

  Pope Francis devoted his March 26 general audience to the Sacrament of Holy Orders. While all in the Church are called to share in the three sacraments of Christian initiation, there are two sacraments-- holy orders and marriage-- that “correspond to two specific vocations.”

  
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  Holy Orders fosters a passionate love of the Church, Pope notes

  Mar 27, 2014

  In his weekly general audience Pope Francis continued his catechesis on the Sacraments, devoting today’s discourse to those who receive Holy Orders, referring to it as a vocation of “service.”

  
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  Pope Francis gaining interest of American publishing houses

  Mar 26, 2014

  Pope Francis’ words are grabbing the attention of American publishing houses as well of the U.S. bishops’ conference communications office, according to the Vatican Publishing House.

  
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  Pope lauds Mary’s meekness on feast of the Annunciation

  Mar 26, 2014

  During his Mass celebrating the Solemnity of the Annunciation, Pope Francis emphasized that salvation is a gift from the Lord which we ought to receive with humility and obedience, just as Mary did.

  
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  Pope Francis institutes Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors

  Mar 25, 2014

  Pope Francis has instituted the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The body’s creation was announced in December following a meeting of the Council of Cardinals, the eight-member group that advises and assists in the Pope in the governance of the universal Church.

  
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  When Pope Francis meets Obama, expect collaboration over conflict

  Mar 24, 2014

  U.S. President Barack Obama is to meet Pope Francis for the first time March 27 as Obama wraps up a European tour, a high-profile encounter between two major world leaders that appears to carry especially high stakes from the U.S. perspective.